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Does this photo, which is appearing on Facebook, email and blogs, show a garbage dump truck that's been retrofitted to launch rockets?
I stumbled on this photo and Facebook entry (below to the right) this week.
I then poked around a bit and found more than a few blogs had posted it as well.
At first glance, it looks terrifying: A specially modified garbage dump truck in Gaza that can raise its bed, fire rockets at Israel through hidden tubes and then slip back into the civilian world.
Postings like these on Facebook purport that the garbage truck above can fire rockets and then "drive off innocently." I've blurred out the name and face of the guy who posted this.
I mean, look at those tubes!
Yikes.
Turns out there are a couple problems:
* The photo isn't from the recent rocket attacks from Gaza; it dates back to at least 2008, and maybe earlier. (The photo seems to have gone viral back in 2010, too.)
* The photo is probably from a vehicle captured in Iraq, not Gaza.
* Those are almost certainly NOT rocket-launching tubes. Experts weighing in on these blogs seem to agree that these tubes are part of a pretty cool exhaust system (invented 80 years ago) that circulates hot exhaust gases through longitudinal tubes to keep the truck bed warm and keep garbage or other debris from freezing in the winter (although you gotta wonder what freezes in the Middle East).
As a fan of garbage trucks and their iconic place in our culture, I'm relived that this is almost certainly a hoax. I'd hate to see my favorite vehicle used for nefarious purposes (aside from knocking over mailboxes).
After seeing too much of this kind of stuff passed around as fact on the internet, I've decided to believe nothing I read online without confirmation. And on the subject of war, politics, religion and large dogs? I will believe even less.
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