Re: Who knows, maybe even the explosion at the British oil storage depot last week will be "found" to be the work of Syria or Iran?
"...found to be a terrorist act"?!? LOL... Didn't Scotland Yard clue you in?
Police officers - including anti-terrorist detectives - are investigating the disaster, but say there is "nothing to suggest" it was anything other than an accident.
[...]
news.bbc.co.uk
You know, Searle, Scotland Yard's crack sleuths keep baffling me... I mean, ever since the oil depots blew up, nobody --be they firefighters, military emergency units, police experts, journalists, Total engineers,...-- just NOBODY has been able to get close to the inferno's precincts. Because of the intense heat and fumes, nobody's been able to get closer than 500 yards from the blaze. And yet they can tell us with absolute certainty that it wasn't a terrorist bombing, not even an arson!!! I really admire their "remote disaster-probing" skills!
Now, as regards the possibility of Iranian or Syrian intelligence to pull off such a terrorist coup, I admit that I too hesitated between Iran and Israel. Indeed, it would make sense for Iran to fire a preemptive/warning shot against the EU troika (France, Britain and Germany) to dissuade it from bullying Iran out of nuclear enrichment... But then, I said to myself, let's be serious: ever since the London bombings, UK counterintelligence has been beefed up and prioritized against "ugly Arabs". So, I just can't believe Iranian intelligence was able to hatch such a devastating attack against one of Britain's most closely protected assets. Another clue that prompted me to discount Iran is the French AZF prequel in tempore non suspecto (as far as Iran is concerned, that is):
News Note: French Chemical Plant Explosion Kills At Least 29
On September 21, 2001, an agricultural chemical plant exploded in Toulouse, France’s fourth largest city. The explosion damaged buildings as far as three miles away and spewed acid clouds into the air. Days after the blast, 29 people were reported dead, 10 missing, approximately 800 hospitalized and more than 2,500 injured.
The AZF plant produced ammonium nitrate and other agricultural chemicals. Days after the explosion, environmental inspectors announced that most of the ammonia and other gases released into the air had dispersed. However, officials warned nearby towns and villages not to drink tap water because the plant had contaminated the nearby Garonne River.
The AZF chemical works, situated on a 40- acre site near Toulouse’s one million inhabitants, is Europe’s third-largest and France’s largest manufacturer of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals. Built in 1924, it was later modernized and bought by the oil and chemical conglomerate Total-Fina-Elf -- the world’s fourth-largest oil group.
The AZF plant, where 470 people work, is among 372 sites in France classified under a European Union directive as high-risk, meaning that extra security precautions must be taken. The high-risk designation, officially named "Seveso," was put in place after a 1976 chemical disaster in the Italian village of Seveso, where a pharmaceutical factory malfunctioned, producing a toxic cloud containing dioxin.
Toulouse’s mayor as well as other residents question how the petrochemical plant, classified as "high risk," came to be so close to the edge of a large city.
Experts said that even a very large stock of ammonium nitrate is not a problem as long as it is kept dry and cool. If it gets humid it can heat up and ferment, leading to spontaneous combustion. But chemists also explained that fertilizer, while commonly available as plant food, can also serve as an explosive.
The exact cause the explosion is unknown. Some parties speculate that it was an accident, some the result of negligence, and still others think that it was a deliberate act. Toulouse’s city prosecutor has ordered a judicial inquiry into the disaster.
Sources: CCN.com, September 21, 2001; The New York Times, September 25, 2001.
panna.org |
