Grenade Thrown at Bush During Speech

Georgia grenade was real and a threat to Bush - FBI

By Niko Mchedlishvili Wed May 18, 5:46 PM ET

TBILISI (Reuters) - A grenade thrown toward

President Bush during a visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia last week was a threat to him and only failed to explode because of a malfunction, the

FBI said on Wednesday.

But an FBI official at the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi stopped short of calling it an assassination attempt against Bush and the president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, and the White House said the matter remained under investigation.

The FBI said the grenade, thrown while Bush made a speech in Tbilisi's Freedom Square on May 10, had been live and landed within 100 feet of the president.

"We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of both the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as well as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at this event," C. Bryan Paarmann, the FBI's legal attache at the embassy said in a statement.

The grenade was thrown while Bush and Saakashvili, joined by their wives, were addressing tens of thousands of people jammed into Tbilisi's Freedom Square. If it had exploded it would have caused significant casualties.

The grenade "was wrapped in a dark Tartan colored cloth handkerchief when it was tossed into the crowd listening to the president's speech," Paarmann said.

"This hand grenade appears to be a live device that simply failed to function due to a light strike on the blasting cap induced by a slow deployment of the spoon activation device."

Bush was told about the initial results of the FBI investigation Tuesday and was updated by FBI director Robert Mueller on Wednesday morning.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had "absolutely not" lost confidence in the Secret Service charged with protecting him.

"We have full trust in the Secret Service and their ability to address these matters," he said.

It was the largest crowd at Freedom Square since supporters of Saakashvili massed there for the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that piloted him to power.

At the time reporters noted the crowd was so large people overwhelmed metal detectors set up in the back, although officials insisted the people closest to the president would have gone through the weapons sweep.

A bullet-proof shield had been set up around part of the podium, with a large gap directly in front of the microphone.

Asked about these issues, McClellan said: "Those are all issues that the Secret Service will look at and take into consideration for future events."

Journalists at U.S. television networks scanned their videotape of the event but found no images of an object being thrown.

Georgian officials said the grenade had hit a bystander and fallen to the ground, but had no leads as to who had thrown it.

"The grenade hit a girl's head. Other details are under investigation. All we know is that the grenade was RGD-5," said Interior Ministry Spokesman Guram Donadze, referring to a type of Soviet-designed fragmentation grenade.

Paarman called for witnesses to come forward. A reward of 20,000 laris -- roughly $11,000 -- was offered for information "leading to the arrest and conviction of this individual."

The White House said at the time that Bush, who had visited Georgia to show support for its pro-Western government, had never been in danger.

"

The Secret Service didn't consider him to be (in danger) at that time. We've learned more since that time," McClellan said when asked to explain the discrepancy.

Bush only learned about the incident once Georgian authorities reported it after the president was headed back to the United States, the spokesman said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/georgia_grenade_dc

when i first heard about this i didn't think much about it. but imagine how much press there would be if there was an assasination attempt on the president. it would be on tv interrupting shows. and i think this qualifies as a genuine attempt because the granade was live. so what's the reason for downplaying it?

i thought this shit was awesome.

i saw fbi dude on tv talking about it being a "huge breach in security"

haha a live grenade within 60 feet of prez,

it had a blast radius of 60 feet, shrapnel danger is farther.

it would hav ekilled people in about a 15 foot radius

but

they think it was a diversion for armed militants in the crowd

(they saw later on security cameras, people slipped by metal detectors)

hahahaha!

damn.

some shit was probably about to pop the fuck off.

Huh...

When I first heard about this, they said it wasn't live. Now it is...

Interesting. The spoon probably failed to strike the blasting cap because it was wrapped in that cloth.

Bush is a lucky motherfucker.

Let's see how much he pushes his luck now.

The chances of a dud grenade are about 1 in 1000. Obviously Bush is

Satan in human form, and can defy assassination through use of his

dark evil. It was said that the next antichrist will come in human

form, and an unexpected one at that. There is no better form for

the evil one to take than that of a drunken texas governor who is so

stupid he can't even make out intelligible sentences. BTW, i was shocked when my friend called me at work and told me about this!

It must be policy to deny and cover up assassination attempts, because obviously everyone in the world loves Bush, and no one would ever want to harm him.

