Terrorism Involved in Air France Crash? New York Times, Washington Post Pooh-pooh Suggestion

"Two names on doomed Air France Flight 447's passenger list also appear on a list of radical Muslims considered a threat to France, according to French investigators," Sky News reports, adding:

There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a "macabre coincidence," the source added, but the revelation is still being "taken very seriously."

Not by the Times:

Authorities have seen no credible claims of responsibility and have said the crash was unlikely to have been caused by an attack but they have not excluded one entirely.

Nor by the Post:

Both French and U.S. officials have said they have seen no evidence terrorism was involved in the crash and a spokesman for Brazil's intelligence agency also said Wednesday he had no information about any terrorist connections to Flight 447. He spoke on condition of anonymity, per department rules.

Either scenario-massive instrument failure or mid-air terrorism-is a nightmare to contemplate, but one might be forgiven for wondering why our "newspaper of record" and its rival in Washington would choose to dismiss one of them out of hand.