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From Average Joe To Average Jihadi - How A Texas Plumber's Truck Turned Up In Syria
A photo posted to Twitter last week by Ansar al-Din Front, an Islamic extremist brigade, clearly shows a Ford truck with a "Mark-1 Plumbing" decal on the door and a militant standing in the bed firing the anti-aircraft gun...
As Haaretz reports, the Texas plumber whose truck was photographed in Syria says he has no idea how it ended up thousands of kilometers away in the war-torn country...
Mark Oberholtzer, who has owned and operated Mark-1 Plumbing in Texas City for the past 32 years, confirmed it was his truck in the picture. He said he no longer owned the vehicle and had no idea how it ended up in Syria.
Oberholtzer said he had traded in the truck to second-hand dealership three years previously. He left the decal on the truck in the expectation that the dealership would remove it.
A spokesman for the dealer said that they had passed it on to a car auction house.
Oberholtzer has been besieged by phone calls - some threatening - since the picture was posted. “A few of the people are really ugly,” he told The Galveston Daily News.
Later in the week, federal Homeland Security officials arrived at Mark-1 Plumbing to question Oberholtzer and his staff.
* * *
It seems US exports are indeed picking up!!
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We know who gave new toyota cars...
Mark-1 Plumbing can IM me the name of the roto-rooter dealer who fitted out the back of that truck.
"" Attention All ISIS Shoppers, Attention All ISIS Shoppers ""
Hehehehe
How about calling up the used car dealers who shuffled that thing to the sand box. Yell at them. Leave the former owner alone.
Me thinks the govt knows. The CIA probably bought a bunch of these trucks in the USA and shipped them to ISIS but some numb nuts forgot to take the decal off and its blowing up in the face of the USA. So naturally the CIA will 'have to investigate'
It could just be advertizing. Maybe the CIA got a cut as well?
Great product placement there!
I wonder if ISIS will go for nailgun manufacturer ads, along with its back to gold campaign?
Again, see my post below. It's common practice by foreigners living in America. And good to repatriate some of the dollars overseas while boosting US small business.
CIA has no clue. You give too much credit to governments.
We snaked some folks.
Well, no old, removed iron soil pipe can compare to the shit stains that are the back of that truck now.
And what the hell kind of gun is that ?
The barrel is barely big enough to be about a .50.
"And what the hell kind of gun is that ?"
Looks like a ZU-23 technical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ali_Hassan_al-Jaber_Brigade.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_%28vehicle%29
Hello Mark? I need some suppression fire and light triple A - my address? Hold on, it's ...
If it doesn't sell on the dealers lot it ends up at a Manheim auction.
1-800 Cars for Kids, do-nate your cars to-day
Certainty disabuses any silly notions of some federal 'right to privacy' nonsense...
"At Mark-1 Plumbing, we blast your clogs away!"
Great retro-fit. Perfect for home defense. We may all need one of these soon...
I suppose the sarcasm and humor passed completely over your head there, Escrava?
7.62x54r
I wasn't commenting about your post. I should have given you a heads-up. Sorry!
No problem. Threading seems to be a hazy concept, at best, around these parts ...
That's what I was thinking. The previous owner didn't "believe the dealership would remove it", he hoped they wouldn't. That way he'd get some free advertising until some new owner finally got it off his "new to him" truck.
Then it all went sideways...
I expect that is exactly what happened.
Well one thing's for sure. If that AA gun is shooting at houses business is gonna go thru the roof, the walls, the water heater, the hot tub, sky's the limit really for these Krugman-like entrepreneurs.
Easy on the trigger @ $15 a round
Gold Bitchez....I pick up pennies
My thoughts exactly!
Remember when the FBI was busting their own fake terrorist operations...?
You can only imagine what the CIA is up to.
This video and the still are 100% faked footage. Any other avenue of discussion other than who produced it and why? While maybe interesting and often humerous is a distraction.
>>>federal Homeland Security officials arrived at Mark-1 Plumbing to question Oberholtzer and his staff.
Cue the Benny Hill Police-Chase Music.
Those HSA stalwarts just needed to make a quick phone call to Langley.
Come to think of it, most of the HSA boys have as much chance of getting a fact out of Langley as I do (i.e. none).
If anyone had any doubts, this picture should settle it.
Thank goodness this truck is not carrying nuclear weapons…. Because nuclear weapon is for the ‘Good Guys’.
No.
Those are on aisle 4 at Home Depot.
Nuclear weapon's exist and they're not going away. Better that me and my friends have them than the U.N. or third world tin pots.
