Update: Georgia’s security chief said Wednesday that an inactive grenade was found near the site where President Bush made a speech in Tbilisi. Bezhuashvili said the grenade was found in “inactive mode.” He described it as an “engineering grenade” one that is used for demolition or to simulate the effect of an artillery shell. Such grenades’ blast-effect can be fatal at close range, but unlike offensive grenades, they are not designed to spread shrapnel.
WASHINGTON – The Secret Service is investigating a report Tuesday that a hand grenade was thrown at the stage during President Bush’s speech in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
After Bush left Georgia (on Tuesday), the Secret Service was informed by Georgian authorities of a report that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown within 100 feet of the stage during Bush’s speech, hit someone in the crowd and fell to the ground, Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said.
The FBI and State Department are also investigating the incident, spokesman Jim Mackin said. What is interesting is the Georgian government denies that the incident occurred. The spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, Guram Donadze, said that no hand grenade was thrown close to Bush. “This is an absolute lie. This did not occur,” Donadze told The Associated Press.
In his speech, President Bush told a crowd of tens of thousands that Georgia is proving to the world that determined people can rise up and claim their freedom from oppressive rulers. Georgians hope the President will apply some pressure on Russia to respect this young democracy on its doorstep.
Georgians want Russia to withdraw two Soviet-era holdover bases it maintains on Georgian territory and to stop giving support to two separatist regions – issues that the U.S.-educated president, Mikhail Saakashvili, is looking to the United States to promote.
Georgians have been frantically preparing for the visit, erecting giant welcoming billboards along the highway and coating ramshackle buildings with fresh paint. Georgian dancers and singers in traditional costumes performed for the president.
“When the leader of today’s free world turns his attention to you, you should be proud,” said Katya Chichua, 50, as she surveyed workers laying colorful Oriental rugs on a stage in the old town.
The White House said that this trip, coming directly after Bush’s visit to Moscow, is a chance to praise the rising pro-democracy sentiment in the former Soviet sphere – a movement that Georgians proudly claim to have started with their peaceful 2003 Rose Revolution that brought the pro-Western Saakashvili to power.
“Now we have the privilege and honor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S., sharing the gifts of liberty and democracy with our neighbors,” Saakashvili said in a welcome letter.
President Bush’s speech was the last event of his five-day, four-nation tour marking the end of World War II in Europe. Mr. Bush was returning to the United States late Tuesday after a four-country trip that also included stops in Russia, Latvia and the Netherlands. He was the first American president to visit Georgia.
Cross posted at The Wide Awakes and Patriots for Bush
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Grenade thrown at Bush at Tblisi, the capital of Georgia
After Bush left Georgia (on Tuesday), the Secret Service was informed by Georgian authorities of a report that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown within 100 feet of the stage during Bush’s speech, hit someone in the crowd and fell to t…
[...] nd the Netherlands. He was the first American president to visit Georgia. Cross posted at Cao’s Blog and Patriots for Bush [...]
I’m not buying the “engineering grenade” angle anymore than I am the BBC’s faulty “RPG-5 hand grenade” (something that doesn’t exist) story.
My guess is that if anything was present (and there seems to be some debate about that), it was most likely a training grenade, which is nothing more than the hollow iron husk of a hand grenade.