Georgians Play Down Bush Grenade

Say Device Was Inactive, U.S. President In No Danger During Speech

(CBS/AP)  Georgia's security chief said Wednesday that the grenade that was found near the site where President Bush made a speech in Tbilisi was inactive.

Gela Bezhuashvili, secretary of the National Security Council, said the Soviet-era grenade was found 100 feet from the tribune where Mr. Bush spoke on Tuesday.

But Georgian security officials say the intent may have been to scare people or attract attention, and that Mr. Bush was not in any danger, reports CBS News' Bill Gasperini.

"The goal is clear — to frighten or to scare people and to attract the attention of the mass media," Bezhuashvili said. "The goal has been reached and that is why I'm talking to you now."

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry said Tuesday that his agency had been informed that a device, possibly a hand grenade, had been thrown near the stage during President Bush's speech, hit someone in the crowd and fallen to the ground.

Bezhuashvili said, however, that it was not thrown but "found."

"In any case there was no danger whatsoever for the presidents," he said, referring to Mr. Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

"None of us in the press corps noticed any unusual activity and in fact, sources tell CBS News that the Secret Service also did not witness an object being thrown nor any disturbances in the crowd," reports White House Correspondent Bill Plante.