Sorry. I wasn’t clear about my point:
It’s not the third world that starts wars. It’s the rich nations that conclude that they will not be able to sustain themselves anymore and they will be facing revolutions
Revolutions when these rich nation’s youth are caught in a vise of low-paying jobs while carrying an obscene amount of debt (Chris Hedges).
“The US political system is much more attuned to the wishes of the rich than to the aspirations of the poor” -- Peter Turchin
The good old days:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053084/
The third world start wars all the time, (african nations,almost wthout exception, continent wide).
You just don't hear about bein' who you have built yourself up to be, or more likely don't want to hear about it.
Now that was good... and funny.
Thanks to make me laugh.
All political systems have been attuned to the wishes of the rich.
Making you believe elsewise is the con.
.
Our very own govt has been providing aid to "moderate" Syrian rebels for a couple of years now, right? Duh, I wonder how an American truck got to Syria. Maybe in a shipping container marked "IAC Lines". It just shows BarryO's commitment to efficient government that they pick up the gear off auction lots rather than buy new, and don't spend any money scraping the decals off. Helping out the auto industry too by offloading surplus inventory. Warms the heart on a winter morning.
I wonder if they do any plumbing work on the side?
Not plumbing, but money. It’s always about money.
Sometimes we need to put things in perspective:
Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in the November1980.
By New Years Day threat from Radio Tehran that if the United States did not accept Iran's demands the hostages would be tried as spies and executed.
In the final stages of the negotiations in Algiers, the negotiations resulted in the "Algiers Accords" of January 19, 1981.
The Algiers Accords called for Iran's immediate freeing of the hostages, the unfreezing of $7.9 billion of Iranian assets and immunity from lawsuits Iran might have faced in America, and a pledge by the United States that "it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs".
The Accords also created the Iran – United States Claims Tribunal, and Iran deposited $1 billion in an escrow account to satisfy claims adjudicated by the Tribunal in favor of American businesses that had lost assets after the hostage takeover.
The Tribunal closed to new claims by private individuals on January 19, 1982. In total, it received approximately 4,700 private U.S. claims.
The Tribunal has ordered payments by Iran to U.S. nationals totaling over $2.5 billion. Almost all private claims have now been resolved; but several intergovernmental claims are still before the Tribunal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis_negotiations#November
Key Point
What I am afraid about this picture it might hurt small US business and used car exports. It’s like the decal was left there on purpose.
Of course Feral Homeland Insecurity could have just as easily checked DMV records but the fuckwits have to make tough and drive around, maybe they are tiring of fingering babies at DFW
that setup looks about right for hog hunting...
I feel like I'm in a David Lynch movie with all this crazy shit going on.
You are.
Don't be ridiculous. Lynch could never come up with something as unbelievable as this
Right on. The dwarf in Twin Peaks is more believable than this shit.
Who can prove that this picture wasn't taken in Texas?
Good point.
I bet you say that a lot.
The picture was taken in Texas. Those good ole boys really know how to get rid of those pesky jackalopes.
I wouldn't be surprised. The gun in the back looks like an NFA item, and it's rednecks goofing around at the ranch. Someone blurred out the face of the operator and photoshopped the Arabic logo onto there. Voila. You have a conspiracy that makes its rounds as a meme on Facebook and the righty tighty blogs can whine about King Obama and his ties to ISIS.
Propaganda can go either way, so don't fall for any of it.
Pry it from my cold, dead hands.
...and photoshopped at Langley
great setup for taking care of all the bores !!! and its great for killing wild pigs too !!!
the tell is, it couldn't enter the middle east still with the "I heart Piggly Wiggly" bumper sticker...
Does ZH listen to NPR? Literally heard about this 3 hours ago on wait wait don't tell me.
>>>Literally heard about this 3 hours ago on wait wait don't tell me.
Had to down-vote you for listening to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me".
At least you didn't mention Ken Burns.
Trust me I'm far from a public radio liberal. I just find the show entertaining and superior to the majority of radio programming.
Or John Stewart. This was on last night.
Lets see the paper trail. Run the vin #.
They are misplaced, as the DMV accidently stored them on the IRS email server.
Gotta admit though, for better or for worse that's some damned good "free press" and advertising.
Only if you are advertising to attract a pissed off Texas posse.
Pretty sure people are taking it out on cowboy plumber and not BlackOps Exports.
If we had a media with just .25 of a testical, tracking this should merit a Pulitzer. Pretty sure Team Blue would run this down in a Team Red puppet POTUS year. Be screaming Halliburton bloody murder and wetting themselves. Of course they'd be right, it's the selective application that keeps this under wraps.
Boston breaks takes care of the rest, but if there were a large enough force of apolitical media bloodhounds, we'd have a different country.