This administration's denial is beneath even them.

When I first heard this story, I caught a whiff of bullshit when it was reported as a dud grenade and nothing more than a prank.

And in the first reports they said it came within 30 meters of the illiterate boyscout, which wasn’t close enough in my opinion. But I didn’t even think about the grenade only being a distraction, like symbols had mentioned.

It sounds like something came very close to happening that day.

And watch him use this shit as a pretext to invade some other countries.

It will turn out the people involved were from Iran or Syria, just watch. haha

Meanwhile, in 2008...

"I mean, afterall they did try to kill my brother."

i read that it was a demo grenade with only a blast cap in it. no high explosives.

anyhow, i trust the kgb more than i do the bush administration....

did i say kgb? i meant to say the russian police.

p.s.: i almost got a boner when i heard about this. it was a big let down that ...well, that, uh...yeah.

Originally posted by fatalist@May 19 2005, 01:29 PM

The chances of a dud grenade are about 1 in 1000. Obviously Bush is

Satan in human form, and can defy assassination through use of his

dark evil. It was said that the next antichrist will come in human

form, and an unexpected one at that. There is no better form for

the evil one to take than that of a drunken texas governor who is so

stupid he can't even make out intelligible sentences.

Quoted post

No doubt. I been trying to convince my mother that Bush is the AntiChrist but she refuses to beleive me. She honestly thinks the guy is a "good Christian" :haha: :haha: Stupid bitch actually voted for him.

"Bitch! you voted for the antichrist! You're going to hell!!!! :haha: :haha:

Originally posted by casekonly@May 19 2005, 02:53 PM

p.s.: i almost got a boner when i heard about this. it was a big let down that ...well, that, uh...yeah.

Quoted post

Me too.

can you imagine if this shit worked and w. was blown up?

people would be having street parties and shit..

dark lord cheney would step in and probly drop some nukes.

sf1...its good to see even your own mom isn't safe

from your insults.

hahah he called her bitch.

of course, if my ma had voted for bush i would prolly bash her head in.

anyway, yeah , impromptu worldwide street party when this guy gets offed.

then we'd be indefiance of the patriot act....fuckin patriot act. doh!

edit:

symbols and any others interested: if you have broadband and winamp, you should check out the media listings for 'freedom tv' listed under 'freedom'. lots of good documentaries. some odd, some intriguing.

justv thought you might find that interesting.

Originally posted by symbols@May 19 2005, 04:50 PM

impromptu worldwide street party when this guy gets offed.

Quoted post

:D :D :D :D

to bad for us...

Yeah they failed to mention the thick ass slab of glass the prez was chilling behind. Atleast thats what i heard on NPR. W was delivering this speech from behind a case if i got the story right. In which case it was merely symbolic and its hardly surprising

Originally posted by symbols@May 19 2005, 11:50 AM

anyway, yeah , impromptu worldwide street party when this guy gets offed.

Quoted post

No seriously, it would be a better fucking party than the first Independence day. People would get so fucking loud and drink so much god would have a hangover the next morning, no shitting.

*Edited cause i think im being watched...

yea, i dare someone on here to make a direct, detailed death plan on W.

that guy in seattle or whatever that made a joke got a couple years i believe.

This isnt even something to joke about. They will lock you up in a box and you will never again see the light of day just for thinking that shit.

^^oh well bush is a homo

^you don't say..i'm sure 'homo's' would really appreciate the derogation.

Originally posted by Æ°@May 19 2005, 09:09 AM

 

 

Meanwhile, in 2008...

 

 

"I mean, afterall they did try to kill my brother."

Quoted post

now thats scary

tesser, i've heard that it won't be jeb, it will be one of georges nephews. he's a mover and a shaker in the republican party atm.

I'm surprised bush would even travel to an unstable country like Georgia...It was sort of thrilling to hear the news and get a mental image of a successful assasination attempt...but scary at the same time...all hell would break loose.

At least we all agree on something Bush Fuckin Sucks and he should have been killed.

The grenade was only 60 feet away? Holy shit, they didn't even allow G.W. to get that close to an explosive when he was in the National Guard!

I'm glad somebody at least tried to kill his punk ass. Its a good start

honestly you want something done right you got'a do it yourself! :bawling:

if this was official that shit would have exploded.