The DC Sniper Nest: None Dare Call it Terrorism

Sierra Times ^ | Oct 7, 02 | Analysis by J.J. Johnson

[SLB]

This will be one of those articles our enemies will try to pick apart in order to make the accusation that the author actually condones what is happening around the nation's capital. It's expected, since it's one of the few ways the left knows how to deal with such a dilemma. Fact is: There have been at least 11 shootings, with 5 confirmed fatalities so far in the Washington DC area. Since despite all the police chest pounding, they probably won't find a suspect by the time this is article is published, there will probably be more.

In our new War on Terrorism, none dare call it that. So let's call it what it really is - war, and deal with it on those terms.

This of course, will make the spin meisters even more upset, since nothing - absolutely nothing since September 11, 2001 will be called terrorism. Not the American Airlines flight over New York City a year ago, not the string of oil refinery explosions, unexplained train derailments, not the nutcases attacking Greyhound bus drivers, and heaven forbid - that Anthrax thing was an anomaly, just like the West Nile Virus and the new cases of malaria popping up in the same area of the shooting. Just individual crazed lunatics mind you, not terrorism.

Meanwhile, the war continues.

If it hasn't dawned on you that this is an actual war in progress on our own soil (don't worry - it's not terrorism unless we tell you), take a look at the affect one lone sniper has had on the social infrastructure of the DC suburbs:

MARYLAND: Anne Arundel County Schools: . All schools locked . After-school activities canceled . After-school childcare will be provided . No evening high school classes . Indoor recess and activities

Baltimore City Schools: . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . No outdoor after-school athletic events; indoor events will be held

Calvert County Schools: . Students being kept inside schools . No after-school activities

Charles County Schools: . Heightened security . Students kept indoors . After-school activities canceled . Tuesday field trips canceled

Frederick County Schools: . Lockdown status . No students allowed outside

Howard County Schools: . Modified lockdown status . No afternoon kindergarten or special education . No outdoor recess or activities

Montgomery County Schools: . Code Blue status . No afternoon pre-k or kindergarten . Extra security in schools . All field trips canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . All after-school activities canceled

Prince George's County Schools: . Code Blue status . All outdoor activities canceled . Indoor recess and lunch . No outdoor after-school activities . No afternoon pre-kindergarten . All school doors monitored by security . Increased police presence in schools

Queen Anne's County Schools: . No after-school activities

DISTRICT: D.C. Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No outdoor after-school activities . All field trips canceled

Archdiocese of Washington Schools: . No outdoor lunch or recess . No afternoon kindergarten or activities . Aftercare will be provided

VIRGINIA: Alexandria City Schools: . No outdoor recess or physical education classes . After-school activities canceled . Increased police presence for dismissals

Arlington County Schools: . All outdoor after-school activities canceled . Indoor after-school activities will be held

Caroline County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Fairfax County Schools: . No outdoor activities

Falls Church City Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled . Police officers at each school

Fredericksburg City Schools: . Lockdown status . No after-school activities

King George County Schools: . Lockdown status

Loudoun County Schools: . Heightened state of alert . Outdoor activities at each principal's discretion

Manassas City Schools: . Limited lockdown status . No outdoor recess or activities

Prince William County Schools: . No outdoor after-school activities Monday or Tuesday

Spotsylvania County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Stafford County Schools: . Outdoor activities canceled

Not bad for eleven rounds. Anyone want to take a guess how many of these students are children of federal employees? Now, let your brain spin. Here's a federal government planning for war, importing and exporting no goods on its western flank, and with a market in a steady freefall, and yet to even submit a budget this fiscal year. But none of that will be on their minds when they wake up - only: who's next?

Just like September 11 - brilliant war tactics. Then again, as any sniper can tell you, psychological terror is a bi-product of this time-tested, lethal art. The only thing America has going for it right now is that there is only one. Surely the profilers are trying to figure out some way of saying this lone gunman is some nut - some crazy white guy that gets a monthly high from reading Soldier of Fortune, probably hates the New World Order, and is of course, a believer in the Second Amendment, Turner Diaries, etc.. This profile (soon to come, I'm sure) will give some antigun nuts a second wind, attempting to get more gun legislation passed.

C'mon - you know this is coming, don't you?

Lest we forget that the state of Maryland already has some of the most draconian gun laws in the nation. And no gun law will slow down this sniper. In fact, only the opposite is true.

We're dealing with a professional, someone who is becoming pretty good at one shot - one kill. This person is not firing several shots at random, and is deadly accurate. Our shooter knows how to take the shot, then relocate. Some amateur could not be this skilled working behind enemy lines, if you will and, knowing there is a dragnet out there, still hit his mark at least 10 times. According to authorities, there is no common pattern with the victims that are being chosen. So if we said the only thing the victims do have in common is that none are Muslim, that would be a stretch, wouldn't it?

