Ammonium Nitrate: Weapon of Choice for Terrorists? (ABC News)

The Blotter I moved out into agricultural Long Island from the projects in the South Bronx (last of the 3rd Ave El, near where the Janes and Kirtland foundry made the once all-iron Library of Congress, the Capitol Dome for Lincoln [~1 million] and other capital projects, where the Mott Foundry made stoves, public fountains, sculpture, etc., and in the 1960s there were stories about the "fertilizer bomb" and rumored to need about a 2 lb. coffee can of mercury fulminate to set off the oil and nitrate mix in a steel 40 gallon drum. Fertilizer bags marked "30-0-0" the best, the amount of nitrate, potassium, etc. The US Army was testing it in the 1980s, shown in a NEWSDAY photo report (as was the Ayatollah with the Reagan family bible). I have no idea perhaps it was invented locally by some "genius" in exothermic chemistry. They are using nano-amounts now to investigate chemical reactions, thankfully. New Yorker Tim McVeigh should not have been executed, and kept as a future resource. (That might be because in school I've seen the original print of the first woman in an electric chair, taken from a shin-worn smuggled camera, that ended on the front page of the "Chicago Sun"). In my opinion, and apparently Oklahoma witnesses, others and events were ignored in the investigation by the authorities. Posted by: George Myers Sep 12, 2006 11:19:50 AM - Stuck me it sounds like a Red Adair story (portrayed by John Wayne) who used to "blow out" oil well fires. Oil is stored in 42 gallon drums.