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'That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041802824_pf.html ^ | David Maraniss

Posted on 04/19/2007 3:00:24 PM PDT by ventanax5

The roommates crossed paths near the bathroom door at 5 in the morning. In the Monday darkness, another school week at Virginia Tech was about to begin. Karan Grewal had pulled an all-nighter to finish his accounting paper. His eyes were bleary as he saw Cho Seung Hui, in boxer shorts and T-shirt, moving around him to get into the bathroom. No words were exchanged, but that is how it always was with Cho, the silent stranger among six guys in Suite 2121 of Harper Hall. Cho, or Seung as his suitemates called him, never looked you in the eye, rarely changed expression, would just walk right on by.

Grewal returned to his room and collapsed on his bed, falling into a deep sleep. He would not stir until mid-morning, awakened by an uncommon sound on campus, the wail of sirens.

Cho left the bathroom, got dressed, pulled a stocking cap over his head, and set out from the dorm on his way to kill 32 students and teachers and then himself in the bloodiest mass murder by a lone gunman in American history.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Virginia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: trey; vatech; virginiatech
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To: scory

Sick men and sick nations lay down to die. Are you ready to sign your own death certificate so that a sick South Korean can stamp if DONE? I’m not and can’t imagine that I ever will be.


21 posted on 04/19/2007 3:57:15 PM PDT by B4Ranch ("Steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world." -George Washington-)
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To: B4Ranch

Just call him a paranoid schizo, leave the nationality out.


22 posted on 04/19/2007 4:01:27 PM PDT by RightWhale (3 May '07 3:14 PM)
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To: scory
I couldn't disagree more with your conclusions.

1. Classrooms are full of weapons. Fire extinguishers, desks, keyboards, books and chairs.

2. Three or more rush this scumbag at the same time with various weapons one of them is bound to get him.

3. I would not have my headstone say "that was the desk I chose to die under". If nothing else while he is shooting me he is using up ammo and others may get away or better yet organize an attack.

Old Sioux saying: "Perhaps today is a good day to die." If I'm going out it is with honor and dignity and hopefully taking the scumbag with me.

23 posted on 04/19/2007 4:01:59 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (The road is long and the path is difficult, the reward is worth it.)
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To: Dixie Yooper

Does VT have an ROTC unit?


24 posted on 04/19/2007 4:04:02 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (The road is long and the path is difficult, the reward is worth it.)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Yes, and also a Corps of Cadets. At least one of Cho’s victims was in the Corps.

}:-)4


25 posted on 04/19/2007 4:12:32 PM PDT by Moose4 (Today, we are all Hokies.)
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To: Interesting Times
I’m no fan of the Post, but this is an excellent piece.

Reading that line and knowing it to be true I was compelled to read it. You're right.

Regards,

TS

26 posted on 04/19/2007 4:12:48 PM PDT by The Shrew (www.swiftvets.com & www.wintersoldier.com - The Truth Shall Set YOU Free!)
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To: Interesting Times
I’m no fan of the Post, but this is an excellent piece.

The WaPo is a pretty good paper in non-election years. Don't worry, they'll find another Macaca incident to put on the front page dozens of times in the last weeks and days right before the next election.

27 posted on 04/19/2007 4:18:57 PM PDT by Freee-dame
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To: All

If a gunman came in through the front door of a classroom there are going to be desks between you and the shooter. And the people in front are going to be dropping to the floor. The guys will usually sit at the back of the classroom. The shooter was obviously a very good with a handgun too. For most of them, there would not have been much of an opportunity to fight back.


28 posted on 04/19/2007 4:20:18 PM PDT by faq
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To: ventanax5

That is a VERY well-done piece. Possibly Pulitzer quality, IMO. (Not that a Pulitzer means jack anymore, considering that the AJC’s resident victim-pimp, Cynthia Tucker, just won one.)

