-Caveat Lector- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2002 17:59:35 -0700 To: [deleted by Tenorlove at sender's request] Subject: [JIA Memo] Worst French Industrial 'Accident' Probably Terrorism
On September 21, 2001, only eleven days after the attacks on the United States, a huge explosion rocked the southern French city of Toulouse. The Azote de France (AZF) petrochemical plant and the surrounding area were heavily damaged with a loss of 29 lives and thousands of injuries, some fatal later. France�s worst industrial accident since World War II destroyed AZF, never to reopen, and damaged 10,000 buildings including several dozen schools, a university and a hospital, and about 300 businesses employing 4,600 people. Facts, photos: http://www.uneptie.org/pc/apell/disasters/toulouse/home.html http://www.atofina.com/groupe/gb/comm/detail.cfm?ID=4402 But was it an accident, as French officials rushed to call it? The explosion centered on a warehouse that held 300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, transformed into a 150-foot-wide crater by the explosion. It was only two tons of ammonium nitrate that brought down the Federal building in Oklahoma City. However, as Time magazine put it, "... [scientists] note that such nitrates require heating to at least 200�C and a sharp detonating charge before they'll explode. Given that stability, many were amazed when Toulouse public prosecutor Michel Br�ard almost immediately assured the public it was "99% certain this was an accident." http://www.time.com/time/europe/eu/magazine/0,9868,178490,00.html Investigators soon had another hypothesis to work with: Hassan Jandoubi, 35, a French national born in Tunisia, was found dead at the scene. He was dressed in several layers of garments, which reports said were "in the manner of kamikaze fundamentalists." Jandoubi had been hired to work at the plant only five days before the blast. An LCI television report said Jandoubi was connected to a group of four or five men in the area belonging to the Takfir movement, a Sunni sect of Egyptian origin that preaches aradical form of Islam. Two of those men are believed to have spent time in Afghanistan, according to the LCI report. http://www.chemsafety.gov/circ/post.cfm?incident_id=5247 French newspapers reported that police became interested in Jandoubi because truck drivers at the plant testified that the night before the blast Jandoubi shouted abuse at them for the small American flag they displayed to show sympathy for the United States victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks. When police finally went to Jandoubi's apartment, after a procedural delay, they found it had been completely cleaned out. Jandoubi's family and friends deny any connection to radical Islam, but Toulouse police say he was known to meet people at a local mosque and have ties to Islamic fundamentalists. http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/whatsnew/press/nyt20011006.asp French government officials are sticking to their story that it was an accident, while investigators from many agencies have poured over the explosion site looking for a definitive explanation of the "accident". Atofina, parent company of AZF, has issued a press release regarding the safety of the plant, which was exemplary. http://www.atofina.com/groupe/gb/doss/detail.cfm?ID=984# Does this pattern sound familiar? Quoting Daniel Pipes: "On the 4th of July, an Egyptian immigrant to the United States who believes in wild conspiracy theories about Jews, is known for his great "hate for Israel," and has possible ties to al Qaeda, armed himself to the teeth and assaulted the Israeli airline counter at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two. ... But one important institution - the U.S. government - claims not to know Hadayet's goals. An FBI spokesman has said that 'there's nothing to indicate terrorism.' " http://www.danielpipes.org/article/431 The 4th of July shootings at LAX were certainly terrorism, by any reasonable definition, whether the FBI thinks so or not. And when we all saw four near-simultaneous airplane hijackings and the devestation they wrought on 9/11, we knew it was terrorism. We may never know for sure, but the AZF explosion probably was too. 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