Stolen U.S. Vehicles End Up as Bombs in Iraq, FBI Says
July 19th, 2007The insurgents are getting a hold of stolen SUVs that just happen to be the same as those used by American mercenaries who are operating in Iraq.
Sure.
I don’t know WTF is going on in Iraq, but the CIA has a long history of using stolen aircraft to carry guns and drugs. Hmm.
Via: International Herald Tribune:
Bought and sold on the international black market, cars and trucks help fund criminal operations and can be turned into the terrorist weapon of choice against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians: vehicles packed with explosives. The FBI declined to estimate how many stolen U.S. cars have turned up as car bombs in Iraq but said the number is believed to be at least in the dozens.
The National Motor Vehicle Title Information System was created in 1992 to thwart motor vehicle thefts, but it remains a patchwork repository at best.
Authorities say the system, which has the potential to track every car or truck in the country by its vehicle identification number, has languished because of years of local government inattention, a lack of urgency among state motor vehicle departments, and inconsistent federal funding.
“A car bomb is the absolute favorite delivery method of terrorists,” said Special Agent Ryan Toole of the FBI’s Major Theft Unit in Washington, who is working to get the database completed. “Tracing that VIN is very, very important” to identifying where the vehicle originated or determining how it ended up in terrorist hands.
Toole said American-made vehicles are particularly attractive to terrorists in places such as Iraq. Forensics specialists there have identified some bomb-rigged cars as vehicles that were swiped off American streets and sold overseas by criminal gangs and organized crime syndicates.
Terrorists desire a “vehicle like a Suburban because it can hold a lot but it also blends in,” said Toole, who is leading the FBI’s efforts to complete the database.
That particular Chevrolet SUV model is popular, he said, because “it looks like an American security vehicle” in Iraq and “they can get closer to their target than if it was a beat-up old Toyota.”
An interesting cover story for some dirty tricks? I suppose it is possible but ….. well, the fog of war and madness can cause all manner of aberration.
“it looks like an American security vehicle†If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck, is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Hah. This is basically the same story that got a bit of attention two years back. It seems that they decided to regurgitate it, with a twist or two.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/10/02/us_car_theft_rings_probed_for_ties_to_iraq_bombings/
This shit is so outlandish that it’s insane. I mean, you really have to be out of your mind to believe that American SUVs are being “smuggled” overseas to be used in car bombing attacks. Ridiculous.
I too call “bullshit” on this one. Clearly a lie. If stolen cars/trucks from the US are being smuggled to Iraq, it sure as hell isn’t “insurgents”. I live/work in Detroit-car theft capital of the universe. My brothers are Detroit cops. They chase stolen SUVs every day. Not once have they arrested an “insurgent” stealing a Yukon. Yet another way to keep the Shia and Sunni killing each other while we steal their oil.