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.

[OXENinFLA]

"1) There isn't the slightest scrap of evidence that terrorism had anything to do with Flight 587.

Only Eye witness acounts of people seeing a fireball the size of a car just above the wing.

[kinghorse]

Thank you. It's about time someone else stated the obvious. Bleh, we are so vulnerable. I wrote the following last night after waking from a 3 hour nap (you know how the brain works right upon waking). Didn't get one reply which I interpret to mean it simply scared the s out of people. Oh well.

From last night
This is but another attack designed to show Americans their Government is helpless to protect them. I think it's time to get worried. Do you people ever stop to think how many lives have been affected by USA intervention in foreign wars. From Serbia to Somalia we have been the world's cop. Al Qaeda and Hussein have so many to choose from for this assignment. And the fear, the economic loss is enough to make a country Surrender. This country could not hold up very long under the strain of seeing several Sarajevo quality Bosnian or Serbian snipers working different cities. It would be unholy hell for the city inhabitants. Talk about economic dislocation. Starbucks=Gone, and so many more. Retail economic activity goes to -0-. I am for the first time thinking seriously of bailing now on the markets. This could be it, Armageddon for the USA. This is bad. We aren't squaring ourselves at all to the existences some people have lived outside this country and their life experiences. To lose family members one by one in a war such as the siege of Sarajevo or Grozny Chechnya or 91 Iraq, these murderers have to be cold hearted to the bone.


You wanted to know how Hussein would fight to survive. Your looking at it. And the sad part is, this is not going to be hard to do from their perspective and we will suffer mightily. It's like our leaders are the head after the toe just got smacked. It hasn't reached the brain yet but the pain is there. Weapons of mass destruction my butt. Gimme a couple of well schooled sniper teams. I'm scared and that's the point. Too easy. If this doesn't enter the debate I will just be shocked to hell. This is a very shrewd and decisive move by Hussein or Al Qaeda. Definitely the first "Check" of the match. I guess Europe always understood the risk and this is why they have sucked up to the ME. I'm afraid America will play this match to the end, however unpleasant. The next step will probably be mass deportations. To which many more haters of America will be born. To think we have let in thousands of Somalis, Iraqis, Serbs, Bosnians and others from war torn regions to be settled among us. These folks are good folks, but if only 1% were bad, that's enough to cause a huge problem. It's a problem with no solution. I suspect this problem will be too large for the government to get a handle on, so they will rush to war so as to kill the backers as quickly as possible. Snipers and Oil Tanker attacks. Both designed to bring down the economy. You wanted war. THIS IS WAR BABY.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

There isn't the slightest scrap of evidence that terrorism had anything to do with Flight 587.

Yeah, you probably said the same thing about TWA Flight 800.

And you also think that Ron Brown's plane crashed in the "worst storm in over 20 years" in Croatia, too.

[queenofsardonia]

If a citizen killed or maimed him, this particular terrorist/psychopath will have been deterred from killing again.

[Route66]

"Your point is well taken for a victim, but an armed citizenry would be in the vicinity to react FORCEFULLY!"

Agreed - The liberals who have taken over most of the government and law enforcement in areas like MD and D.C. have been hit with something that proves to them their 'disarm the populace' approach does not protect the populace. With no real clues,the best they can do is give press conferences telling him to surrender.

It's a shame that in a crime like this(as pointed out by another person above,) a responsible citizen is more likely than a cop to stumble upon this guy crouching in a park or greenbelt somewhere taking aim on his next victim. Since in most cases that citizen cannot legally carry a firearm, he/she will not only likely be dead, but the shooter will go free to kill again.

Our 'modern' approach to community policing which places all protection for the people entirely in the hands of a few law enforcement officers will never work against the worst and most determined criminals (or terrorists) in our midst.

[kinghorse]

Ditto

[dead]

Very good points.

In the case of this sniper, though, I am guessing that it is a terrorist.

The reason I believe this is that it doesn't fit any other pattern of lone nut serial killer, and the "Al Qaeda Playbook" I read online (before this started) mentioned just this sort of attack.

Of course, it could turn out to be an entirely new and original species of lone nut killer, and I'd be wrong. But I'm still leaning towards terrorist.

[OXENinFLA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/694643/posts

Flight 587 Ref.

[Vermont Lt]

I was just sitting here wondering. If I was a sniper, and trained to do this, and sent to reap havoc in the US I would have an understanding of how we would react to this.

For example, I would have a pocketful of shell casings that would be the same size of mine, recently fired, and consistent with each other--but different from my gun. I would drop one of these at the site to throw them off. There are a bunch of things to do to really confound the experts--and let them know you are dealing with a terrorists. Of course, the experts would NEVER say that.

I would shift from the pattern, going to completely different groups--and moving locations--like to NY or Philly next.

