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Texas plant guard sticks to story
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Posted on 01/28/2004 3:40:08 AM EST by JohnHuang2
HOMELAND INSECURITY
Texas plant guard
sticks to story
Man shot near port facility
says FBI doesn't believe him
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
The guard shot at a chemical plant near a Texas port is sticking to his story about a Mideast gunman, but he says the FBI doesn't believe him.
The shooting in Freeport at a BASF ammonia depot occurred late Friday night in a muddy lot outside the plant.
Robert House was working security when he said he noticed a suspect in a white pickup truck taking pictures of the facility's lights.
House says when he confronted the driver, a Middle Easterner with a thick accent, the unarmed guard was shot in the shoulder.
Hours after the incident, FBI agents came to the hospital and gave House a lie detector test.
"The test was telling him that I shot myself," said House. "And I told him no, that I didn't, and he said that he could see it in my eyes that I was crying out for some type of help."
On the record, investigators said House has no criminal record, and that police are still investigating his initial story.
The FBI has insisted from the beginning the shooting does not have any connection to terrorism.
House is recuperating at home and has hired an attorney.
The mystery continues to raise questions about terrorism. Despite the FBI's assurances, investigators from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Coast Guard, state police and local law enforcement are all involved in the probe.
Some of those sources have told Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin they suspect the guard stumbled into a terrorism reconnaissance operation.
The gunman, described as a mustachioed man with a dark complexion, dark hair, heavy 5 o'clock shadow and a thick Middle Eastern accent, was driving a white, club cab, half-ton Chevrolet pickup with black trim at the bottom and dark-tinted windows. The truck had no front license plate.
House said he questioned the driver of the truck about why he was in the vicinity of a large, multi-story ammonia tank. He told police the truck driver explained that he was taking pictures of it. When the guard turned to radio for help, the driver pulled out a handgun and shot House in the shoulder.
Freeport is about 60 miles south of Houston, but only a few miles from Texas City on the gulf coast, where one of the worst disasters in the history of the United States took place April 16, 1947, when the French ship SS Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate, exploded at the docks. The entire dock area was destroyed, along with the nearby Monsanto Chemical Company, other smaller companies, grain warehouses, and numerous oil and chemical storage tanks.
Smaller explosions and fires were ignited by flying debris, not only along the industrial area, but throughout the city.
Fragments of iron, parts of the ship's cargo, and dock equipment were hurled into businesses, houses, and public buildings. A 15-foot tidal wave caused by the force swept the dock area.
The concussion of the explosion, felt as far away as Port Arthur, damaged or destroyed at least 1,000 residences and buildings throughout Texas City. The ship SS High Flyer, in dock for repairs and also carrying ammonium nitrate, was ignited by the first explosion; it was towed 100 feet from the docks before it exploded about 16 hours later, at 1:10 a.m. the next day.
The first explosion had killed 26 Texas City firemen and destroyed all of the city's fire-fighting equipment, including four trucks, leaving the city helpless in the wake of the second explosion. No central disaster organization had been established by the city, but most of the chemical and oil plants had disaster plans that were quickly activated. Although power and water were cut off, hundreds of local volunteers began fighting the fires and doing rescue work. Red Cross personnel and other volunteers from surrounding cities responded with assistance until almost 4,000 workers were operating; temporary hospitals, morgues, and shelters were set up.
Probably the exact number of people killed will never be known, although the ship's anchor monument records 576 persons known dead, 398 of whom were identified, and 178 listed as missing. All records of personnel and payrolls of the Monsanto Company were destroyed, and many of the dock workers were itinerants and thus difficult to identify. Almost all persons in the dock area – firemen, ships' crews, and spectators – were killed, and most of the bodies were never recovered; 63 bodies were buried unidentified. The number of injured ranged in the thousands, and loss of property totaled about $67 million.
The Texas City incident was the result of an accident. Terrorism experts have been examining the tragedy to determine the potential damage in a deliberate attack on a port city by a ship laden with chemicals, explosives – even, perhaps, a nuclear weapon. And that was before this latest, highly suspicious attack.
Other gulf ports have been on heightened terrorist alert.
G2 Bulletin sources say a mysterious armada of al-Qaida ships has been purchased to target, among other things, civilian ports, cruise ships and oil rigs.
Chemical plants and refineries have tightened security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for fear they may be targets in a future attack. Ammonia can be explosive when mixed with air. In addition, it should be noted that BASF is the second largest producer in the world of ammonium sulfate, a fertilizer with explosive tendencies.
The Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF is one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers. The Freeport complex includes 16 plants, including an ammonia plant next to the deepwater cargo port. The facility produces adhesives, super absorbers, paints, nylons and plastics.
"We don't believe we have any kind of a terrorist threat or that there was any way any kind of a terrorist planning or organization was going on with what occurred last night," said Bob Doguim of the FBI's Houston office immediately following the attack.
But other law-enforcement sources say common sense dictates that, in this case, with this extraordinary set of circumstances, "terrorism is everyone's first guess."
One law enforcement source said the signs point to this incident being a "terrorist reconnaissance operation."
"There are no signs of any explosives," he said. "There are no signs of any renegade ships in the area. But there is a strong likelihood this shooter and any companions that may have been with him were scoping out a possible target for terrorism."
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