US car theft rings probed for ties to Iraq bombings

[auburngrad82]

US car theft rings probed for ties to Iraq bombings

WASHINGTON -- The FBI's counterterrorism unit has launched a broad investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering that some of the vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq, including attacks that killed US troops and Iraqi civilians, were probably stolen in the United States, according to senior government officials.

Inspector John E. Lewis, deputy assistant director of the FBI for counterterrorism, told the Globe that the investigation hasn't yielded any evidence that the vehicles were stolen specifically for car bombings. But there is evidence, he said, that the cars were smuggled from the United States as part of a widespread criminal network that includes terrorists and insurgents.

Cracking the car theft rings and tracing the cars could help identify the leaders of insurgent forces in Iraq and shut down at least one of the means they use to attack the US-led coalition and the Iraqi government, the officials said.

The inquiry began after coalition troops raided a bomb-making factory in Fallujah last November and found a sport utility vehicle registered in Texas that was being prepared for a bombing mission.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/10/02/us_car_theft_rings_probed_for_ties_to_iraq_bombings/

Note: this sounds like a way to put a stolen car ring under investigation by Homeland Security. Kind of like looking for Texas Democrats with Homeland Security.

[Dover]

1. Probably just one more campaign finance scheme by Delay...

Sell cars (just like weapons trade) to the Iraqi insurgents in order to pay for GOP domestic campaigns, while simultaneously keeping the war machine going. Hey, and GM probably donated the cars...lol!


Okay...okay.....but it is just twisted enough to be a Delay tactic.

[FloridaPat]

2. So let me get this straight. al Qada is over her in the US stealing cars

and shipping them via boat or plane to Iraq, sneaking them in the country, and planting them with bombs. Maybe these terrorist people are nuts, but if it was me, I'd steal cars from Europe or the middle east and drive them there. Or truck them there. Why would they not take them from Europe which is 2000 miles closer?

Maybe they just love those SUVs? They're trying to keep GM alive?
There aren't enough cars in Iraq to steal? They want the cars to look inconspicuous on the streets with all these bombs in them?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

4. Do you have any idea...

...how expensive new cars are in Europe? Tramp freighters aren't that expensive to run, y'know.

[auburngrad82]

5. If they're stolen then they don't cost anything, do they?

I mean, that's the point of stealing it, so you don't have to pay for it.

[ret5hd]

6. hahahahaha (nt)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. D'oh!

Since I moved here, I've been having the "do you have any idea how much X costs?" conversation so many times that it's almost second-nature.

[superconnected]

37. why not just steal cars in iraq and use those cars?

If there's no cars in iraq, isn't is kind of suspicious driving one up with a bomb in it.

This shipping stolen cars from the US to iraq is the dumbest thing I've heard yet. Unless bushco is doing it and blowing them up on purpose, that is.

[Roland99]

8. Yeah, it's not like American cars aren't sold overseas.

[cassiepriam]

34. This doesn't make any sense.... something is fishy here.... nt

[No Exit]

14. You are right to be skeptical. I think this is just

more propaganda to open up even more venues for the use of the Patriot Act (and the encroachment of the federal government into areas which traditionally belonged to state and local governments.)

[auburngrad82]

16. That was my first thought

All you have to do is say you think it's tied to terrorism and you can use the Patriot Act against anything.

I've heard that insurgents use old episodes of Rocky and Bulwinkle to learn how to pull a bomb out of a hat.

[shadowknows69]

19. or if they're stealing cars in America

why are they politely only shipping them to Iraq for car bombs. You'd think they'd use at least one of them here. Oh that's right GW says they have to fight us over there first. Come on.

[jsamuel]

3. Combine this with the Brittish SAS car bomb team and this could be scary..

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. The only reason these cars are coming from the US

is because al CIAda is shipping them to Iraq to stir up the 'insurgency'. Typical BushCo trick.

[No Exit]

15. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. And remember,

sometimes the "insurgency" takes the STRANGEST forms, doesn't it? Such as, the "insurgent bombers" who turned out to be a bunch of British soldiers dressed up as A-rabs.

[cassiepriam]

35. Just who are we fighting over there? Ourselves and the Brits?? nt

[No Exit]

42. The enemy is anyone Bush/Blair/Cheney want it to be! n/t

[htuttle]

9. They probably came via Saudi Arabia, or one of the Gulf states

The coop I work for buys used fleet vehicles at various state auctions. One of the more common sights at the big ones is groups of Saudis buying big cars (they especially seem to like the Caprices).

There are US cars shipped to private parties in Saudi Arabia (and the other oil sheikdoms) all the time. There are probably a lot of cars stolen in the US that go that way as well, since the Saudis are pretty well known for NOT asking too many questions about the origins of their cars.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Well, some bright person did say that we are now manufacturing

the weapons that our enemies will use to defeat us.

I never imagined they were talking about our cars.

[neweurope]

11. Crap... we KNOW the US and the Brits are actively incenting

the insurgency... I'm all for the FBI investigating - I wonder how long they'll be allowed to investigate, though. No WAY an Iraqi who'd like to make a car bomb would buy a car stolen in the US for that purpose. Much too complicated, needlessly complicated. There ARE cars in other parts of the world, you know.