If what many people fear turns out to be the case ("sniper jihad"), catching this critter may be difficult, and a few more may have to die to get a bead on this SOB. Not being a sniper expert, I'd say it will take all we have inside us if and when the next round is fired. But I recall something about hitting the ground, and get a good look in the direction where you heard the sound. If it were a war zone, the next line would be lay down cover fire, and fire teams should keep their 'field of fire' in mind, but we don't want to turn the Washington Suburbs into Washington, DC, now would we?

Our little sniper is operating in an enemy environment, but he is also operating in a relatively 'safe' environment. You see, the fact that we really are at war is a concept too many people haven't taken seriously yet, especially in east coast, antigun bastions such as suburban DC. Hence, only time will tell when suddenly concealed carry laws are lifted (or simply not enforced), so that the soldiers in this new war (the citizens), may have the means of neuturalizing such threats upon discovery.

Go ahead. Call me extreme. But attending all those funerals will get old real fast. Legislators can pass all the laws they want, but no police chief or sheriff wants to spend the rest of is time in office counting innocent bodies. I'd suggest the local police make a few inquires to the Pentagon on how to deal with this problem, not the FBI or ATF. No, I'm not calling for military intervention, but gathering background information on someone that clearly has a military background.

To put it bluntly, we've have a region of the country on the verge of societal shut down. The pundits prefer calling this a lone nut than dealing with the obvious.

This person is not a 'right-wing' lunatic. This person is not a terrorist. This is a solider - waging war on our own soil.

[harpseal]

Just remember to plug their new holes with bacon.

I find it very difficult to carry bacon concealed. However since it is October I do keep pigskin gloves in my jacket. :)

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your input on this thread.

I keep going back to the Islamakazi compound down by Fresno and your comment that you hoped the Feds went and gathered up every spent slug for ballistic tests. We both knew that something like would happen.

I don't know that these sniper/snipers are Islamakazis (home grown or middle east). It is just a matter of time if these snipers are not Islamakazis for Islamakazis to do this.

I had a friend back in the Va area. He killed wild turkeys with his .223 Contender with a Leupold scope. Most of his shots were at 100 yards and most of the time he hit the toms in the heads. He sat on his butt and propped his pistol up on his knees,aimed,shot and killed the turkeys with one shot.

One of my fellow deer hunters out here uses a .243. His deer are just as dead as those I kill with my 30.06. If I go back to deer hunting, I will buy a .243 or some light gun. For our Kali deer they work very well. The guns are lighter to carry around and don't break your shoulder.

A .223 pistol with a scope or laser sight in the hands of someone who has used it a couple of hundred times would be capable of all the kills and wounds in this fiasco.

[Dead Dog]

Very good point.

The choice of weapon then becomes a balance of risk. Will he be able to kill more people before getting caught given the concealability of a TC, or the more fatalistic approach of planning on a fire fight and opting for a semi/full auto.

With that question in mind, the TC is probably the best choice. This person may have good reason to believe he will never get caught. This is a problem.

Two very sobering thoughts come from this.

1). We should expect these types of shootings to begin nation wide and continue until each shooter is rounded up. Ie. It wont stop.

2). Peace in the US will not exist as long as Islam is an organized movement. We could be forced to face the "endgame" by something as simple as a few hundred snipers.

America may have to rediscover it's tradition of grim resolve.

[semaj]

"I heard last night that no shots were beyond 100 meters. An amateur piker could hit a kill zone with iron sights at that range. "

It would appear to me that this person is a trained amatuer. A professional sniper would not want to use anything smaller than a .30 caliber round if the intent was to kill with one shot every shot. JMHO.

[kcat]

John, I have no idea what these things are or how they work. I was just thinking if a forinsics person was talking about this device that it could be used soon after the shooting to determine direction. That does sound far fetched that something could be used for detection after a time.

[Dead Dog]

That should work. If there is a Quiki Mart near by, you could always go for a bag of pork rinds. As long as it comes off of a pig, it works for Alah.

[El Sordo]

I suspect that if the perp is fouund to be driving a Ford there will be similar discussions here about how he was a moron for not using a Chevy.

[Alas Babylon!]

The goal is now not to kill but to get as much attention as possible.

Good point. In warfare, a wounding can be perferable as it causes more than one man to be taken OUT of the battle. A medic or buddy takes the wounded man to the rear. This takes out two with one shot. It might take out many men, if they try to attend to the wounded man.

