Wonder of internet proved again

Anyone not yet convinced of the marvels of the internet should check out this Guardian article (no, I don’t have shares in the Guardian):

‘Meanwhile it has emerged – as a result of detective work on the internet by a Guardian reader – that the explosion in a Baghdad market which killed more than 60 people last Friday was indeed caused by a cruise missile and not an Iraqi anti-aircraft rocket as the US has suggested.’

‘A metal fragment found at the scene by British journalist Robert Fisk carried various markings, including “MFR 96214 09”. This, our reader pointed out in an email, is a manufacturer’s identification number known as a “cage code”.’

‘Cage codes can be looked up on the internet (www.gidm.dlis.dla.mil), and keying in the number 96214 traces the fragment back to a plant in McKinney, Texas, owned by the Raytheon Company.’

‘Raytheon, whose headquarters are in Lexington, Massachusetts, aspires “to be the most admired defence and aerospace systems supplier through world-class people and technology”, according to its website (www.raytheon.com). It makes a vast array of military equipment, including the AGM-129 cruise missile which is launched from B-52 bombers.’