A story we did NOT see, for some reason: "U.S. Skeptical of Colombian 'Dirty Bomb' Claims"

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Skeptical of Colombian 'Dirty Bomb' Claims
U.S. Authorities Seek Access to FARC Leader's Seized Computers and Documents
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and VIC WALTER
March 5, 2008

Skeptical U.S. law enforcement officials are seeking access to computers and documents that authorities in Colombia say show the leftist group FARC sought "50 kilograms of uranium" for a possible dirty bomb. The material was seized by Colombian police in a raid into Ecuador that killed FARC commander Raul Reyes and has led to talk of war by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who has moved troops to the border with Colombia.

U.S. intelligence officials, while they did not comment directly on the possibility of FARC engaging in the illicit uranium trade, cautioned that reports of FARC attempting to acquire materials for a radioactive dirty bomb should be treated with extreme skepticism.

The evidence of FARC's participation in the uranium trade was first alleged this week by Colombia's national police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, who also said that evidence seized proved Venezuela had interfered in Colombia's affairs by providing $300 million in support to FARC.

Gen. Naranjo cited an e-mail to Reyes dated Feb. 16, 2008 from a top lieutenant that indicated crop eradication had weakened FARC's cocaine trade and revealed the rebel group's desire to sell about 110 pounds of uranium -- supplied by the same man who "provides material for the explosive we prepare" -- for more than $1 million per pound.


"They propose the sale of each kilo (of uranium) at $2.5 million and that they deliver and we watch who we sell it to, and that it should be a business (transaction) with a government," a copy of the e-mail to Reyes, translated by ABC News, read. "Arto has 50 kilos ready, and they can sell much more; they have direct contact with those who have the product."

"When they mention negotiations for 50 kilograms of uranium, this means that the FARC are taking big steps in the world of terrorism to become a global aggressor. We're not talking of domestic guerrilla but transnational terrorism,'' Gen. Naranjo said at a news conference.

The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are seeking their own access to the laptops, documents and other materials seized based on a 2004 criminal indictment against the leadership of FARC, including Reyes, who was No. 1 on the U.S. list of FARC leaders.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4395397&page=1

[Judi Lynn]

1. Colombia military in bomb scandal

Last Updated: Monday, 11 September 2006, 09:42 GMT 10:42 UK

Colombia military in bomb scandal
By Jeremy McDermott
BBC News, Medellin

Army officers in Colombia have been accused of placing car bombs around the capital in the latest military scandal to hit the country.
The officers hoped to claim reward money from the government's informants programme for discovering the bombs.

President Alvaro Uribe made a televised address to the nation urging Colombians to keep faith in the security forces, amid a growing crisis in confidence. He has made the strengthening of the military his government's cornerstone.

Such is the crisis in confidence in the military that President Uribe decided that he had to show his face to the nation and reassure Colombians that his military, backed by Washington, was not spinning out of control.

'Isolated incidents'

In the latest scandal, army officers are accused of placing car bombs around Bogota, including one that went off wounding more than a dozen soldiers and killing a civilian.

The motivation was to claim reward money from the government, which offers payments of up to $400,000 (£220,000) for information on the activities of Marxist rebels and drugs traffickers.

In another incident, 10 policemen were killed by the army in what was presented as a friendly fire tragedy. However, evidence has shown that they were killed at point-blank range.

Several soldiers, including a colonel, have been arrested and accused of murdering the policemen on the orders of a notorious drug baron.

Mr Uribe insisted that these scandals are isolated incidents and that things are getting better.
But evidence now suggests that the military are contributing to the violence, not just fighting it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5333980.stm

[Judi Lynn]

2. A Colombian Village Caught in a Cross-Fire

Published on Sunday, March 17, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times
A Colombian Village Caught in a Cross-Fire
The Bombing of Santo Domingo Shows How Messy U.S. Involvement in the Latin American Drug War Can Be.

by T. Christian Miller

SANTO DOMINGO, Colombia -- Death came to Santo Domingo as its people celebrated life.
Villagers were gathering for a street fair that bright December morning, but a battle had broken out between the Colombian army and leftist rebels in the nearby jungle.

The villagers heard a military helicopter roar overhead. Seconds later, an explosion ripped through this collection of wood huts on the edge of Colombia's northeastern plain. Two children were cut down as their grandmother made them breakfast. A father was eviscerated as his sons watched. A nursing mother was nearly decapitated, her 3-month-old baby still in her arms.

In all, 11 adults and seven children died in Santo Domingo on Dec. 13, 1998.

On the surface, the attack seems to be another bit of homemade carnage in Colombia's long, bloody guerrilla war, notable, perhaps, only for the number of children who died.

But according to Colombian military court records, the U.S. government helped initiate military operations around Santo Domingo that day, and two private American companies helped plan and support them.

There is no evidence that the U.S. government or American companies knew that their aid might lead to the destruction of a village. But more than three years later, no one has been held accountable for the deaths. Civilian prosecutors accuse a Colombian air force helicopter crew of dropping a U.S.-made cluster bomb while supporting the troops engaged in battle. The military claims that guerrillas accidentally detonated a car bomb in the town.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0317-01.htm

[Judi Lynn]

3. From U.S., to Salvador, to Colombian militia: a bomb's journey

May 30, 2001
From U.S., to Salvador, to Colombian militia: a bomb's journey

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Made in the USA in the 1970s. Shipped to a
Central American government fighting leftist rebels. Stolen in 1992 as
part of an assassination plot against a drug kingpin.

And planted last week by right-wing paramilitaries next to a communist
newspaper's offices in Bogota -- the journey of a U.S. Air Force bomb from an
ammo depot in Oklahoma to Colombia traces the violent history of this country,
and serves as a cautionary tale about where sophisticated munitions can wind
up if they are not guarded carefully.

The yellow 500-pound bomb, discovered May 21 by a security guard, is not a
medium-level explosive like the two that blew up in the capital on Friday, killing
four people and injuring 26.

This one, more than six feet long, is built for devastating effect. If it had gone
off, police said, it would have blown two city blocks to bits -- the worst
terrorist attack in Colombia in more than a decade.

The bomb, known as an MK-82, is favored by many air forces in the world
"where maximum blast and explosive effects are desired," according to literature
on the device.

Part of the bomb's history can be traced by the numbers engraved into it,
including 0473, which shows it was made in April 1973, according to Cathy
Partusch of the Naval Aviation Systems Team in Patuxent River Naval Air
Station, Maryland. She confirmed the device was a U.S. Air Force bomb.

More:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/auc/bomb-journey.htm

[Downwinder]

4. more product of the Magic computer?

If DU munitions are not "dirty bombs" and if 1953 atomic test, 37 Kiloton "Dirty Harry" was not hazardous (as according to DOD, DOE and DOH)there can not be such a thing as a "dirty bomb" outside of fiction.