SOLDIERS CATCH SUSPECTED BOMB MAKER; 1500 ARTILLERY ROUNDS SEIZED

CENTCOM ^ | October 8, 2004

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

	NEWS RELEASE HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND 7115 South Boundary Boulevard MacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101 Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894

October 8, 2004
Release Number: 04-10-22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


SOLDIERS CATCH SUSPECTED BOMB MAKER; 1500 ARTILLERY ROUNDS SEIZED

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Working off a tip, Task Force Baghdad troops detained a truck carrying more than 1,500 155-millimeter artillery rounds Oct. 7. This seizure is one of the largest by the task force to date.

Ground forces were alerted to the suspected vehicle and converged on it and detained the driver and passenger. The munitions were found in the back of the truck during a search of the vehicle.

An explosive ordnance disposal team will destroy the seized munitions.

[leadpenny]

1500 155 rounds on one truck? How much does one of those puppies weigh?

[Eagle Eye]

Wow!!

[PGalt]

Bump!

[ArGee]

I'd ask him those questions while he was sitting in the cab of his truck.

And I'd be flipping my Zippo while I was asking.

Shalom.

[Enterprise]

How much does one of those puppies weigh?

Maybe 90 pounds? (If the link info is correct)

"Since these rounds are not rocket propelled like most mortars, bag charges would be tossed in the tube and the two men would use a special carrier to hoist up and drop a 90-pound 155mm munition, or it may be breech-loaded like the 160mm mortars used by Russia, Finland, and Israel."

link

[Uncle Jaque]

Oh, I dunno;

After the IRAQI (NO bleeding-heart ACLU, CNN, etc. advocates looking on )Authorities have a little chat with them and ask ever so nicely for a little intel, they'll all probably wish they'd detonated the truck themselves as soon as they saw the jig was up.

I'm surprised they didn't, actually; would likely to have taken out a bunch of "good guys" by doing so.

Thanks and praise be to G-d, Allah, Jupiter, or whoever else is currently running things over there for that, eh?

Getting those "Assault Bombs" off the street is no doubt going to save a lot of lives - Iraqi as well as American - come election time.

[Enterprise]

I'd make him run around with one tied around his neck.

[Coop]

I'm sure these artillery rounds were simply wedding gifts.

[NavyCanDo]

1,500 155-millimeter artillery rounds = alot of dead Americans. Many many lives were just saved.

[Jackknife]

HOO-RAH to our great Troops!!

[edpc]

I also found it to be a high number of shells for one truck. If one weighs 100lbs (and I am sure they are more) that's 150,000 lbs, or 75 tons. Our tanks weigh around 60 tons, so I suppose it's possible to have that much ordnance in a large semi. If there are that many shells, do any of them contain sarin? That's the real question, since we know they've shown up there before.

[Skooz]

Funny, this didn't make the top-of-the-hour radio news. They did manage to work in a story effectively blaming Bush for the bombings in Egypt, though.

[Smoote]

Wouldn't it be timely if 1,000 or so of the shells turned out to be chemical weapons?

[Centurion2000]

That was more than one truck ... 1500 155mm rounds are almost 70 TONS of casing an explosive.

[leadpenny]

That's what I was thinking, maybe 100 lbs. Plus container weight. Gotta be one big truck.

[edpc]

You can bet that the MSM would downplay 1000 chemical shells being a stockpile. The fact that they found one is good enough for me. These nerve agents only require a drop to kill a person. There's plenty of "drops" in one shell. Taking the chemicals out of a shell and placing them in a more compact, portable bomb could do a lot of damage in a NY or DC subway station.

[Gorzaloon]

1500 155 rounds on one truck? How much does one of those puppies weigh?

If they were assembled with propellent and case, about 60#, if I recall correctly..Been a long time. :-(

[NavyCanDo]

"Funny, this didn't make the top-of-the-hour radio news."


NO KIDDING - Top of the hour CBS news this morning at 5:00 am on my drive into work - American air strikes in Fallujah kill as many as 15 civilians, including a groom from a wedding party. No mention of the rounds seized. If you would of listened to it you would of thought the military is incompetent.

[DonnerT]

I don't understand why they didn't just stick a gps tracking phone on it, follow it to its destination and loose a warthog or spectre on it while being unloaded.

[RedEyeJack]

Put panties on his head and make him bark like a dog until he fesses up!