This is why media needs to be first against the wall in a firing squad.
I think that's probably too late; it needs to be a first target.
Looks like a Texas bar b q recreational vehicle. Meh.
Carfax has the new owner who bought it from the auction as Jihad Joe, the Syrian plumber.
Did anyone call US Army asking them how their weapons and vehicles got into the hands of extremists? Couch generals, having the balls to only threathen plumbers over the phone.
Yea, forget the "built Ford Tough" ads.
Here we have a battlefied endorsement. Strap what I think is 2 tons of metal and lead to the back of your F-250 for, you know, medicinal purposes, and you have rugged mobility and the firepower to match.
Probably too political incorrect to run in blue states, which means it would be a great ad.
and a suspension that can handle any recoil!
This is another indication of "illegal activity" by car dealers in Texas and the rest of the country.
A car is supposed to be titled, by the new owner (either an individual or a corporation) within 30-90 days , and MUST be titled BEFORE transfer of ownership Most car dealerships just "let the title ride" and transfer it once, an not to them first. Probably a HUGE tax evasion.
However, an idiot that sells his pickup and fails to take of the decal is a moron to.
Selling used (high mileage and that have been in accidents) cars overseas, especially to Africa, is common practice in the African community around DC metro area. Probably for the Middle East, too.
Yup. Buy an used car 500$ here, sell it 5000$ there, profit! The only downside is if you end up dealing with crooked people/corrupt border guards/criminals, you either end up dead, in prison or have all your stuff stolen... So you can make a shitload of money... but you can also includes lots of risks.
Wrong!
These cars are placed in containers along side of many other things. The other day I saw them loading US drinks, like diet teas and flavor drinks.
There are no board guard’s involvements at all. It's all done by line of credit.
Once the container is loaded on the ship, the offshore bank releases the funds to the US supplier.
Also, the offshore buyer had put a down payment that, pretty much, pays for the product, in the US.
Little risk for the US supplier; once the line of credit is good.
Are you blind? Click on the picture to enlarge the image and look at the 2014 registration on the bloody window. That truck never left the state let alone the country!
Can’t comment about that specific truck and its tags.
However, are you insinuating that the plumber fake the picture and lied about selling the truck so we can blame the US?
I am not a lawyer, but I think the plumber will be facing court-martial for treason against the US.
Department of Homeland Security FALSE FLAG.
The Plumber is in on it...probably believeing himself to be a patriot for "protecting America"
DHS has been out of the storyline and needs something to justify its budget.
No, I'm suggesting the cia bought the truck from an auction in Texas and planted a big arse cannon on the back to take happy snaps without leaving the comfort of the us of a to use the images for social media propaganda, hence the masked terrists. Why the fark would jihadists cover their faces considering they believe they are heros for their cause. Someone forgot to edit the image before releasing on their assets account.
eXMachina
I do not own a TV but the few images that I saw from that area are that they drive small Japanese trucks. I never saw any American truck.
Anyway, you might be right, and looking this image a day later (today); its TV logo and white fence doesn’t look right.
But why would the CIA, or, any other US government agency, do that? The risks are very high; and there are NO rewards for them.
Unless this whole thing is a setup to blame the US; in hope that the US population would connect the ‘rest’ of the dots, and realized that US involvement is much deeper than it appears to be.
I wouldn't have a clue but as you said everything about the picture dosen't look right.
something doesn't look right....
I live in Texas, and recognize the window license tag registration sticker. It looks like it has a "14" on it, meaning 2014. So, ISIS is registering their trucks in Texas? And why would ISIS mask our their face? Really, are they afraid of being ID'd? Or, did the media do it to protect their identity? Really?
Toll Tag Too?
Wouldn't an Americanized truck door moniker be sort of a liability in muzzieland?
Looks like ISIS is getting supplied from Texas ... now who would that be ?
Offtopic: today in slovakia there is a discussion about moving army equipment . The ministry of defense said it is not our army movement so who is that?? http://m.topky.sk/cl/10/1446113/VIDEO-Zachytili-kolonu-obrnencov-v-Brati...
Just lethal gifts for Christmas from usa to its regime .
Weapons cache for clunkers.
A half ton truck with some guy firing a machine gun into the desert My guess is that the photo was taken in Texas!
Just a cheeky FYi, that is a 3/4 ton, and I think it's the FX4 trim so has some extra skid plates.......these guys do have at least a little bit of a requirement for thier terrist activities.
ALLAH AKBAR! WE GOT THE POWERSTROKE VERSION!
I thought the same things about the pic, probably some rural road in the midwest, bunch of weekend warriors having some fun, give the DHS the perfect reason to harrass some innocent serf.
