The bomb that killed the 14 Marines was Russian made ?

[kentuck]

Susan, on C-SPAN this morning, read an article that said the bomb was larger and more deadly than those that have been set off in the past. The article said it may have been an airborne 500-lb Russian bomb? It left a 6-ft deep by 17-ft wide hole in the ground. Is Russia helping the insurgents or is this just some leftover munitions?

[sleipnir]

1. Ummm....who knows.

It could be smuggled weapon or really, a stolen weapon from the Chechnya region. Arms sharing between radical Islamic terror/insurgent groups.

[mike_c]

2. oh, wouldn't that be karma coming back to haunt us...?

But it's probably just some of the stockpiled munitions that Iraq is awash in.

[d_b]

3. Time to invade Russia

.....:rofl:

[bushisanidiot]

5. They have to wait in line. AWOL wants to go after Iran,N. Korea,

venezuela and China... oh my.. the list is getting longer.

[bushisanidiot]

4. I'm sure plenty of american troops have been killed with u.s.made weapons

sold to saddam hussein in the 1980's by Reagan/Bush/Rumsfeld. so what difference does it make whether the bomb was made in russia, etc...

[YOY]

6. Leftover munitions is one explanation

Others include:

-Islamic sympathizers using Russian made weapons sent it
-Russian black market arms dealers (Chechens, the Russian 'Mafiya', rogue military with surplus etc...) making a quick buck
-Stolen from sources who did have such weapons and did not report its theft.
-The tooth fairy gave it to them :sarcasm:

I highly doubt Russia has that much to gain by helping the insurgents. Vlad has problems of his own.

eduted for spelling...and to put in a smiley

[warrens]

10. At one point, Iraq had an air force

We bombed it pretty much out of existance before the war even started, but it's not too far-fetched that there would have been leftover munitions.

[YOY]

12. Of course, like I said, that is a perfectly viable possibility!

All (save the tooth fairy comment) in my post were viable possibilities.

I really have to learn to add the "sarcasm smiley"

[seabeyond]

7. ooops. hm. now what. hm. well you know

that putin, to look at his eyes, when he is with bush and how his head is always tilted down. and all the other shit they have experienced together

the drugging of official that we wanted to win. yugoslavia?
the theater thing
saying bush stole election......just so much more

i am wondering if these people all have food tasters.

[seabeyond]

8. f***, thinking about this more

there is always so much. i am sittin with a brother high in the oil issues, making pipeline world wide. the big dogs

you have those three countries they are wanting to build pipeline thru. we were just kicked out of one country. maybe we do have the world declaring battle with us. huge conspiracy theory, i know i know. it is so tough to always have to say, are they working together behind the scenes to fuck us all, or are they fighting each other that will ultimately fuck us all

i am so pissed at the oil profit vs energy bill and what they got in subsidy

[ArkDem]

9. The Russians historically have been and are strong backers

of the Islamic radicals. The whole thing going on in Checyna is a front designed to protect Russia from western suspicions. Putin has been a friend of the Wahhabi's for decades!

[Gruenemann]

17. Yeah, wasn't it wild...

...the way they supported the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan?

[ArkDem]

19. Where did those AK-47's come from?

[Gruenemann]

26. You got me there.

The USSR's foreign policy was as stupid as ours is now. No doubt those weapons could be traced, ultimately, to the Soviets, who then found them used against them--just like we find US-made weaponry used against us. Of course, if I had to choose a weapon, the AK-47 would win out over the Mattel-16.

Then again, maybe the Mujahedeen got their AKs at a gun show here in Texas. Or over there in Arkansas.

[ArkDem]

28. My friend, I must tell you that my original post was 100 %

sarcasm. I must also tell you that we have developed a new cartridge for the army. It is a necked down .270 (6.68) with a 105 grain bullet. The M16 frame is used with a new receiver. It out performs the AK-47 in virtually every area although it is much harder on the ears.

[Ganja Ninja]

11. There are plenty of unguarded left over munitions around.

Since most of them came Russia and the eastern bloc it's no surprise if it were Russian.

[Deja Q]

13. It's only money. The US sold many weapons to Iraq, Iran, and others too.

I don't see the problem; it's just business.

Everybody sells to people and doesn't care what they do with it. That's how the sellers want to do things, so that's fine by me. People say I'm not supportive of capitalism and how our society works. Well, this post should prove the contrary. O8)

[mikeytherat]

14. If we didn't seal the borders, didn't protect the weapons depots,

and didn't monitor the disbanded Iraqi military (and their associated light- to -heavy weaponry), why would we be surprised by ANY munitions being used against us?

With about 150K "coalition" troops, we have difficulty holding cities in Iraq; what makes people think we could hold borders? ALL of the borders. In a country the size of Texas?

(banging head on desk)

mikey_the_rat

[One_Life_To_Give]

15. Iraqi airforce was all Russian

Hence they would be designed to use Russian Bombs. And the ammunition bunkers we didn't bother to secure would have been full of Russian Bombs. All made before the first gulf war. When no international sanctions prevented Russia from selling arms to Iraq.

[htuttle]

16. Not a single shred of physical evidence

...and the wingnuts pickup the non-existant ball and run with it.

Here's the apparent line of reasoning being used here:

Big Bomb-> Must have been an airborne bomb-> Must have been Russian-> Russians must be helping insurgents.

Idiots. No wonder people can sell so many bunk penis enlargement pills here in the US... I think I'm going to mix up some magic Al Queda repellant, and go sell it on the street.

[ArkDem]

29. Do you know where I could get some

penis reduction pills?

[kentuck]

30. Yeah...

I used to talk like this..(with a very low voice)..but now I talk like this..(with a very high voice) :)

[WilliamPitt]

18. My bet

is that it was made from the stuff lifted from al Qaqaa. That was high-grade explosive and could have made a big bang.

[kentuck]

21. That could be where it's at...

They never found any of it except perhaps in the residuals of the car bombs around Baghdad...

[WilliamPitt]

22. ...and London

[aden_nak]

20. The former Soviet Union sold off huge stockpiles of weapons, no?

And really, they are right next door to Russia, whether we think of it that way or not. After all, Bin Laden was our point man in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. It'd be no suprise if some of that weapons tech showed up now.

[DistressedAmerican]

23. Suprises Me That It Was Not Some Of The Tons Of Stolen High Explosive

that we were supposed to be protecting!

[dr.strangelove]

24. During the 1980s the US and Russia

were the worlds largest arms suppliers. A 500lb bomb could easily have been sold 20 years ago and not yet used. There are piles of old AK47s and ammunition that have been found, why not a 500lb bomb too.

[Imagevision]

25. I'm truly amazed insurgents haven't used ground to air missles to

take out a jet yet. Guess it's just a matter of a little more time?

[kentuck]

27. They've taken down a few choppers...

with those missiles.