FBI: Iraq Bomb Made From Old Munitions (and not a cement truck)

[Junkdrawer]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The FBI said on Wednesday the bomb that ripped through U.N. headquarters here was made from 1,000 pounds of old munitions including one single 500 pound bomb, all of the materials from Saddam Hussein's prewar arsenal that required no "great degree of sophistication" to build.

....

FBI Special Agent Thomas Fuentes said at the blast site that the bomb had been delivered by a KAMAZ flatbed truck. Such trucks were made in the former Soviet Union. U.S. officials had said on Tuesday that a cement truck delivered the explosives.


more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A19559-2003Aug20?language=printer

Looks like a lot of bad information was distributed yesterday.

[diamond14]

1. rummy's guy Chalabi is right there too...isn't such announcements

a bit premature...FBI agents coming from America could barely have arrived at the scene, bodies are still in the ruins, the building is still smoldering, and the conclusion is already a done deal...contracting what eye-witnesses said just a few hours before...

they could have waited a bit before making their grandious conclusions, just to make it look legitimate...bush* is extremely anxious that the world knows: it was just regular OLD MUNITIONS...it wasn't C-4...anyone could have done it...it isn't organized...keep on message...get Chalabi out there...hey, it's just those 'remnants of saddam' and 'those old Russian trucks'...no problem here...move on folks...this is NOT an organized effort...these are NOT real explosives, it's just OLD bombs..hey, no problems here...say it again....say it again...say it again...say it again....

[hang a left]

4. you are making me sleepy, verrrrry sleeeeepy.

I was thinking the same thing. Shoot, that's the fastest investigation that has been done over. Everything around the truck has been blown to sh*t and they got the mod down. Man they are good!

[alaine]

8. Amazing how quickly some investigations go...

while others go VERY, VERY slowly...

[Paschall]

12. I think the FBI has been in Iraq since March

We know Special Ops were north of Baghdad at least a month before the invasion. So that's not surprising.

But I've discovered it's fun to do internet searches on the names of these FBI/military spokespeople. Find some interesting stuff. Special Agent Thomas Fuentes, for example, was in the news on Sept. 11, 2001, reporting on the investigation into Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance. He's been an organized crime specialist.

In any case, I'd believe the FBI before I'd ever believe Chalabi.

[stickdog]

13. Yeah. They've been their since March to look for the WMDs. (NT)

[stickdog]

2. Or today.

Did the FBI already get back the forensics on this? From their professional crime lab in powerless Baghdad?

Why haven't we secured Hussein's "prewar arsenal"?

If we haven't secured Hussein's "prewar arsenal" of bombs and "old munitions," why hasn't the Iraqi resistance been using any of it against us?

Where did the C4 information come from? The concrete truck information? And what about the eyewitness who said it was a concrete truck? And what about the other eyewitnesses who said it was a missile, rocket or mortar?

[Junkdrawer]

3. Seems disinformation flowed like water yesterday..

Everyone was so sure it was al Qaeda going after the congressional delegation. Today it's Saddam supporters going after the UN. What will it be tomorrow??

[stickdog]

5. Would you believe Howard Dean REALLY losing his temper? (NT)

[alaine]

9. "'shiny, new" concrete mixer.

Obviously it made an impression on the witness.

If it didn't get blown up, and was there at the time of the explosion and the area was shut down, then logically it should still be there and be pretty easy to spot, being all shiny and new.

Unless it did get blown up.

[Rose Siding]

6. So how did an explosive laden flatbed get through?

Reports said it had to pass check points on the street. A cement truck sort of explained how that happened, as the explosives could have been concealed inside. But how would they have been concealed on a flatbed?

[ursacorwin]

7. because 'checkpoints'

is a fancy way of saying a bunch of teenagers in a dangerous situation trying to direct a lot of foot and motor traffic in a language no one speaks and anticipate a parade of diplomats and assistants = we don't know what the hell is going on, whoops! did anyone check that truck? no, ah, hell, fuck it, next!

or something like that...

[NoKingGeorge]

10. So a flat bed truck carrying bombs rolled past

two US checkpoints, parked along side the building and detonated?
AND eyewitnesses had other motives in saying a 'cement' truck rolled past them, they saw one individual.

The FBI is over seas in hours and does the identification of a truck that was blown up by a 1,000 pounds of explosives all before the sun goes down on the second day?

Almost as impressive as having the names and addresses of 9 Saudis within 48 hours of them being incinerated.

OK. next

[Felix Mala]

11. Where to look for answers

I was looking over posts at a well-known conservative website and there were plenty of suggestions that "cement trucks" should be aimed at the UN HQ in NYC... Maybe the AG should focus some his "super powers" on that site and he might find who some of these terrorists are. How 'bout finding out who attacked the Senate Democrats with anthrax? That case seems to have been placed in the "cold" column. Lot's of interesting terrorist threats over there. I don't need to mention the name, but they're closely associated with the 12th letter of the alphabet.

[Randi_Listener]

14. BRING 'EM ON!

More of the same.