That's quite the out call for a plumber. Is he billing for travel time too?
Does a fine job of putting holes in walls for the pipes.
You save time where you can...
We acually did that back at the camp using a 12 guage with #6 shot from about 6 ft away. Perfect 2" diameter hole to run the drain pipe through - took less than a second ;-)
They'd have a wider field of fire if they went with the long bed. Achmed is slapping his forehead and saying "you try and save a few drachmas..."
Mark-1 Plumbing - 'We destroy Shit'
Ask us about our new 30mm recoil-less drain snake.
This is just a recon job sent out by Mark -1 to collect on bills over 90 days. The over 30 days late is just a kid on a bike with a BB gun.
"How A Texas Plumber's Truck Turned Up In Syria"
The same way a Malaysian jet liner bound for China ends up in Ukraine. I'll give you one three letter guess... Think clown car full of ass holes...
Is that the complaints department, seems a bit harsh for an unpaid bill.
Those guys are actually collections.
USSA - By Way of Deception 2.0
Since 1913
"By Way of Deception". Now why does that sound familiar? Where have I heard this before. Hmmm...
Pot calling the kettle black.
Jewlander Photoshop trick. The video was a Toyota, picture was a Ford. Show me a video of ISIS firing from this F-250 at that spot. Got it aipac Kikes?
http://www.aipac.org/
A fucking 2 year old can produce better lies. is your enrollment dollars down? Have to cut costs? Stupid KIKES..
IIRC the new Toyota ISIS fast assault vehicles were also traced back to Texas. This was right after the Vid first aired.
Think source was Alex Jones. Yeah, I know...he's in the beaks pocket too, I'm just saying where it was reported.
Obama sold Joe Plumber’s vehicle to ISIS. /LOL
Meet Joe Plumber/ Obama talks to Joe Plumber
So a good old American participates in the Government program Cash for Clunkers. Someone ships American's truck to Middle East, yet NO ONE in the Government notices it. Picture taken of American's truck being used for terrorist purposes. MSM files story. Government notices (must have taken break from surfing porn or watching people run by them on the Lawn), and then investigates American, INSTEAD OF INVESTIGATING BORDER SECURITY AS HOW TRUCK LEFT US SOIL.
He left the decal on the truck in the expectation that the dealership would remove it.
I normally do the same with business harddrives. Give 'em away and assume someone else will wipe them.
Not quite the same now are they?
Nice to see the CIA couldn't even have had the decency to remove the decal before using it for their newest boogeyman group.
When Hollywood films fake ISIS in Syria footage in the US desert areas for use on the MSM they should remember to remove identifying marks from equipment or they may disclose their fraud
Not that the dumbed down masses would realize anyway. Instead of using their brain to understand how their government is screwing them in the ass they's rather call the guy up and threaten his life. Or be good little rats and turn him over to DHS. Who now has to waste precious resources to find out what this guy and his staff know so he doesn't disclose anything they want to keep hidden
"Hello, Mr Olberholtzer?" I am calling to report your truck #75. These guys have jumped all the sharks this time!"
You can't buy advertising like that!
This would be a non MSM issues if the truck was bearing it’s Presidential Credential Seal.
/LOL
"Mission Accomplished"
ALLY probably financed it
$1,000 dollars off, 36 month financing terms @ 8%.
/sarc. Cannot stop laughing. Honestly, in tears laughing.
Plus 3 lovely virgins for the first ten customers!
I got a toilet that could use that kind of plumbing service.
I didn't know the CIA also snaked pipes..
Good suspension, does not sag...
What that thing weighs in the back one to two tons?
Basic physics. Photoshop particles have no mass.
I would have thought shipping a truck there would have cost more than it's worth.
Who paid to ship it?
I know military personal often ship their own cars on military transport depending on their circumstance...
Back in the 80's (and probably still true) Russian ships loading in Japan used to return with a deck cargo of used cars purchased as scrap, then resold to dealers in Russia. Stringent Japanese safety inspections and high repair costs meant it was cheaper to buy a new car every 2 or 3 years than to keep an older one on the road, so the market for used vehicles was weak and they could be had for a song.
Used vehicles turn up in all sorts of places. I've seen a Toronto Transit car plying the streets of Cairo, still in TTC colors. Also, a BC Hydro trolley rolling through Mexico DF, again, in original paint.
My old Western Star ended up hauling logs in Brazil. The guy that bought it was from Texas (cowboy boots, stetson, string tie - everything but the Cadillac with bull horns) and he told me they had many clients in the Middle East that bought used trucks in N. America because the sandstorms over there made short work of vehicles, so it wasn't economic to buy new.
