www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/18/bush.georgia/index.html
In the hours after the incident, Georgia officials insisted the device wa s an inert, Soviet-era training grenade that posed no threat to Bush or his audience. But on Wednesday, a spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry and a state ment from the US Embassy in Tblisi contradicted the original assessmen t US and Georgian officials Wednesday also confirmed the grenade was toss ed into the crowd, contradicting last week's statement that it was place d there and not thrown. "A hand grenade was tossed in the general direction of the main stage and landed within 100 feet of the podium," the US Embassy statement said. "From initial qualified inspection, this hand grenade appears to be a liv e device that simply failed to function due to a light strike on the bla sting cap induced by a slow deployment of the spoon activation device," the statement added. In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was fully briefed on the situation Tuesday evening and again Wednesday morning, th e latter time by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Direc tor Michael Chertoff. The device was inspected by Georgian and American experts, who will compl ete a report on the incident, the statement said The grenade was wrapped in a "dark tartan-colored cloth," the embassy sta tement revealed. "We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of bo th the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as we ll as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at the event, " the statement added. Tens of thousands of people crowded into Tbilisi's main plaza -- Freedom Square -- to hear Bush on May 10. Parts of the stage on which he appeare d were surrounded by bulletproof glass. Several CNN staff at the event witnessed no disturbance in the crowd. Last week, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Guram Donadze described t he device as a "non-combative" grenade used in military training and sai d it did not contain explosives. Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, also said last week that the device was a "so-called engineering grenade" fo und in "inactive mode." The embassy statement said the FBI was leading the investigation in conju nction with Georgian authorities and other US federal agencies. Anyone with any information, video or pictures related to the incident is asked to contact Georgian authorities. A reward of 20,000 laris ($10,978 US) is being offered in exchange for in formation leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible , the embassy statement said. This material may not be publishe d, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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