}:-)4


29 posted on 04/19/2007 4:23:12 PM PDT by Moose4 (Today, we are all Hokies.)
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To: Moose4

Glad to hear they have a program - still.


30 posted on 04/19/2007 4:24:57 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (The road is long and the path is difficult, the reward is worth it.)
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To: mad_as_he$$
Old Sioux saying: "Perhaps today is a good day to die." If I'm going out it is with honor and dignity and hopefully taking the scumbag with me.

Old American saying, "You are full of bullsh*t." Your tagline should be "Walter Mitty wannabe."

31 posted on 04/19/2007 4:31:42 PM PDT by kabar
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To: ventanax5
You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today.

More importantly Cho...so did you.

This is an EXCELLENT read.

32 posted on 04/19/2007 4:39:16 PM PDT by pollyannaish
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To: ventanax5

WOW! Thanks for posting that!


33 posted on 04/19/2007 4:43:55 PM PDT by pollyannaish
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To: ventanax5

Okay, this account has finally prompted me to ask why we have created a generation of sheep instead of men?

Surely, diving for cover, flipping desks if necessary, then, flinging books, laden backpacks and other heavy objects at Cho once one was under some kind of cover should have been the order of the day. The survivors accounts, including those of the magnificent heroism of Prof. Librescu, make it clear that ‘bar the door’ was the only though of defense, and there seems to have been no counterattack.

A French book to the head is no where near as lethal as a 9mm bullet, but it could have provided an opening for a desk to the head which would be.


34 posted on 04/19/2007 4:48:37 PM PDT by The_Reader_David (And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
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To: kabar
Yup when you can’t make an argument start the name calling. You are an excuser and an enabler.
35 posted on 04/19/2007 4:54:07 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Changed my tagline because kabar didn't like the old one. NOT!)
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To: Thrusher
“but to call these poor kids “cowards” because they instinctively ran from a maniac with two pistols who was slaughtering their classmates left and right is just cruel.”

Forget cruel, it is inaccurate. Running un armed from an armed attacker is smart. It forces the guys aim off and may save your life. Also, as the shooter begins to miss he becomes frustrated and his attention and awareness deteriorates, possibly giving others a chance to run or interfere in some way.

The passivity is what is being callled cowardly. It seems cruel to apply so loaded a word to people who had their lives stolen by a monster but it is descriptive of their response and it carries home the understanding that they had something worth fighting for, their lives, and they abandoned hope and so lost their future. I’m betting the nest shooter (God forbid) doesn’t get near 30 odd dead. I think this weird passivity could only have happened on our strange times, but people learn quick. “My life is worth something and I’m not letting anyone take it without a fight.” is now filtering thru the conscious or ungracious minds of millions of American right now.

36 posted on 04/19/2007 5:04:32 PM PDT by TalBlack
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To: TalBlack

MAKE THAT:....is now filtering thru the conscious or UNCONSCIOUS minds of millions of American right now.


37 posted on 04/19/2007 5:08:20 PM PDT by TalBlack
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To: RightWhale

>leave the nationality out.<

Why, from what I can tell most of the South Koreans think we are all trash. Anti-Americanism is considered pop culture in South Korea. We need to get our troops out of their country and quit paying their damn bills for them.

http://usinkorea.org/

http://www.fpif.org/papers/korea.html


38 posted on 04/19/2007 5:09:53 PM PDT by B4Ranch ("Steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world." -George Washington-)
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To: ventanax5

You know with all the video the MSM showed, they should have also shown a picture of his blow up face. Kind of like adding the most important part. .... which is how you will finish when you do this.


39 posted on 04/19/2007 5:37:34 PM PDT by TomasUSMC ( FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM)
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To: mad_as_he$$

And you are a fraud. Talk is cheap. Unless you have been there, it is easy to make yourself into a hero. I’ve been there. I still thing you are full of it.


40 posted on 04/19/2007 6:04:03 PM PDT by kabar
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