A disturbing rush to judgement.

Capitol Hill Blue ^ | 10/17/02 | Doug Thompson

[SarahW]

"needed" = "needn't"

[hillsborofox]

"As usual Doug is right on the money."

Are you kidding???

The sniper(s) may or may not be islamic jihadist but Mr. Thompson's reasoning that it's unlikely is soft.

To the able discounting of his many screwy points by other Freepers on this thread I would add that the "I am God" card might have been left on behalf of the shooters own god: allah.

The message being that I (allah) am god and I bring death to you infidels.

Thompson is CapHillBlue "founder and publisher" -- no wonder I've never found anything worth reading there.

[Poohbah]

I'm not worried about racism--only accuracy.

However, even before we had a description, we had self-proclaimed terrorism experts on FR loudly announcing that this was al-Qaeda's latest and greatest effort.

The tarot card is a point of evidence against this being Islamist. So's the fact that this is only happening in the DC suburbs. Nothing conclusive in themselves, but interesting nonetheless.

[hillsborofox]

Such an open mind his brains fell out.

That's so funny!! (I can't wait to steal it. :-)

[MHGinTN]

There are several terrorist organizations, not connected directly to al Qaeda, that could easily be behind these shootings ... Hamas, Hezbollah, Egyptian JIhad, etc. Just because it might not be al Qaeda doesn't rule out others. It is terrorizing the DC area, so it is terrorism. The future manifestations of this same shooting pattern is being set even as the media 24/7 routine feeds the fear. You may want to believe this autrhor is right on the money, but read more carefully.

[SarahW]

I have room in my head for more than one possibility.

Maybe this is the prototypical paranoiac sierra-times government/cop hater.

Maybe it isn't...

To suggest that because this isn't your understanding of what muslim terrorism is, it ISN'T, is foolish. Men box in their thinking, and pay the price.

[Revolting cat!]

That sentence before last, which has been repeated enough in the posts above, betrays the author's entire world view. One senses that if the Left's (and unfortunately the Right's) favourite bugaboo of "racism" hadn't been invented, pundits like the author would not be able to develop cogent arguments. A pathetic PC obsession!

[The Electrician]

I don't necessarily think this is terrorism as Burlingame did get one thing right and that is this would have to start to happen in many other locales before it could be considered an effective form of terrorism.

That presupposes that all Al Queda terrorism is centrally controlled, yet there has been consistent speculation that with the leadership in disarray, individual cells would have the freedom to operate autonomously. That could easily explain the "one of a kind" nature of this crime spree.

[spodefly]

Many people around here could learn a thing or two from him.

Nope. Can't learn a thing from his head in the sand PC drivel.

I am not totally convinced it is islamofascist related terrorism, but there are too many things here to over look. He conveniently leaves alot of them out.

Also, if you want to talk about racism, what about the completely out in the open profiling of white males as the culprit. How blatant is that? Or is it OK to be a racist when the target of that racism is white? Racism is not the issue here though. It is the fact that if we do not at least consider that this has been a very effective terror campaign from the islamists, possibly meant as a diversion or a trial run, then we are setting ourselves up for much more to come.

[babygene]

The quout “No Muslim will lie about such a thing. They will lie about their name, their nationality or their intentions, but claiming to the God would be blasphemy. It would deny the shooter an afterlife.” came from the article.

Re-read my post, I said it was BS.

[El Gato]

a right wing gun nut who doesnt want to pay taxes.

? Maybe John Adams, yea John Adams must be the shooter. Probably egged on by Ben Franklin. Paul Revere would be the driver or lookout.

[Technogeeb]

The tarot card is a point of evidence against this being Islamist

I disagree. I've seen muslims with Tarot cards (in fact, of the three tarot decks I've seen in the past year, two of them were owned by muslims); and I've heard them say "I am God". There is nothing blasphemous in Islam about quoting or paraphrasing scripture, and it is quite possible that this is what the assassin was doing.

Saying that this "couldn't" be a muslim assassin because of the Tarot card is as silly as saying the 9-11 perps couldn't be muslim because of their Florida bar tab. Al Qaeda training is quite clear in discussing that the act of Jihad overrules other muslim laws, and they are explicitly told to violate them if need be.

[Billthedrill]

Silliness. I am convinced from the text that our "expert" hasn't a single shred of evidence more than anyone on this thread. We don't know, for example, that the weapon used is "single shot" - in fact, given the wide range of weapons in that caliber it's rather unlikely. As for "single shot kills" not being some fictive "terrorist way," that is simply untrue. Islamic terrorism in the Middle East is often full-auto assault rifle style because they're lousy shots and that's what they have. More commonly still it's explosives, but the common here does not limit the possible - some Chechens, to cite only one example, are western-appearing Islamic fanatics skilled in the use of a wide range of weaponry and veterans of the Afghan wars. In an urban environment one shot is more effective because it's more covert.

I'm thinking the "experts" would do well to stick a sock in it until we have real data to discuss. It was, after all, the "experts" who grandly announced the Titanic was unsinkable.

[SauronOfMordor]

“No Muslim will lie about such a thing. They will lie about their name, their nationality or their intentions, but claiming to the God would be blasphemy. It would deny the shooter an afterlife.” Yes they would. Lieing to an infidel, no mater what the lie is about, is promoted by their false religion...

Especially if it would throw the cops of the trail by making them assume it couldn't possibly be a Muslim doing it. A Muslim is SPECIFICLY allowed to lie and deny their religion if it's necessary for their safety

[M. Peach]

I'm beginning to think this article is a red herring disguised to pick the brains of the vast amount of experienced and professional opinons of FReepers.

I'm learning a lot just reading some of the replies...

[M. Peach]

Wow - you asked for this one - Any response?

[SerpentDove]

>>Wow - you asked for this one - Any response?<<

EXACTLY what I was thinking. FatherTorque, you have surely read many of our responses.

Care to elaborate on and or/defend your views?

[droberts]

Sorry, don't understand your reply. I don't believe I stated a belief as to whether it is a terrorist or not. My post was simply to point out the Mr. Burlingame's assertions do not prove that it is not a terrorist.

[droberts]

Please remember, I said "...an effective form of terrorism", not that it is terrorism. If this sniper is a terrorist, he/she is not a very effective one.

Whilst we cannot tell whether it is a terrorist or not right now, if this does start to happen in many locations, the probability of it being a terrorist action increases.

[SarahW]

I should clarify it is the thinking patterns of Doug Thompson I was criticizing, not yours.

I agree with your post!