Those are the things that would lead me to believe this is not a kook working the area. ( Of course you'd have to be a kook to do this.)

I think its really weird that this hasnt been discussed much in the interviews I've seen. Not only is it not dismissed, it ain't even brought up.

Just my rambling thoughts.

[B-Chan]

The fact that the shooter didn't police up his brass marks him as either a) someone who doesn't know better -- a rank amateur; or b) a man in a big hurry -- hence, a spooked or moving amateur. No military or police-trained sniper would leave brass lying around like a business card for the Feds to find. And .223 isn't the round I'd choose for sniping at 200+ yards, either. Have they specifically ID'd the rounds as .223 rifle ammunition, or are we talking more about something like a 5.57 (M-16) round here?

My guess: this guy is an untrained but highly enthusiastic terrorist seeking -- successfully -- to create unreasoning panic among the civilian population of the national capital area.

The bad news is that this sort of random sniping is nearly impossible to predict or prevent. The good news is that a f---up like this guy will leave a calling card that will lead the Laws right to him -- sooner or later.

Here's hoping that it's sooner.

[aristeides]

Not 340 yards. Washington Post story today:

An investigator said police found a spent shell casing in woods about 140 yards from the school, in a spot with a clear sightline to where the boy crumpled to the ground, bleeding.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I took it to mean professional soldier, rather than true sniper. He/they are actually more of the category of stealth commandos, acquiring their weapons in their host nation. Easy to smuggle in the team, more risky to smuggle them armed.

A common calibur like .223 will keep you out on the streets killing much longer than the more easily traced .270, for instance. And he/they are quite effective, whatever their choice of arms.

When the sniping loses it's shine, they'll go to bombing or worse.

[monday]

"Terrorists may be cowardly, but they're not stupid."

Actually they are both, which is why I am not too sure if the sniper actually is a terrorist. He seems too smart. Most terrorists are about as smart as a bag of rocks and are caught or killed quickly. I could be wrong, but this guy seems to be too skillful to be your average middle eastern terrorist.

[afraidfortherepublic]

None of the Greyhound bus attackers were "Middle Eastern", Muslim, or were found to have the slightest connection to any terrorist network.

I thought that the first Greyhound attacker (almost a year ago) was an Albanian Muslim....

[aristeides]

D.C. doesn't have a death penalty. Gov. Glenspending of MD has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty. Those are the only two jurisdictions in which this team has so far committed murder. The shooting victim in VA survived.

[aristeides]

For someone who doesn't care about surviving, this guy has sure picked suitable spots for effective E&E.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

There isn't the slightest scrap of evidence that terrorism had anything to do with Flight 587.

Witnesses reported seeing an explosion on one of the wings of the plane, and FOX News even reported and interviewed the witnesses who saw this.

Oil refineries are massive complexes chock-full of things that burn are explode. Sometimes they burn or explode...

Which makes them an even more tempting target to terrorists. Sorry, but they just don't suddenly combust for the hell of it, there are hundreds of workers maintaining the facility day and night and the refineries undergo rigorous saftey precautions, measures and drills.

There has been NO increase in train accidents or train derailments in the last year.

Of course there isn't. That's because all the derailments happened THIS year, and the statistics have yet to be calculated. None of the Greyhound bus attackers were "Middle Eastern", Muslim, or were found to have the slightest connection to any terrorist network.

How do you know? Where you riding on all the buses that were attacked, or are you simply getting your information from MSNBC?

[kegler4]

Even if there were a fire it proves nothing in regards to terrorism.

Also, in almost every plane crash that results in fire or explosion (which is most), at least one witness and usually many more see fire or an explosion before impact -- even when it can be proven beyond a doubt that there was no fire or explosion before impact (the only source I have for this is my own interview with an NTSB investigator). You'll notice that all those witnesses in this case couldn't even agree on exactly what they saw. The mind plays tricks and in this case the fact that there is a fire guarantees that people will see the fire even before it happens. That's why eyewitness evidence is among the shakiest evidence.

[sean327]

I have qualified "Expert" with the M16A1 AND M16A2 for the last 18 years. I fire from the 200, 300, and 500 yard lines, with iron sights. At the 500 I put all 10 rounds in the black. I am fairly confident that I can hit the black from 700 yards. I also am fairly confident that 90% of all Marines who are Expert shooters can do that also. Do not underestimate the range of the .223/5.56mm round.
Semper Fi.

[monday]

"just as the supply of violent Islamic terrorists in the US is far lower than the political agendas of a lot of people who post on FR, and who are popular writers of articles that get posted on FR, demand."

LOL..... I DEMAND more terrorists! Give them to me NOW!!!!!!!

hmmm... you wouldn't happen to work for the government would you? Your spiel sounds suspiciously familiar....