Friday, August 15, 2008

CNN Saved From Relaxed Militants' Folly

...The following day, the militants offered 20 minutes' notice for a trip to the rocket factory. A CNN correspondent and photographer were blindfolded and transferred into the back of an unmarked van outside Gaza City. Their mobile phones were confiscated, and the blindfolds were removed only when the van arrived at the plant.

Inside the "factory" -- a tiny room with a dozen rockets lining the walls -- two masked men tried to light a fire from a gas canister to heat the explosives to liquefy them so that they could be poured into shells. Despite the apparent painstaking planning that went into the display, the rocket makers sometimes fell short.

First, the lighter didn't work. Then, a leak in a canister filled the room with suffocating gas. Explosions, euphemistically called "workplace accidents," occur in Gaza from time to time, but the men building the rockets handled deadly ingredients and warheads in a visibly relaxed manner.


(Kippah tip: GayandRight)

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