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Does anyone remember a similar incident with the shuttle Endeavor? If I remember correctly it was the launch prior to the Columbia one. A piece of insulation, from the external fuel tank, came off and hit the shuttle during the launch. It hit one of the main engine casings and left a dent in it.
Now...if it could leave a dent in a metal engine casing it could surely have damaged some of the shuttle tiles enough to cause its breakup on re-entry.
I've been trying to find confirmation of this online but haven't been able to find anything about damage that was found after any of the shuttles returned.
Does anyone else remember hearing or reading about this?

What you mention about this dent on the main engine casing is interesting indeed. I haven't read anything about other damages with insulation.

Today in the news, Nasa seems to say that they just cannot believe this debris is the (unique) cause of the accident. They say that the debris velocity was around 750 feet/s which is less than what I have calculated with very little data (an maybe inacurate).

Yet, 750 feet/s is still very fast (the velocity of shotshell ammunition). What is worrying me is that the piece of foam has turned completely into dust after the collision. This must have produced a huge vibration on the wing to achieve that.