Almost anytime you shoot someone, you never know if it's a kill or not. Someone might die just being shot in the leg or arm. Others have got head shot through the brain (probably democrats!) and lived through it.

[El Sordo]

Whoops...

I stand corrected.

[Route66]

"It would appear to me that this person is a trained amatuer. A professional sniper would not want to use anything smaller than a .30 caliber round if the intent was to kill with one shot every shot. JMHO."

You are probably right about it being a trained amateur, but we don't really know if killing with one shot is the primary intent. If the primary intent is to terrorize, and if the chosen weapon is easier to conceal, then he would argue he picked the right weapon. Heck, he may even enjoy the challenge.

[semaj]

Your 59: All valid points but I don't think it applies to this indivdual(s). A professional shooter doesn't miss under these circumstances, this guy has, and has failed to eliminate every single target (assuming the intent). He is doing his best with what he's got which doesn't say much for his skill, of course IMHO.

[Robert_Paulson2]

You have identified the problem...

the cops are not telling us the approximate ranges, the typical angles of entry, or the exact size of the exit wounds. They have not confirmed the type of "blinds" the terrorists are using... and it would be easy enough to come up with likely heights of the perches, or van roof (if that is what is being used)....

If we knew the sniper was using the TOP of a van, with a "moon roof" as a perch... folks could watch for such vehicles parked near public lots. The cops are not telling us... and I think they could by now. If a silencer is being used, as I suspect due to very little public data being reported regaring the "report" of the hit rifle by folks nearby... we could tell by the marks on the projectile...

If we knew the sniper had hot footed it out of perch... we could watch the high ground... or tree tops (doubtful).

If the killer is NOT shooting from high ground or a perch... he could not get such deadly shots, without people hearing or seeing something.

Anybody know what kind of silencers are available for a .223? Or how much it reduces range or muzzle velocity and flash? A .223 uses a lot of powder... makes a pretty big bang... even at a thousand yards... without suppresion.

With an army of civilian soldiers, alerted to firing positions, suspected perches and cell phones... a large metro area should have gotten some DETAILS cleared up pretty quickly.

Seems to me like the sheriff SHOULD have already contacted "sniper school" at the local army or marine base, to get the ballistics and positioning profiles out to the public.

NOW that we have a terrified community, it is likely that mohammet has moved on to another location.

We need a nationwide alert, with the pertinent sniper data posted on the news for a day or two... I think a thorough summary of al qaida training tapes and outlines for assymetric warfare on sixty minutes MIGHT go a long way towards waking or shaking the not yet comatose sheeple up to a useful level. Parked vans, or vehicles that are setting in high places, overlooking pubic areas.
Folks need to get serious about reporting what should be considered potential sniper perch activities. They cannot, because such things are taboo for media. We better wake up before we are forcibly extinguished... JOHNNY JIHAD studies this stuff at "madrassa" school, from the tender age of 3...


with their training and ability/skills developed for maximum terrorist effect since that tender age... by the time they hit 19 or so, the american public are virtually "fish in a barrel" every where we go.

I wonder if the guy they arrested for al qaida membership AFTER taking his basic training out here in Washington, (the portlan oregon six) is the ONLY terrorist we have trained for sniper duty at taxpayer expense... in our own military institutions?

I wonder if we have a list of former sniper types, who are otherwise aol.. or failed to report for active duty.
Should islamics be allowed in the military? I am not so sure.

[Robert_Paulson2]

IRA, was my understanding.

[Dan Cooper]

A fotuitous slip. It reminded me that I hadn't gone and read Jeff Cooper's Commentaries for awhile. Time to catch up.

[KneelBeforeZod]

[twntaipan]

You know, the location of the attacks (high government employee concentration) makes you wonder if this is not psy-ops in the age of asymetrical warfare. Chipping away at the will of the government to wage war.

Couple that with a growing fifth column of anti-war protesters (note the correspondence of timing; terror at home at the same time as large anti-war protests--heck, and that doesn't count the demonRATs).

[Mr. Mojo]

I also have been wondering about .223 silencers and their effect on velocity/range, and no one I've asked seems to know. To my knowledge, not a single witness has heard a single shot. There's no doubt the Feds are keeping a stranglehold on the details.

[wardaddy]

Wouldn't suprise me and they have quite a rep for paramilitary shooters...deserved or not.

btw....i'm orange.

[Joe Brower]

Do you think more than one person is involved? Shooter, lookout, driver...maybe two lookouts?

Who knows? KISS is the name of the game here. My opinion: two individuals -- a driver and a shooter. That's it.