Posted on 02/21/2010 10:09:55 AM PST by LA Woman3
Joseph Stack's flight into the side of an Austin office building Thursday was a crime of vengeance by a man clearly angry at the Internal Revenue Service. But should it be called terrorism?
Judging from the rambling manifesto he left online, academics and terrorism experts said Friday that they doubt that Stack's attack was more than a "cathartic outburst of violence." The plane crash echoed other attacks over the years by lone criminals with a violent anti-government bent, which one expert called a distinctly American phenomenon.
To be an act of terrorism, "there has to be some political motive and it has to send a broader message that seeks some policy change," Georgetown University professor Bruce Hoffman said. "From what I've heard, that doesn't appear to be the case. It appears he was very mad at the [IRS] and this was a cathartic outburst of violence. His motivation was the key."
Hoffman contrasted Stack's attack on an office building housing IRS employees with the rampage at Fort Hood in November. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of murder in those shootings.
"Hasan went to a military base, specifically to an area where people were being processed for overseas assignments, and just wanted to attack soldiers," Hoffman said. "That seemed to be sending a political message and was meant to have wider repercussions.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
It is only Muslims that are trying to reclassify this event as terrorism
Feeling lonely I guess.
War on cathartic outbursts?
Of course, Joe Stack was a terrorist, just like Tim McVey, the Ft. Hood Shooter, the DC Sniper and the 9/11 hijackers.
They’d probably be calling him a terrorist if he was “right wing.” But since he was a deranged leftist (contrary to lies that went out yesterday from the left wing press), they will make as little of it as they can.
But, no, he’s certainly not a terrorist in the sense that Muslims or Communist fanatics are terrorists. His politics helped to derange him, but it was not primarily a political act.
Ok, now that they left has seen that their efforts to classify this guy as a right wing nut job has failed, due mainly to the evidence left by the perp that he was a left wing nut job, suddenly it is no longer domestic terrorism(despite what the guy wrote in his lunatic ramblings)but just simply a guy getting even with the IRS. Right, got it/Sar.
If you play that backwards here's what Mr. Poltok and SPLC are saying: "We sure hope to tag the radical right with this! We'll collect tens of millions of dollars scaring people! This is best chance since 1995! Hot Damn!"
I'd like to try my hand in the lucrative scare industry..
I do not know Wesley Snipes' politics but he's black, he's Hollywood so.. I guess he's a liberal.
Given his problems with the IRS his feelings about the deadly attack was, "What's new?" I believe that is a quote.
Ergo Stack represents the feeeeelings of the liberal victims' industry, the liberal civil rights industry, and the liberal Hollywood crowd.
It's clear that the left liberals/progressives approve of the attack.
Why? Because (at least) one of them appears to sympathize with Stack's despicable actions.
Send your money to . . . .
I just hope that the Federal Government syops its campaign of tax discrimination against computer programmers before we run out of airplanes. Many people aren’t even aware of the Federal “programmer pogrom”!
STOPS, I meant to type.
You are wrong. Stack acted alone out of his own selfish interests. He was not part of any kind of movement and his sole motive was revenge against people he thought wronged him (personally).
A terrorist is someone with a political purpose which he believes will be advanced by killing innocent people and inflicting terror on the people he does not kill.
Stack was no different than some guy who gets fired and then goes back to the office and kills his boss and a few other people before killing himself.
Unless you are willing to call every instance of some guy going postal "terrorism" then Stack was NOT a terrorist. He was just some idiot who snapped and went postal.
IMO people demean the term "terrorist" when they apply it to people who are just crazy.
Cathartic outburst? Does this mean Stack finally got it all out of his system, and we can rest assured he will never try that again?
He was angry at the IRS, and flew his plane into an IRS buiding. A little different than blowing up a pizza joint in Israel because Americans are in Saudi Arabia.
Yeah, isn't CAIR absolutely pathetic??
It’s good to cathart.
You forgot your sarcasm tag.
Considering Stack's remains assumed room temperature (after being incinerated by burning aviation fuel), it is safe to say that he won't be repeating this action (at least not in this life.)
Whether or not he "got it out of his system" or not is unanswerable, as he is not around to comment on his satisfaction about what he did.
Certainly a whole lot of people in those Austin buildings (and those who saw the new coverage of the aftermath) felt terrorized, regardless of his intentions. They certainly didn't have a cathartic experience.
"The plan is to build him up. Give him all the confidence we can.
Striker, have you ever flown a multi-engine plane before?"
"No. Never."
"S***! It's a g-ddamn waste of time! There's no way he can land this plane!"
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