"tried to enter the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led administration!!!
Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:04 AM ET By Michael Georgy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four Arab men posing as journalists were arrested this week when explosives residue was detected on them as they tried to enter the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led administration, a senior U.S. army officer said.
The officer, a top security official in the compound which hosts news conferences given by senior U.S. and Iraqi officials and houses the U.S. consulate, said explosives were found in the men's hotel room after the arrests on Sunday.
They were posing as employees of an international television company and carried fake identification cards and were trying to drive a van into the compound when they were arrested, he said.
"The IDs looked real. But when we called the organization and asked if they were employees, they said they had not heard of them," the army officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
Scores of Western, Iraqi and Arab journalists as well as Iraqi employees of the U.S.-led administration enter the complex each week after tight security checks. The area, part of the heavily fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, is often hit by mortar attacks.
"The four who were arrested may have just been gathering information on the compound or maybe they were just scouting it out. This case is serious," the officer said. He declined to comment on the nationality of the men.
U.S. military officials say foreign fighters are heavily involved in bombings gripping Iraq, including deadly attacks at the gates of the Green Zone that have killed dozens of Iraqis queuing up for work inside. One of the checkpoints at the compound includes an itemizer, a high-tech machine that scans equipment such as cameras for bomb residue. Some people who accidentally pick up explosives residue, such as journalists who cover bombings, sometimes set off the machine.
But the senior army officer said his troops arrest three to four people per week in cases similar to the four Arab men seen as security threats. The U.S. military said explosive devices have been found inside the green zone but there have been no reports of bombings inside the area that includes palaces formerly belonging to toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
"The last time there was a bomb just outside here we tested the machine to make sure it works. Everybody that was near the bomb site that passed through here set off the system. It worked," the officer said. Link to Article
You certainly find the intriguing news!
Someone at the final phase posted this:
6.9 quake hits Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)
www.iris.edu/seismon/zoom...&lat=55.77
Hmmmmmm before 9/11 similar 'reporters' bumped off the commander of the Northern Alliance.......
Pig Blood Spill: Traffic Nightmare (Germany)
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 Posted: 1125 GMT (1925 HKT) BREMEN, Germany (AP) -- A truck carrying 9,000 gallons of pigs' blood was rear-ended and spilled its entire cargo on the German autobahn Wednesday, forcing the highway to close for several hours. The entire load of pigs' blood formed a large slick that caused another truck to crash, Kroll said. The highway was closed, creating traffic jams 13 miles long on both sides.
The driver of the truck that crashed into the vehicle hauling the blood suffered minor injuries. Damage is estimated at $221,000, Kroll said. Link to Article
-----
Tanker Truck Spills Oil On Putnam Co. H'Way (New York - June 10th)
Jun 10, 2004 1:35 pm US/Eastern (1010 WINS) (Carmel, NY) Problems this morning in Carmel. A tanker truck overturned on Route 52 near Dykeman Road - spillng hundreds of gallons of oil across the highway. The flammable liquid and fumes forced police to evacuate people from their homes on Route 52 in the area.
New York State Electric and Gas Company has turned off power in the neighborhood.
The New York City DEP, New York State DEC, and the federal EPA are on the scene making sure the oil does not get into nearby water supplies.
The tanker truck - owned by Sclafani Oil Company of Mahopac - contained over eleven-thousand gallons of oil. And undetermined amount spilled. The local chapter of the Red Cross was setting up temporary shelter for the people
----
Fuel Truck Accident Shuts Down I-24 Overnight (Nashville, TN-June 9th)
Updated: 6/10/2004 11:12:46 AM I-24 was shut down overnight between Briley Parkway and Harding Place. A fuel truck collided with a car and thousands of gallons of fuel poured onto the interstate.
The spill was so bad that it covered the pavement on the interstate and even leaked into a nearby creek. This all happened at around midnight when an 18-wheeler and a car collided while the truck was trying to change lanes.....
----
Truck Carrying Tar Overturns, Shuts Down I-75 (Michigan)
MONROE - Traffic on northbound I-75 near Nadeau Road in Monroe County's Frenchtown Township was reduced to one lane for nearly 12 hours yesterday as seven wreckers worked to right a tanker filled with hot tar that rolled off the right side of the road, troopers at the Monroe post of the Michigan State Police said.
The tanker was in the right lane about 8 a.m. when a pickup truck pulled suddenly in front of it. The tanker rolled into a ditch along the right shoulder. The driver of the tanker and a passenger were not hurt.
State police last night were looking for the driver of the pickup, which did not stop. Link to Article
----
Moncks Corner Man Dies in Tanker Truck Accident (Charleston, NC)
BY STEVE REEVES Of The Post and Courier Staff AWENDAW--A Moncks Corner man died early Wednesday morning after the tanker truck he was driving on U.S. Highway 17 north left the roadway and flipped several times.
Chief Mike Rakoske of the Awendaw Fire Department said the tanker truck was carrying 7,600 gallons of diesel fuel at the time of the crash.
No other vehicles were involved. Capt. Dana Valentine of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office said Doleman apparently "lost control of the truck for unknown reasons."
----
Truck Crash Closes U.S. 35 east of Chillicothe No injuries in crash, however (Ohio)
An overturned tractor-trailer near the V.A. Towers curve on U.S. 35 east of Chillicothe has the road closed indefinitely.
-----
$2 Million Found In Fla. Tractor-Trailer
POSTED: 11:27 am EDT June 10, 2004 LIVE OAK, Fla. -- State officials found nearly $2 million in cash inside a tractor-trailer that stopped at an agricultural inspection station on Interstate-10, according to police.
Two men riding in the truck were detained after the stop earlier this week. The cash was found in two duffel bags inside the truck.
The truck was registered to a Miami company and was hauling TV sets. Investigators at the Live Oak inspection station are investigating the two men for possible money laundering and drug trafficking, but they are not yet charged. Agents said they began their search of the truck after some paperwork seemed irregular. Link to Article
They'll probably let them go like all the others.