Posted on 05/05/2005 6:08:23 AM PDT by Calpernia
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My hunch is--just a prank. My concern is--my hunch is wrong and it's a dry run to test how we'll respond.
I'd classify it as an act of terror, since it obviously had political connotations, the grenades have a representative value of being made for killing people, and even though it was a tiny little explosion compared to what we're hearing about the terrorists using, the fear this could have generated would've been disastrous if it had actually managed to kill someone, however accidentally.
Toy grenades. Sounds like a liberal plot to outlaw toy grenades along with toy guns! About as effective too.
hyperbole..over what was basically a firecracker
toy grenade shrapnel?...surprised they dont call it
'Plastique' as to give le story more flair
Toy grenades? How do toy grenades explode and cause damage?
I think they are trying to make the exposion sound like hyperbole. This shattered glass and a cement planter. This was at an official building, the British Consulate, not a mom and pop store.
They were in fact toy grenades, according to Fox--but filled with black powder.
One was a toy grenade filled with GUN powder. The other was the size of a pineapple filled with GUN powder.
This was a terrorist act to influence the election in Britain. Don't minimize it just because the bombs were made in plastic and not glass.
I'm not--I was just stating that they were, as a point of fact, toy grenades filled with something more sinister (black powder is gun powder, we refer to it that way all the time around here).
On the other hand, something a lot more explosive is occurring at the UN--Jonathan Hunt is reporting some boxes of documents that will prove Kofi Annan is lying about the Oil For Food. I hope these grenades do not obscure this important story.
I've never seen a toy grenade the size of a pineapple, have you? That makes for a large exposion, no?
And in blue states, black powder is not readily associated with gun powder. So, the PTA soccer mom dim wits would not readily think gun powder if they hear black powder.
Is there a thread up yet about the UN investigation? If you see one, ping me. Thanks.
The "Toy" grenades were probably like the ones you can purchase at an army/navy surplus store. They are basically real (replica) grenades but hollow where the explosives would go.
Might be on Fox's website. J. Hunt was just doing a piece about it on Fox News.
Small blasts hit British consulate in New York
By Mark Egan and Claudia Parsons
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two homemade grenades exploded outside the Manhattan office building that houses the British Consulate, shattering windows in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday as voters in Britain went to the polls in a general election, New York officials said.
There were no injuries reported, and no motive was known.
The explosions occurred shortly after 3:30 a.m. and were caused by two metal "novelty grenades," one in the shape of a pineapple, the other a lemon, both packed with gunpowder, police said.
The incident, which briefly upset British financial markets, occurred as polls in Britain were opening. Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a third term in office after a short campaign where he battled public anger against his support of the war in Iraq.
"We do not at this point have any idea who did it or a motive," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a morning news conference at the scene.
"It is true the British Consulate is in that building, but I don't think anybody should jump to conclusions," Bloomberg said. He said there had been no warning call before the blast or any call since claiming responsibility.
"Fortunately nobody was hurt," he said. "What exactly happened is under investigation."
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the building housed other foreign offices and that police had made precautionary checks at other diplomatic sites in the city but had found nothing so far.
"Let me stress, we have no known motive for this action at this time," Kelly said.
Kelly said counterterrorism experts, intelligence officers and the FBI were all involved in the investigation.
He said the explosion was caused by two small improvised explosive devices placed in the soil of a large concrete flower box -- typically used in New York to prevent vehicles from driving into buildings.
There was minimal damage to the building, with only a door, window and a nearby car damaged, police said.
New York has remained on high alert since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers.
WARNINGS AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
British Consul General Philip Thomas told reporters at the scene that he hoped to open the office later in the day and hoped to host an evening party to watch British election results as planned.
"I can't speculate about who this bomb might have been aimed at, whether it was us or someone else," Thomas said, adding that he has been in touch with other British concerns in New York.
Authorities blocked off the area, just a few blocks from the United Nations. The building is located at 845 Third Avenue, between 51st and 52nd streets.
British voters have been warned that Britain and its interests could be targeted by terrorists during the election campaign.
After the New York incident Chicago police briefly closed off part of busy Michigan Avenue in front of the building housing the British Consulate offices to make security checks.
The British Consulate in Istanbul was attacked in November 2003. That attack, and another against a British bank in the same city at the same time, killed the British Consul and 31 others.
Europeans also remember the attacks in Madrid that killed nearly 200 people on March 11, 2004, and which directly affected the outcome of the Spanish general election three days later.
Stock futures dipped at around 5 a.m./0900 GMT on news of the explosion before recovering some of their losses.
"The futures took a bit of a dip when the news came of the explosion in New York City," said Oliver Stevens, senior trader at IG Index.
Another tenant of the building is The Conference Board -- a private firm that compiles several U.S. economic indicators that help gauge the state of the American economy.
Thanks, I'm in Google news looking for it now.
My point that I'm poorly trying to make, reporting toy grenade with black powder draws up a different image than bomb size of a pineapple filled with gun powder.
NY/NJ we aren't able to play with guns and the perception draws a different image than in states where you are allowed to blow tree stumps with dynamite on your own property.
I trying to say the reporting minimizes what happened.
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