It has been said for quite awhile that while suicide bombers probably ARE real freedom fighters most car bombs are probably the work of the British and the US. Now I truly believe this.

-----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[No Exit]

12. Suppose a U.S. car is used in an Iraqi bombing: what better way

to explain it away than to say, "oh, well, everyone knows that theft of U.S. cars is being used to help the insurgents/terrorists"? That way, if the car bombing just HAPPENS to have actually been carried out by, oh, say, some Brits(or Americans) dressed up as Arabs to look like "insurgents", then the incident doesn't look quite as phony to those who are trying to put the pieces together on this whole fraudulent "terrorism" crap.

Another, more likely possibility: linking U.S. car theft with "terrorism" creates more opportunities for the federal Patriot Act to be used in areas which were never intended to involve the federal government.

[formercia]

13. Maybe the Coalition troops need a VIN database at checkpoints

and start confiscating vehicles that come up as stolen.

[bemildred]

17. What utter horseshit. nt

[lutefisk]

18. Have they suggested tracking devices on all US cars?

After all, if you don't have anything to hide, why should you care if Homeland Security knows where you drive?

Was the Texas SUV a black Suburban, with tinted windows, by any chance? Can't help but be suspicious when Texas or Florida is in the mix.

[Just Me]

20. Is this bizzare or what?

Vehicles stolen from the US being used in terrorist bombings.

Whoosh! :wtf:

Must be one helluva resourceful ring to transfer stolen US vehicles all the way to Iraq.

[NorthernSpy]

22. huh? steal a car here, ship it overseas somehow, get it into position...

... and then blow it up over there?

Why not just steal a car over there?

I don't understand this story.

Terrorism specialists think Iraqi insurgents prefer American stolen cars because they tend to be larger, blend in more easily with the convoys of US government and private contractors, and are harder to identify as stolen.

But we sell those cars all over the world! Don't tell me there are no such vehicles to be had on the Eurasian continent. Stealing them here, and then shipping them across the Atlantic, and then getting them to Iraq before finally blowing them up still seems like doing things the hard way for no real reason...

:think:

[Straight Shooter]

23. Well, if they blend in with "private contractors" ...

That makes me wonder if some of our lovely mercenaries aren't selling the vehicles to the insurgents. After all, their loyalty is to money, not to country. They probably don't want their cash cow drying up, do they? Give cars to insurgents or insurgent lookalikes, cars blow up and kill people, ratchet up the insurgency rhetoric, keep the mercenaries employed longer.

Yep, sounds like a racket to me.

[Lori Price CLG]

24. Delete - don't want it in this thread. Thanks! n/t

[marmar]

25. Que?

Do the insurgents have big ships that are somehow sneaking out of our ports undetected?

[xultar]

27. DING DING DING...You win the Cupie Doll!

[Lori Price CLG]

29. Yes, they passed port security, and everything! They're amazing. n/t

[superconnected]

39. Proof that homeland security is not making us any safer,

Do you feel safer? I don't feel safer.

[stillcool]

26. Have they gotten the ones from...

New Orleans yet?

[xultar]

28. Hell no. Those are @ a dealership by my house. Here's the story

There was a dealership by my house that hardly ever has cars. NOW all of a sudden they have more cars than they can park on the lot.

Ain't no one fooled. Straight up Katrina rides. Everyone knows it. Except for the poor Mexicans who are buying them and getting RIPPED off.

[Lori Price CLG]

31. LOL! Can it get any more obvious that we need a revolution in

this country?

'Voting' doesn't work any more, folks. We saw that in 2000, 2002 (in Georgia, etc.) and 2004.

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

[htuttle]

30. They probably came via Saudi Arabia, or one of the Gulf states

They're known to buy American cars at nice prices, no questions asked. They also have the resources to get them there without paperwork.

[OKNancy]

32. Another thread here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1827949

:-)

[salin]

33. absurd sounding story - but if true - sure speaks volumes about

how bad our leaky homeland security is in terms of freight and shipping yards.

[AZBlue]

36. PHEW! Now that the FBI is on this, I can rest easy at night!

:sarcasm:

Thank God they aren't wasting their time with anything frivolous like exposing terrorist cells inside the US or shoring up the borders.

I mean, there's obviously no closer place they could get cars - I'm sure they are coming all the way to America to get them!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[superconnected]

38. all those poor black men and mexicans better watch out

bush want to get them for being al quaida opperatives.

That goes for the poor white people stealing cars too.

Clearly they are really terrorist cells shipping them to iraq.

Psst - Drug users are terrorists too.
they're trying to wipe out the us population with the spread of aids. They all work for Hummas.

[Stewie]

40. My BS-meter is about to snap the needle

If they're stealing cars in the United States to turn into bombs...

...and the United States is supposed to be a terrorist target...

...why aren't they setting off the bombs in the United States?

Why go through the hassle of trying to smuggle a stolen 1/2 ton vehicle 12,000 miles to Iraq when they could just copycat Tim McVeigh?

Methinks this is part of a push to federalize/Homeland Security local law enforcement.

[anotherdrew]

41. how about you bust the car theft rings boys? just an idea...

will they?