Yes, an Itemizer could have saved Massoud from the suicidal TV cameraman that day. Thankfully, we've got them and our grunts diligently use them.
Posted on 06/10/2004 2:30:42 PM PDT by Dog
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four Arab men posing as journalists were arrested this week when explosives residue was detected on them as they tried to enter the Baghdad headquarters of the U.S.-led administration, a senior U.S. army officer said.
The officer, a top security official in the compound which hosts news conferences given by senior U.S. and Iraqi officials and houses the U.S. consulate, said explosives were found in the men's hotel room after the arrests on Sunday.
They were posing as employees of an international television company and carried fake identification cards and were trying to drive a van into the compound when they were arrested, he said.
"The IDs looked real. But when we called the organization and asked if they were employees, they said they had not heard of them," the army officer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters.
Scores of Western, Iraqi and Arab journalists as well as Iraqi employees of the U.S.-led administration enter the complex each week after tight security checks.
The area, part of the heavily fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, is often hit by mortar attacks.
"The four who were arrested may have just been gathering information on the compound or maybe they were just scouting it out. This case is serious," the officer said. He declined to comment on the nationality of the men.
U.S. military officials say foreign fighters are heavily involved in bombings gripping Iraq (news - web sites), including deadly attacks at the gates of the Green Zone that have killed dozens of Iraqis queuing up for work inside. One of the checkpoints at the compound includes an itemizer, a high-tech machine that scans equipment such as cameras for bomb residue. Some people who accidentally pick up explosives residue, such as journalists who cover bombings, sometimes set off the machine.
But the senior army officer said his troops arrest three to four people per week in cases similar to the four Arab men seen as security threats.
The U.S. military said explosive devices have been found inside the green zone but there have been no reports of bombings inside the area that includes palaces formerly belonging to toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
"The last time there was a bomb just outside here we tested the machine to make sure it works. Everybody that was near the bomb site that passed through here set off the system. It worked," the officer said.
As if the real kind existed any more.
A thwarted kickoff to the Battle for Baghdad.
Great move to stop them. Just like the other triumph of rescuing those European hostages.
Now, I hope we find pfc Maupin and others alive and well.
This is excellent news.
A page right out of the Al Qaeda playbook.
I saw something today about the Italian hostages let me ping you.
Obviously from CNN. As I have posted here before, fire on anyone carrying an AK47, RPG or CNN camera. They are all the enemy.
Im sure it was just a big misunderstanding....
Mahsood[sp?]
When I hear about this it makes me mad . . . makes me want to do something rash like put panties on their head.
Also reminscent of the 4 arabs in a van refused entrance to the President's hotel in Florida, early morning 9.11.
Disappeared, never to be seen again, as far as we know.
Same MO as the Massoud hit.
Good work
No doubt.
Let's just call them propagandists.
Yes, an Itemizer could have saved Massoud from the suicidal TV cameraman that day. Thankfully, we've got them and our grunts diligently use them.
Oh, that doesn't look right. Musta been a problem when posting to the site.
*tinker, tinker*
He (Saudi) declined (Saudi) to comment (Saudi) on the (Saudi) nationality of (Saudi) the men.
There you go. Got it reading right as rain now!
"keep your eyes open" ping
interesting!
With an incubation period of say 10 -12 days the spread could be humongous. I bet its what they will do in America.
Walk into a train station or Airport and infect people headed all over the country.
In two weeks it couldn't be contained.
I missed that one! If you still have a link, I'd like to read about it. No biggie if you don't have it.
That reminds me of that Northern Alliance leader (name escapes me right now) who was assassinated just a day or so before 911 . Terrorists posing as newsmen. (Well, the line between the two is not always so sharp anyway, given recent actions in Iraq --- "news" reporters with photographers showing up before attacks, etc.)
Mashood.
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