Posted on 09/08/2006 5:28:21 PM PDT by indcons
With virtually no questions asked, an undercover ABC News team was able to purchase a half ton of one of the world's most dangerous bomb-making materials and move it into a storage shed only a few miles from the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
Despite its use in the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, there are still no federal laws restricting the purchase of ammonium nitrate, a chemical fertilizer, widely sold at farm supply stores.
The ABC News undercover team made the purchases, in cash, at farm supply stores in North Carolina and Virginia and were never once asked for any valid ID.
Legislation requiring buyers of ammonium nitrate to be registered by the federal government have been blocked by the agricultural industry, according to the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Pete King (R-NY).
The results of the ABC News investigation are "a wake-up call that the American people and the Congress needs," King said. A law requiring sellers to record purchases has passed King's committee and is awaiting a vote by the full House.
Brian Ross' full investigative report will air Monday on World News with Charles Gibson and as part of an ABC News Special Report on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. (10pm EST/9pm Central)
the government is moving too slowly and is doing a lousy job.
A few miles from the White House might as well be 100 miles. Big freakin deal. There are woods and parks "a few miles" from there. What a stupid report about nothing.
President Bush hasn't made it safer.... we're still plagued with liberals, the worst terrorists by far.
As for explosives, how many drug stores are located near ABC? In most Walgreen or CVS stores, you can buy ammonia and iodine. I noticed that the ABC report didn't say anything about buying any fuel oil to go with the ammonium nitrate.
They bought ten bags of fertilizer at a farm supply store and put it in a storage shed miles from the White House.
I can't see how anyone would put this high up on the Terrorist Attack Scenario list.
Unless it was sweeps month of course..
Your anaysis is spot-on!
Safer to stay in DC than go beyond the bar at the Sheraton in the Greenzone...
Although, it wasnt *that* safe for that NY Times reporter who got mugged and beaten to death about 6 mos ago...
Everyone who is exposed to even the smallest amount of hydrogen monoxide eventually dies. If you inhale it, you can die within minutes.
So...they broke the law?
You ought to correct the title of this article. It should read:
"ABC proves that claims of civil rights violations by the Bush administration are unfounded."
If they were able to carry out what they claim they did, obviously no men in black suits are spying on Americans everywhere.
Uh- try a little critical reading. They never said where they stored the stuff- a "few miles" from the White House and Capitol can be just about anywhere. Where bomb making materials are stored doesn't make them dangerous, it's where they are used and the intent to use them.
Furthermore, chemical loaded trains pass within 1 mile of the US Capitol fairly often. Planes loaded with jet fuel pass within 5 miles. Cars loaded with gasoline park at the front door.
And then there's the old mustard gas shells that they keep digging up in Georgetown...
To use that material as a bomb they'd have to mix it and then transport it close enough to the target. And you cannot JUST pull a cement truck up to the gate of the White House or the front of the Capitol.
This story is what it tells of: BS.
Despite it's use in the world trade center bombings and the Pentagon, there are still no federal laws restricting the purchase of plane tickets......
I assume ABC will now blow up the White House. Can these people be any more repulsive?
Good thing. I don't want to have to register to buy a hundred pounds of fertilizer each year.
Attempts at security are sure inconvenient aren't they?
There shouldn't be any laws passed or efforts made to do anything toward securing our nation if one American is inconvenienced.
We don't have a chance with thinking like this. Might as well just throw in the towel now. Why bother. Or after thinking about it, throwing in the towel is inconvenient too.
There's a bit more than inconvenience tied to restricting 100lb sales of fertilizer. There's jobs to be lost doing so. If I had to register for one product, but not another that will accomplish the same thing at a higher price, I'll buy the higher priced one to the detriment of the lower priced one.
As WC Fields once said (allegedly): "I never ingest dihydrogen monoxide. Fish XXX in it."
ABC had plenty of the "manure" in storage already.
More likely, twenty 50 pound bags. I usually bought around 8 to handle annual chores around my old house with an acre of lawn. 3 or 4 trips adds up to half a ton pretty quickly.
Maybe they could blend this with NBC's April idea, and have 'muslim looking men' carrying the fertilizer around at NASCAR events and filming the responses.
I would venture a guess that it violates the "hazardous material" clause this is standard with storage shed contracts.
Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING
More fertilizer from the DUmass media
these people are sick.. sometimes I think the terrorists get all their training from the Media
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.