Used Japanese vehicles are popular in Canada now, especially the light service trucks. Great condition - low km's for their age - pretty good deal if you can find parts) Delicas are popular with the off-road crowd. Thought of buying one myself as an escape pod but settled for an XJ for reasons of parts and maintenance.
"I know military personal often ship their own cars on military transport depending on their circumstance..."
True, then sell the cars when their tour is up. You'll see a lot of these in Japan, often surrounded by guys dressed like Elvis and James Dean.
Check it out:
J-boys pimp their ride!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwMvd3XfQCM
Fuck, Toyota has a new black market to rebrand Ford trucks. The customer will never know.
That'll clear your clog
If that guy is shooting at a plane, it must be flying pretty low. That gun is almost horizontal.
Or maybe it's some good ol boy taking pot shots of illegals at the border.
Sold some cars to some folks
This is like photoshop ...
: - /
HAhahaha, inefficient USA
Since Fukushima used cars manufactured in Japan do not come so easy in Russia, undergo Gueiguer counter.
The engine plant of Nissan was 48 km (kilometers) from Fukushima, some engines glowed in the dark kkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
Look on Google you will find news about it, I am impatient to leave for granted the links.
hehe.
Aqui:
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/07/15/fukushima-radiation-in-used-cars/
:-)
So in Syria they still use the led plumbing. Don't they know that's poisonous? LOlz
You gotta watch them Texans. Buncha' crazy religious extremests[sic]!
Witty comment.
Now go back to getting your tonsils glazed by your big black boyfriend sphincterboy.
Crazy religious enough for you?
All publicity is good publicity. Unless you are Bill Cosby, or IS uses your product.
Imagine the publicity if MARK-1 had been a pest control service.
What would their business motto be? Hmmmm....
Unbelievable. You couldn't make this stuff up.
I would bet a lot of trucks end up over there. We need to put decals on the doors of more of these trucks for marketing purposes.
Built Ford tough.
Buy American!
Poor fucking Plumber has Homeland Security and CIA at his door yet Obama leaves MRAPs and Fleet of Humveees for ISIS and no one knocking on his fucking door. That plumber just went Nationwide....Free advertising. lmao
Exactly. And they probably showed up with a fleet of black SUV's and weaponized to the hilt. Nobody would think of making a phone call and asking a question like "We did notice your truck in this situation. When and where did you get rid of this truck?" Naaa... makes way too much sense. Gotta grandstand it.
That road is Skyline Dr next to the Texas City Dike. You can see Mud Island in the background.
Yes - That gun in the back looks suspiciously washed out and colorless, unlike the rest of the picture. It would be easy to drop that gun into the picture. The road looks like a lot of roads in Texas. Makes you wonder...
stupid yanks
Dallas jihadi's! Yee haw!!!
Better don't sell anything on Ebay anymore. You might get an AAAAA+++++++++ feedback from ISIS.
When a vehicle is traded in at a dealership, it is almost never resold there. They go to a huge auction where they end up at used car lots.
There is a steady business of buying vehicles at auction and shipping them to countries where a large markup can be made. I know people who do it. It's not a mystery folks. Just something that has been going on for over 50 years.
Gives me a great idea ...
Install hidden GPS receivers and smart bomb beacons in a fleet of old pickups, get them exported to ISIL et al, then launch the air fleet loaded with smart bombs and let em loose !
We're sending 100 A-1 tanks to Afganistan--I sure hope they do just that to those tanks.
In the end it was Mark the plumber not the CIA that armed the jihadis.
But really, people buy vehicles here all the time to ship to Africa or other countries...
But the most screwed up part of the story is the fact that Americans here are calling the guy to harass him about it. Just like the stupid people that yell at the gas pump attendants over high gas prices. Yep, voters!
The US Pentagon spends $25B to train and outfit the Iraqi army so they can defend the country against outside aggressors.
ISIS buys some old Ford and Toyota pickups at auction and some vintage AA guns on the black market and overruns half the place.
The DHS starts a file on itstippy for questioning the Pentagon's budget on Zerohedge.
Actually, it's quite understandable. In Manchester, NH there is the Capital Auto Auction. I've chatted with a few buyers there who routinely buy vehicles and ship them overseas. Both said: "to Africa," but who knows. Lot's of used vehicles end up that way. Ship 'em overseas, where a mechanic/auto body person rebuilds them at $3US/hour, and a $1200 car/truck can be sold for $3000.
WHOA! Those guys aren't terrorists! They're INSURGENTS! Boy, leave it to the press. What a bunch of squids.
Looks like the deck guns from the Millennium Falcon.