I agree with the poster a few pages back who said there's no way the authorities are just starting to look into the backgrounds of the passengers and crew members. The Malaysians have downplayed everything right from the beginning but they knew something was wrong almost immediately, when control of the plane didn't pass over to VN like it was supposed to. I'm sure there was a scramble at that time to locate and contact the plane. Commercial planes don't just disappear without a trace without human intervention. There are too many monitoring systems in place to prevent anything like that happening, especially since 9/11.
You don't just sit on something like this, a potential threat to national security, for 8 days and then decide to meander over to the pilot's house for a look see. I'd bet a nickel that the background of everyone on the plane, including the babies, has been checked, re-checked, and checked again, and that process started within hours if not minutes of the plane's disappearance.
I just can't believe the Malaysians are the circus clowns they appear to be, and I also believe the US has a lot more control of this situation than we, and maybe even the Malaysian government, are aware of. At least I hope so.