Texas Oil Blast: Terrorist Attack?

The first thing many people thought when they heard of a massive explosion in a Texas oil refinery this week was "terrorist attack". Of course, feds and government officials immediately declared there was no possibility of a terrorist attack, as usual making such pronouncements before they even had an idea of what the real cause was.

The force of the blast at the 1,200 acre site shook buildings up to five miles away and the blaze took two hours to extinguish. Thirty of those injured were outside the plant at the time of the explosion.

Hard to see how anyone can make such pronouncements so quickly, isn't it? So there is a credibility gap, isn't there? And given the much wider credibility gap of governments and "intelligence" agencies that deliberately lie about major issues, why should anyone believe them, particularly when terrorist groups are claiming responsibility:

Reuters news agency reported Thursday that an unknown group, calling itself al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in the United States of America, said it would release a detailed statement and video of the attack later. The statement was posted on the Internet Thursday.

Another group, Army of the Levant, also posted an Internet statement Thursday claiming responsibility...

"We have no reason to believe that this is anything other than a tragic industrial accident," said Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.

Law enforcement officials in Washington noted that Islamic terrorist organizations have been quick to claim responsibility for a host of mishaps, including power outages last year on the U.S. East Coast and in Europe. Those claims swiftly evaporated.

Well, who says they "evaporated"? Anyone got links to some strong, idependent investigative reports? I don't think so.

Govt agency runs internal investigation with Fed/CIA assistance, declares "Nothing to see here, folks... Move along now..." and supine press duly reports nothing.

Of course, it COULD have been a simple accident: the plant had previously been fined for poor safety.

But the signs are not encouraging, and the reaction of government officials does not encourage much optimism that they have the truth first and foremost on their agenda.