Grenade Near Bush Was 'Inactive'

Washington Post ^ | 5/12/05 | Mara D. Bellaby

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TBILISI, Georgia, May 11 -- A grenade found near the platform where President Bush addressed a large crowd here Tuesday was incapable of exploding and had not been thrown, as earlier reported, Georgia's security chief said Wednesday.

Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, said the Soviet-era grenade was found in "inactive mode" about 100 feet from the platform.

Bush was not aware of the grenade report until Secret Service agents told him about it aboard his jet as it was returning to Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, press secretary Scott McClellan said, adding that the White House never believed the president's life was in danger.

"The Secret Service and FBI are continuing to look into it," McClellan said Wednesday. "There have been different reports about what happened and what exactly it was."

A U.S. Secret Service spokesman, Jonathan Cherry, said Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fell to the ground.

Bezhuashvili, however, said the grenade was not thrown but "found."

"The goal is clear -- to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," he said. "The goal has been reached, and that is why I'm talking to you now."

"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said, referring to Bush and Georgia's Mikheil Saakashvili.

[On Wednesday, Cherry told Washington Post staff writer John Mintz that there was "an ongoing investigation, and we will have no additional comment" on the grenade.]

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Khatiya Dzhindzhikhadze, said questions about the grenade would "be resolved jointly by American and Georgian specialists."

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Bezhuashvili, however, said the grenade was not thrown but "found." "The goal is clear -- to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," he said.

The whole thing managed to tarnish what was a very impressive event and a great speech by President Bush in Tblisi. Gotta wonder if some pro-Soviet group (or Govt.) wasn't trying to rain on the parade.

[explodingspleen]

Between the terrorists succeeding to blow up a flowerpot in new york and using inactive grenades in presidential gatherings... well, gee, it just doesn't get much more pathetic than this, does it?

Maybe Osama will release another video tape (gasp! horror! i'm quaking!) to try and save some face.

What lame idiots.

[bozot]

...it just doesn't get much more pathetic than this, does it? ...

I think you do not understand the strategy...

The flowerpot or the grenade could had been real...
It means stricter security...

And that President Bush could not have even THIS much contact with people... Then can be claimed that he is living in an artificiel bubble with only second hand information about the "real" world...

The idea of terrorism is not the damage but the fear...
Bolowing up an airoplane could cost this and that much...
Crippling the aviation industry with security rules costs much more...

[LegendHasIt]

Whatever the reason, whatever the physical facts and evidence (which we will probably never know)....

I'd bet money that the person who threw, placed, "accidentally dropped" (or whatever) this device gets his paycheck from a fellow named Soros....

Who maintains a lot of private mercenaries, informants and intellegence agents in Georgia and hates President Bush with a depth of passion that most of us couldn't summon even for Osama.

[mtbopfuyn]

That was merely a test. Next time...

[Reactionary]

"A grenade found near the platform where President Bush addressed a large crowd here Tuesday was incapable of exploding and had not been thrown, as earlier reported, Georgia's security chief said Wednesday."

Incapable of exploding? Does that mean it was a dummy grenade? No one knows because the fine writers at the Post seem incapable of using clear language.

"Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, said the Soviet-era grenade was found in "inactive mode" about 100 feet from the platform." "Inactive mode?" Again, what does that mean? Does that mean the pin wasn't pulled? And how does an inert device (which is what I believe they're *trying* to say it was) have an "inactive mode?" It is, by definition, inactive.

As usual, there are more questions than answers because the ability of newspapers to provide clear, accurate information is beyond them.

[JasonC]

Methinks someone was quietly (if recklessly) making the point that security for the event was a joke.

[JasonC]

The pin hadn't been pulled, that is all. Not knowledge, just a bet.