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Let's see, they were in an old communist country. Many people hate the president there. There was over 150,000 people and almost no security. President was standing on a platform out in the open. A man with a Russian made grenade got close enough to the President to try and throw it. The grenade fell short and a ladies handkerchief stopped the pin from setting the grenade off. Hmmmmm I wonder if God protected the president from this attack. Now will someone please Pray for the President. WASHINGTON — A live hand grenade was tossed into a crowd in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi last week almost killed the President and it landed close enough that he could have been hit with explosive fragments had it detonated, the FBI and explosives experts said yesterday. The FBI's said that it was a live grenade this contradicts earlier statements by Georgian and U.S. officials, who had previously characterized it as a training or engineering device that did not pose a threat to the president during a May 10 speech in Tbilisi's Freedom Square.
The FBI's legal attaché in Georgia, Bryan Paarmann, said in a statement issued in Tbilisi that the grenade "appears to be a live device that simply failed to function," apparently because it was wrapped in a "dark tartan-colored cloth handkerchief" that slowed the movement of the triggering lever, preventing detonation. "We consider this to be a real assassination attempt and 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," Paarmann said. U.S. and Georgian officials have identified the device as a Soviet-era RGD-5 hand grenade, which contains just under four ounces of TNT, according to specifications from Soviet weapons manuals. Although the RGD-5's effective range is about 65 feet, some fragments can travel 100 feet or more, according to the specifications. Military weapons are widespread among Georgian citizens after a decade of upheaval that followed the Soviet Union's collapse. Georgia has waged two wars with the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, conflicts that remain unresolved. John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity, a defense-policy think tank, said the incident raises serious questions about the Secret Service's performance. "Why didn't they have effective perimeter control? That is the question," Pike said. "The system did work in the sense that the munition did not get within its lethal radius. But when you do the arithmetic, it was just barely. It's not giving yourself much margin." The grenade was thrown as Bush and Saakashvili addressed a huge and enthusiastic crowd in Tbilisi. Their appearance touched off a chaotic scene in the Georgian capital, as tens of thousands of people crowded into the city's main square, apparently overwhelming some of the Secret Service's security procedures. Bush addressed the crowd from a raised, red-carpeted platform that looked out over the plaza. It was surrounded on two sides and in part of the front by thick, bulletproof glass. But there was no bulletproof glass directly in front of the podium. Paarmann said the grenade "was tossed in the general direction of the main stage and landed within 90 feet of the podium." That would place the explosive within the outer margins of its maximum fragment range. Authorities have not specified more precisely where the device was found or how close it was to Bush. A Secret Service spokeswoman said last week that the grenade hit someone in the crowd and fell to the ground before it was recovered by a Georgian security official. Yesterday, an agency spokesman declined to comment. Law-enforcement sources and security experts said that, based on their knowledge of the evidence so far, Bush was probably not within the grenade's "kill range" but that shrapnel could have reached him at the podium. Because the grenade was lobbed into the crowd, people standing between the device and the stage might have absorbed much of the blast, sources said. Law-enforcement officials said they haven't ruled out the possibility that the grenade was intended for Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who came to power during last year's "Rose Revolution" but is battling separatist elements in the former Soviet republic. McClellan said Bush was informed about the new findings Tuesday night and was further briefed by FBI Director Robert Mueller III during a regular intelligence meeting yesterday morning. "The FBI is working very closely with Georgian authorities to make sure that this is fully investigated," McClellan said. "We want to see the results of that investigation once it is completed." Authorities are offering a cash reward of about $11,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, and are urging audience members with photographs or video footage of the event to come forward, Paarmann said. |
