{"id":1436,"date":"2003-04-01T18:49:00","date_gmt":"2003-04-01T22:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles-wp\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2003-04-01T18:49:00","modified_gmt":"2003-04-01T22:49:00","slug":"shock-and-awe-reality-tv-competition-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles\/2003\/04\/01\/18\/49\/shock-and-awe-reality-tv-competition-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Shock and Awe Reality TV – Competition Time!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So some eagle-eyed people have managed to trace the origin of the missile that destroyed the Iraqi market<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

The missile was guided by computers and that vital shard of fuselage was computer-coded. It can be easily verified and checked by the Americans ‘ if they choose to do so. It reads: 30003-704ASB 7492. The letter “B” is scratched and could be an “H”. This is believed to be the serial number. It is followed by a further code which arms manufacturers usually refer to as the weapon’s “Lot” number. It reads: MFR 96214 09.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

It has emerged – as a result of detective work on the internet by a Guardian reader – that the explosion in a Baghdad market which killed more than 60 people last Friday was indeed caused by a cruise missile and not an Iraqi anti-aircraft rocket as the US has suggested. <\/p>\n

A metal fragment found at the scene by British journalist Robert Fisk carried various markings, including “MFR 96214 09”. This, our reader pointed out in an email, is a manufacturer’s identification number known as a “cage code”. <\/p>\n

Cage codes can be looked up on the internet (www.gidm.dlis.dla.mil), and keying in the number 96214 traces the fragment back to a plant in McKinney, Texas, owned by the Raytheon Company. <\/p>\n

Raytheon, whose headquarters are in Lexington, Massachusetts, aspires “to be the most admired defence and aerospace systems supplier through world-class people and technology”, according to its website (www.raytheon.com). It makes a vast array of military equipment, including the AGM-129 cruise missile which is launched from B-52 bombers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>You too can trace the origins of US weapons<\/a>. It’s a kind of lethal scavenger hunt. The networks should broadcast closeups of the US\/UK bombing aftermaths and award prizes for the first people to correctly identify the missiles’ origins. Now that’s what I call Reality TV! Introduce a little bit of competition – after all the ratings for “Shock and Awe” have been flagging lately. Fun for all the family!<\/p>\n

Earlier here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So some eagle-eyed people have managed to trace the origin of the missile that destroyed the Iraqi market last week. The missile was guided by computers and that vital shard of fuselage was computer-coded....<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t