"How Did A Plumber's Pick-Up Truck FromTexas End Up " Topic

…Carrying An Anti-Aircraft GunFor The Islamic State In Syria?

"* Mark Oberholtzer, of Texas City, Texas, sold his truck to a dealership three years ago
* The truck, featuring the name of his company – Mark-1 Plumbing – is seen in a propaganda photo released by Islamist group Ansar al-Deen
* The vehicle has been outfitted with an anti-aircraft gun and is fighting on the front lines in Syria
* The logo features Oberholtzer's phone number and he says he's now getting death threats
* But a propaganda video shows a similar vehicle shooting from exactly the same position, raising questions about the photo's authenticity

Mark Oberholtzer isn't an Islamic fighter in Syria. He's never been to Syria. And the plumber from Texas City, Texas, says he certainly would never willingly aid fundamentalist rebels.

So it's hard for him to understand how his Ford F-250 pickup truck – including his logo for Mark-1 Plumbing and his phone number – wound up being in a photo posted on Twitter by the extremist Ansar al-Deen Front from the front lines of the war in Syria.

Mr Oberholtzer says he's been getting hundreds of phone calls and faxes since the Ansar al-Deen Front tweeted a picture of what appeared to be his old truck with an anti-aircraft gun in the back, according to the Galveston County Daily News…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

its another war propaganda photo taken here in the US for promoting the war against ISIS obviously.

Maybe he should get in touch with the local supermarket tabloid reporters and make up a story about how 'They Stole Ma Truck' – it would be at least as truthful as most of IS's propaganda.

He should have removed the logo and the aa gun before he traded it. Poor guy is catch hell over that picture.

You have to question

a. The sense of someone who sells a truck complete with his company's signwriting still in place.

b. The intelligence of the writer who suggested that the photo had been digitally altered. WHY would they want to win a propaganda coup over a random, evil kuffar plumber??!!! There is also the teensy fact that the two trucks AND the two AA guns are entirely different models.

its another war propaganda photo taken here in the US for promoting the war against ISIS obviously.

I find that unlikely, it is probably photoshopped, And more importantly the US does not have to promote a war with ISIS, AQ et al. Just turn on CNN … not too many people need to be convinced that these butchers need to be put down and in large numbers.

not too many people need to be convinced that these butchers need to be put down and in large numbers.

It's more a matter of convincing the American president to send boots on the ground, like embedded/attached forward air controllers (which I thought the US had already sent).

But I find it hard to have much sympathy for the dude who sold his truck without removing his corporate signage!

All those freighters that drop off goods into the USA take things back with them. Usually their holds are filled with scrap metal, wood and paper for recycling, but some of them take used cars back with them for resale to 3rd world countries.

Perhaps that's how his truck made it to the Middle east.

Just saw it on CNN ! It's not a photoshop ! The former owner is sorry he didn't remove his logo … I'd say !

It's more a matter of convincing the American president to send boots on the ground, like embedded/attached forward air controllers (which I thought the US had already sent).

Oh yes, SF FACs are there. Mostly US ARMY SF, SEALs etc. I think … Some lines from an article that Tango posted here

The United States-led coalition improvises how the Iraqis call in airstrikes: Iraqi troops talk by radio to American controllers at Iraqi command centers, who in turn talk to the Navy pilots to help pinpoint what to hit. Senior commanders have said that placing American spotters with the Iraqi troops would be more effective, but they have yet to recommend that step knowing that President Obama opposes it…"

TMP link

How many posts did we make it through before you guys couldn't resist bringing up the president?

Seriously, it's not healthy.

@L4: I meant forward air controllers on the ground working right next to units of peshmerga or Iraqis, not taking radio calls from the Iraqis and trying to translate that into a target they can guide a pilot onto sight-unseen.

@Weasel: Hey, it is the job of the citizen to remind the POTUS that the actions he is taking are not going to achieve the effect he desires.

You want DAESH broken, their forces buried?

Can't do that without someone on the ground shooting, and most Iraqi forces have proven to not be up to the task.

Hate to break the news but Obama isn't reading TMP.

@L4: I meant forward air controllers on the ground working right next to units of peshmerga or Iraqis, not taking radio calls from the Iraqis and trying to translate that into a target they can guide a pilot onto sight-unseen.

I think that may well be happening [in the shadows] … until the media gets a hold of it, and puts it all over the TV, etc. …

Hate to break the news but Obama isn't reading TMP.

He's probably watching "The Interview" instead … agian …

You know, the whole dumb thing worked.
I didn't have any particular plans to watch it and now I am kinda curious after all the nonsense.

Yes, one of the nightime talk show comics, said the something like, "Now everybody will want to see it !" You can't buy such wide ranging publicity like this !

I heard that one of the activist groups that regularly lofts balloons over NKorea to drop DVDs and players is trying to get a container-full of "The Interview" DVDs.

Hate to break the news but Obama isn't reading TMP.

Yeah, well, hopefully one of his advisors is…

Yeah, this is actually borderline normal. The only strange point here is that the logo remains on the truck. I've come across photos of F-250s, Dodge Rams, old Silverados, et cetera, in the hands of both the SAA and Islamists. As cwlinsj says, many used cars get sold overseas.

For that matter, I saw used US-model cars for sale in Japan when I was there.

But I still can't believe that 1) the plumber didn't remove his corporate signage, or 2) that the dealer he sold it do didn't remove the signage as part of buying the truck.