* Images of the burned car owned by Katherine Smith * alternate title: How Arabs Kill Witnesses

Yahoo-AP ^ | 02.15.02 | AP

[Registered]

The burned car of Katherine Smith sits in a garage at the FBI office Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, in Memphis, Tenn. Smith, 49, a Tennessee state employee, charged in a scheme with five Middle Eastern men to sell fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses, died Sunday in a fiery car crash the day before her first court appearance. Her badly burned body was discovered Sunday in a rural Tennessee County. FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified Wednesday that witnesses told investigators they "noticed flames from the back seat" before Smith's car struck a pole. The agent added that the gas tank was intact. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

Special Agent George Bolds IV, media coordinator for the FBI Memphis Office, inspects the trunk of a burned-out Acura, owned by Katherine Smith, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, in Memphis. Smith, a driver's license examiner, was scheduled to appear in federal court Monday on charges that she sold driver's licenses to five Middle Eastern men, primarily from New York, who did not have proper documentation. Her badly burned body was found in the car Sunday, after it struck a utility pole. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

FBI special agent George Bolds IV, a media coordinator with the FBI's Memphis office, looks at a burned-out vehicle that belonged to Katherine Smith, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, at the FBI office in Memphis, Tenn. Smith, 49, a Tennessee state employee, charged in a scheme with five Middle Eastern men to sell fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses, died Sunday in a fiery car crash the day before her first court appearance. Her badly burned body was discovered Sunday in a rural Tennessee County. FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified Wednesday that witnesses told investigators they "noticed flames from the back seat" before Smith's car struck a pole. The agent added that the gas tank was intact. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

[arm958]

Considering W's "Axis of Terror" line I'd say he disgrees with you. And he knows a helluva lot more than you or I ever will.

I completely agree. President Bush and his intelligence advisors also have enough common sense (combined with REAL intelligence) to know that five Middle Eastern guys trying to get bogus drivers licenses in Tennessee are probably not working for the North korean, Chinese, or Cuban intelligence services. Can you say "no brainer"?

[Armando Guerra]

I am surprised nobody made the connection to the military tribunals. Avoiding Dershowitz and Cochran making a joke of the justice system was only one of the reasons. This type of retribution against the witnesses and judges was also a concern. I won't be holding my breath to hear Dan Rather use this as support for Bush wanting the military tribunals.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping, Registered thanks for the great detective work here!

Travis the entry of these middle east terrorists was apparently via Mexico. That ties right in with your observation re the open door for illegal aliens, earlier this morning!

[LurkedLongEnough]

Interesting... I see there is quite a mix involved and appreciate the education. Thanks.

[oyez]

I'm gonna puke.

We've been doing that for years down here, because of the slant of the news stories. One little phrase dosn't weigh much aganst the cynical way the public is treated.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for finding this and posting it. This says it all in a few pictures!

This is a great find!

[in the Arena]

That was my first question but I think I read that it was a 92'...10 year old Accura seems valid...but purchasing it from one of the co-defendents...that seems more like a payoff...

The gas tank was intack, yet witnesses see flames in the back seat before the crash...hmmm... I'm having a flashback to Planes, Trains and Automobiles...maybe she was a smoker...

[in the Arena]

That was my first question but I think I read that it was a 92'...10 year old Accura seems valid...but purchasing it from one of the co-defendents...that seems more like a payoff...

The gas tank was intack, yet witnesses see flames in the back seat before the crash...hmmm... I'm having a flashback to Planes, Trains and Automobiles...maybe she was a smoker...nah !

[_Jim]

for a 300 mile journey downstream

If it were UPSTREAM I would consider that ample grounds for suspecting foul play ... but WHY in the WORLD would someone xport the body DOWNSTRERAM some 300 odd miles as opposed to simply and conveniently dumping it in the woods or a trash dumpter somewhere?

They *do* have woods and dumpsters in that part of the country - don't they? </sarcasm>

[null and void]

The question is, how did the murderers ignite the fire and how did the gasoline get on her clothes,A glass mayonase jar full of gasoline, with an M-80 wired to the cruise control speed sensor, and a timer, radio receiver, or? under the seat would do it...

[Registered]

Hey, I report you decide ;-)

[weegee]

A driver's license examiner was driving an Acura? That should have clued someone in on something. So are the Feebs being politically correct and out looking for grey-haired little old lady perps?

In 1992, after losing her job in a sweep of staff reductions at MMHI, Smith landed work as a driver's license examiner in Memphis. The job paid $15,480 a year, which grew to $23,052 by the time of her death.

She was buying the car from one of the arrested "suspects" in the license case.

[weegee]

PING, see this article that I posted.

Car fire set off suspicions as crew fought it (Smith Tennesee License Scandal)

Some interesting quotes:

Piperton Fire Chief Steve Kellett said he, other firefighters and Tennessee Highway Patrol officers immediately thought the fire was suspicious. For one thing, the fire appeared to have started in the rear.

"The thing that was strange about it was how high up in the car it was. Normally, if it's from a gas line, it tends to burn up everything and works from the front to the back," Kellett said Thursday.

"There was lots of damage for the amount of time it was on fire," Kellett said, noting that the fire also spread to the pole. "We would spray an area that normally would go out, but it would keep catching back. That gives you a feeling that there was something there."

[weegee]

Some of the suspects are from Saudi, at least one is Palestinian/Israeli (identified in print as "Jerusalem born Palestinian).

[weegee]

There is at least some possibility that this lady was providing drivers licenses to Arabs at the behest of the intelligence agencies

The whole this came out because of an FBI agent in NYC catching a tip from an informant.

The arrest occurred as the men were being provided with licenses last week.

We are aleady in the post-9/11 world as this woman generated untraceable identities to 3 illegal aliens from the Middle East.

This wasn't the first time that she had furnished DLs to this man (it was the 6th or 7th time).

[weegee]

Did it occur to you to read the AP report about the five Middle Eastern suspects?

a majority of people of middle eastern descent in america are christian. now if they are FROM a middle eastern country, the numbers change.

The illegal aliens from the Middle East were obtaining IDs with fake names. The other 2 suspects were coordinating the deal. The woman had done this transaction with the coordinator in the past. She was also buying a car from him.

[weegee]

This thread Car fire set off suspicions as crew fought it (Smith Tennesee License Scandal) has the most details on the nature of the fire so far. Go Memphis has had the most detailed information I've found online (there were even 6 witnesses, I'm concerned for their safety and what's worse, we may never hear if anything happens to them).

[semaj]

Sounds like a molotov cocktail through the rear passenger window.