[Nic Name]

15-year-old suicide pilot acted alone, police say

Reuters News Agency

Tampa, Fla. — A 15-year-old student pilot who crashed a plane into a Tampa office building last month was not a terrorist, despite a note he left praising Osama bin Laden and supporting the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, Tampa police said Wednesday.

Ending their investigation into an incident that some saw as a grim echo of the airliner assaults on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Tampa, Fla. police said Charles Bishop acted alone when he intentionally flew a stolen, single-engine Cessna into the Bank of America building in Tampa.

Mr. Bishop died on Jan. 5 after he took the plane from a St. Petersburg, Fla. airport where he had been taking flying lessons, flew through restricted airspace at MacDill Air Force Base and crashed into the 28th floor of the 42-story tower. No one else was injured.

"Based on information obtained during this exhaustive investigation, there is no indication the plane crash was in any way an act of terrorism. Authorities further concluded the incident appears to have been an intentional act on the part of the pilot, Charles Bishop," the Tampa Police Department said in a statement.

The joint investigation was conducted by the Tampa police, the FBI and other federal, local and state agencies.

For the first time, investigators released the full text of the two-page handwritten letter found in the wreckage of the plane. Police had summarized the letter in the days after the crash, saying it expressed support for bin Laden, the Islamic militant believed responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed some 3,000 people.

Mr. Bishop wrote, "I have prepared this statement in regards to the terrorist acts I am about to commit." The word terrorist was then crossed out.

"First of all, Osama bin Laden is absolutely justified in the terror he has caused on 9-11," the note continued. "He has brought a mighty nation to its knees! God blesses him and the others who helped make September 11 happen.

"The U.S. will have to face the consequences for its horrific actions against the Palestinian people and Iraqis by its allegiance with the monstrous Israelis who want nothing short of world domination.

"You will pay — God help you — and I will (underlined) make you pay.

"There will be more coming! Al Qaeda and other organizations have met with me several times to discuss the option of me joining. I didn't.

"This is an operation done by me only. I had no other help, although I am acting on their behalf.

"Osama bin Laden is planning on blowing up the Super Bowl with an antiquated nuclear bomb left over from the 1967 Israeli-Syrian war," the unsigned note concluded.

There were no incidents at last Sunday's Super Bowl game in New Orleans, which was played under heavy security.

Mr. Bishop's mother released a statement shortly after the crash calling her son a boy who loved his country. Students and teachers who knew him said he never said anything in support of bid Laden or the Sept. 11 attacks.

This guy can't get labelled a terrorist with this note and an intentional plane crash into the Bank of America tower.

Thank god that wasn't another terrorist attack. whew. I can relax now. Just a prank, after all.

I see now why they had to embargo the letter until after the Super Bowl. Because it contained a terrorist threat.