The Radio New Zealand News gives details about the bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

The heavily guarded hotel was attacked at 8pm local time on Saturday, when a truck blew up at the hotel entrance after it was stopped for a security check.

There is no security footage of the main blast because it destroyed the camera, but officials said the vehicle was packed with 600kg of high-quality explosives, as well as grenades and mortars.

Aluminium powder was also used to accelerate the explosion and added to the ferocity of the blaze, officials said.

The photos I have seen reminded me of the WTC explosion in 1993, and I couldn’t help but notice both mention 600 kg (1310 lb) explosives in trucks, even though the trucks could hold more. Why 600 kg? The 1993 bomb at the WTC also was made from urea nitrate (fertilizer) with aluminum.

A quick search found similar details in a story about a UK man from the BBC:

Defendant Anthony Garcia purchased a 600kg bag of ammonium nitrate fertiliser in November 2003, the jury was told.

This was kept at a self-storage depot in Hanwell, west London, until staff became suspicious and called police.

Mr Garcia is one of seven suspects accused of planning attacks on pubs, nightclubs and stations in the UK.

Some of the suspects are alleged by the prosecution to have received training in explosives and use of the poison ricin in Pakistan.

600 kg of fertilizer (equivalent to 500 kg of TNT high explosive) in these events must be more than a coincidence. The 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2002 Bali bombings and the Istanbul HSBC bombing in 2003 have similar notes.

It seems to me that a subtext of ammonium nitrate creation, export and control is missing from the news stories I have read so far. Remember how Timothy McVeigh was accused of using 2,300 kg (5,000 lb) of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane in the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bomb? Even more shocking was the 1947 explosion at the Galvaston ship canal at Texas City on the French Freighter Grand Camp that killed over 576 people, injured 5,000 and caused $67m in damage. Few go over this history of industrialized fertilizer mischief or bring up the question of regulation in these stories about “threats”, but there seems to be a clear pattern.

The US signed a “Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Act” in 2007 but it apparently “leaves the U.S. with weaker controls on ammonium nitrate than Britain, Germany, Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia and many other nations.” Australia has a list of Principles for the Regulation of Ammonium Nitrate.

I started to look and see if there are any fertilizer early-warning systems under development (e.g. sniffers that could have alerted security that a truck laden with fertilizer was driving through an urban area), and also whether there are ways to neutralize combustibility (detonation resistance) with an additive, but did not get very far. I am sure the latter exists, but what of the former?

The Alaska Report has more damning evidence that the GOP is twisting the truth and backpedaling to get Palin out of a bi-partisan investigation.

It was alleged at a press event this week by the McCain camp that the Palin Administration did not authorize the trip, and that Monegan was fired for trying to go on the trip anyway.

Attached is the travel document from the Governor’s Office authorizing Monegan to go on that trip. That document was left out of the presentation by the “Truth Squad” earlier this week.

Alaskans are apparently getting a bit tired of being pushed around by GOP shock-and-awe lawyers:

“They’ve sent outsiders up to Alaska to mislead the public about a bi-partisan investigation, and personally attack anyone in their way,” said State Rep. Les Gara (D-Anchorage). “The Governor agreed to this Legislative investigation until the day she joined the McCain ticket, and attacking Alaskans to get out of this commitment is plain wrong.”

Amazing to see that the investigation was passed by bi-partisan unanimous vote, Palin said she wanted to be held accountable, and yet McCain’s campaign is doing everything it can to sue everyone into silence.

Political partisanship has nothing to do with the current outrage of many Alaskans. McCain-Palin Stormtroopers have dropped into Alaska and taken over the department of law. Alaska has become a battlefield in the war for the White House. Senators Hollis French, Bill Wielechowki, Kim Elton, Investigator Steve Branchflower and Walt Monegan are the public targets. The Alaskan Constitution, the Rule of Law, and the Citizens of Alaska are the collateral damage. It isn’t too dramatic to say we are having a Constitutional Crisis when our Attorney General, Talis Colberg, is instructing Alaskans to break the law by ignoring subpoenas.

This is Alaska. This is Alaska under the GOP…

The Battlefield Alaska article lays out ten excellent reasons why the GOP are smoking crack if they think the investigation is partisan or should be postponed:

Top Ten Reasons the Investigation into Sarah Palin is Fair

1. It began with a 12-0 vote of eight Republicans and four Democrats.

2. The President of the Senate, a Republican, voted in favor of the investigation.

3. The Speaker of the House, a Republican, voted in favor of the investigation.

4. The investigation began in July, well before Governor Palin was placed on the national ticket.

5. Governor Palin pledged over and over to cooperate with the investigation. Here’s a quote from a KTUU story July 18, 2008. “We would never prohibit, or be less than enthusiastic about any kind of investigation. Let’s deal in the facts, and you do that via investigation.” And another from Sharon Leighow, Governor Palin’s press secretary in an Anchorage Daily News story from July 29, 2008. “The governor has said all along that she will fully cooperate with an investigation and her staff will cooperate as well.”

6. The Project Director, Hollis French, was not a member of the committee that started the investigation.

7. The Republican senator that supplied the crucial vote in favor of subpoenas has a John McCain for President sign in his yard, and he represents the area around Governor Palin’s home town.

8. At the meeting when subpoenas were issued, every member present from the House Judiciary Committee voted to support the Senate’s subpoenas, including the Chairman, a conservative Republican, and the vice-chair, a conservative Republican.

9. The investigator, Steve Branchflower, who is actually gathering the facts and writing the report, has no ties to either party.

10. Because filing a complaint against yourself, and then moving to have that complaint dismissed, is not a good way to get to the truth. (“Palin Calling for an End to Investigation She Requested” ABC News)

Ok, lying-Truth Squad, let’s hear your responses.

The Onion – America’s Finest News Source has some funny one-liners on the Palin hack:

The son of a Tennessee state representative hacked into Gov. Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail account. What do you think?

“This is outrageous. Clearly it’s the responsibility of the government to infiltrate people’s e-mail accounts, not rogue private citizens.”

“I’m sure it won’t be long before they crack McCain’s elaborate system of cans and strings.”

Cans and strings…hilarious.

The Deutsche Welle tells a strange story about a man who refused to stop riding without a ticket:

From October 2006 to February 2007, he was caught riding the train without a ticket 102 times, often several times on the same day. The court, fed up with imposing fines and suspended sentences, finally decided to get tough and gave him a 22-month holiday behind bars.

Throwing himself upon the mercy of the court was likely not an option this time. It is not as if the man was riding ticketless due to a lack of financial means. According to his own statement, he repeatedly dodged fares “pretty much out of boredom.”

Boredom as a defense? Maybe something was lost in translation. Wonder if tried to argue how ticket sales should be made more entertaining.