National Transportation Safety Board investigators began Monday trying to determine why a tour bus lost its roof and crashed in Arkansas, killing 14 people.
The chartered bus was carrying mostly elderly passengers, and was bound from Chicago to the Grand Casino in Tunica, Miss., on a weekend gambling excursion when it crashed on Interstate 55 Saturday morning near West Memphis.
Washington Times articleThe chartered bus was carrying mostly elderly passengers, and was bound from Chicago to the Grand Casino in Tunica, Miss., on a weekend gambling excursion when it crashed on Interstate 55 Saturday morning near West Memphis.
I think you have your answer right there. God reached down and ripped that roof off. That'll teach those sinners to gamble.
Okay, a post about the roof blowing off an OATS gambling bus isn't a political post in any way, so I'm going to have to just blow the segue (in the time-honored manner of the president of the United States) and go straight to this about the Sadr forces weapons handover...
At Habibiya police station, the biggest of three designated collection points in Sadr City, cameramen were allowed to film only one batch of arms police said had been brought earlier in a civilian vehicle. The weaponry included RPGs, rusty mortars and artillery shells, anti-tank land mines and assault rifles.
"One man brought a Sam-7 anti-aircraft missile," National Guard Captain Duraid Fadel told Reuters, adding that militiamen were receiving $50 for each weapon they surrendered.
One Mehdi Army fighter, Kamel Hussein, walked off later with $14,500 for delivering a big stash of RPGs and mortars.
But those three handovers were the only ones to take place at Habibiya in the space of three hours.
Wired article"One man brought a Sam-7 anti-aircraft missile," National Guard Captain Duraid Fadel told Reuters, adding that militiamen were receiving $50 for each weapon they surrendered.
One Mehdi Army fighter, Kamel Hussein, walked off later with $14,500 for delivering a big stash of RPGs and mortars.
But those three handovers were the only ones to take place at Habibiya in the space of three hours.
And did he really get fourteen thousand dollars?
When a weapon is turned in, the donor gets a receipt from police which can later be exchanged for cash from the Iraqi government.
CNN articleAnd they trust this government? Coupon? Sorry, your coupon has expired. (Hey, maybe there was a segue to be had in there after all - something to do with blowing things off....)
Update 9:00 am:
Iraqi police at one of three arms collection points told Reuters they had received only a handful of weapons from Mr Sadr's Mahdi army militia so far, while officials at at another said they had received no weapons at all.
At Baghdad's al-Nasr police station, Maj Kadhim Salman told the Associated Press that fighters had turned in machine guns, TNT paste, land mines and other explosives. The rebels were supposed to be compensated for the weapons they turned in, but Maj Salman said those responsible for the payments had not turned up yet. Receipts were issued instead.
The arms transfer is supposed to last five days, after which Iraqi police and national guardsmen will assume responsibility security in Sadr City, which is home to more than two million people.
In return, the government has promised to release detained Sadr followers provided they have not committed crimes. It has also suspended armed raids into the Shia stronghold in north-eastern Baghdad.
Guardian article
At Baghdad's al-Nasr police station, Maj Kadhim Salman told the Associated Press that fighters had turned in machine guns, TNT paste, land mines and other explosives. The rebels were supposed to be compensated for the weapons they turned in, but Maj Salman said those responsible for the payments had not turned up yet. Receipts were issued instead.
The arms transfer is supposed to last five days, after which Iraqi police and national guardsmen will assume responsibility security in Sadr City, which is home to more than two million people.
In return, the government has promised to release detained Sadr followers provided they have not committed crimes. It has also suspended armed raids into the Shia stronghold in north-eastern Baghdad.
No comments:
Post a Comment