Thursday, October 06, 2005

Terrorism of the Absurd

Lurch at Main and Central steered me to this article by Bryan Bender:
The FBI's counterterrorism unit has launched a broad investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering some vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq, including attacks that killed US troops and Iraqi civilians, were probably stolen in the United States, according to senior US Government officials…

…The inquiry began after coalition troops raided a Falluja bomb factory last November and found a Texas-registered four-wheel-drive being prepared for a bombing mission…

Investigators believed the cars were stolen by local car thieves in US cities, then smuggled to waiting ships at ports in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Houston, among other cities. Terrorism specialists said they believed Iraqi insurgents preferred American stolen cars because they tended to be larger, blended in more easily with US convoys, and were harder to identify as stolen.

I'm comforted to know the FBI is on top of this situation. But I have questions about a thing or two.

How is it that an Audi or Beamer is harder to identify as stolen than, say, a Lincoln Navigator? And how does anyone "blend in" with a U.S. convoy? You just show up and they let you in? You don't even need a note from your mom?

And why go through the trouble to import an American car to use as a bomb?

Maybe Mister Bush will explain all this in his big speech later today:
"We're building them over here so they can blow them up over there."

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Mister Bush's "major speech on the war on terror" coming up in ten minutes. I can't wait.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Be interesting to know if any of these U.S.-registered vehicles had actually been reported as stolen before they showed up in Iraq....

    serial catowner

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  2. Yeah, Serial, that WOULD be interesting to know.

    Actually, I'd suspect they're buying whatever cars they use locally. Couldn't care less where they're from or whether they're stolen.

    Jeff

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  3. Anonymous5:05 PM

    Now, see...when I read the original story and brought it forward my initial reaction was slightly different. My take on the whole thing was that there probably wasn't a large envelope full of import documentation.

    And yeah, I betcha the vehicle wasn't reported "stolen" until it had been driven off the C-130 somewhere.

    Lurch

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  4. Anonymous6:46 PM

    Let's see. What Texas based company has lots of cost plus contracts in Iraq? Losing a truck to theft in Iraq is a cost... Why steal trucks in Texas when you can buy them cheap and already imported from friendly mechanics in Iraq?

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  5. No kidding. Better put the FBI on THAT!

    Thanks for the visit and the pose, Pete.

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