Posted on 10/08/2002 11:34:37 AM PDT by 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.
Bullsh!t!
Soldiers don't kill women and children. Any suggestion that this cowardly crap is soldiering degrades meaning of the word and insults every good person who has put on a uniform for their country. Soldiers kill military targets, not civilians.
I often agree with JJ, but he lost it here. If he was trying to say the military may be needed to take out this trash, that's fine. But there is no semblance of honor in what this terrorist has done.
Not necessarily so. If this guy(s) is a pro then he would want a weapon as absolutely sterile and untracable as possible. Perhaps this .223 was the "coldest" weapon that he could obtain which could still do the job he had in mind.
It's an excellent varmint rifle. Low retort, long-distance and light.
With a good shooter, it's fine for what he's doing.
Croatian Muslim.
If ".336" is your only typo, please tell me where I can get a .338 mag with reworked trigger, tripod and nice Leopold for $500.
As Travis points out, a TC Contender in .223 would be optimal for all the work that that been done so far by the perpetrators. Remove from backpack, shoot, toss back into pack, bicycle away. From a vehicle, even easier.
As harpseal has mentioned elsewhere, the manner in which the perps have eluded law enforcement so utterly and completely so far is the single most powerful indicator of terrorists. They have the equipment, the training, the skills, the planning, the field support and the mindset, as so far quite capably demonstrated.
As Squantos has pointed out, the casings found by LE so far could have readily be souveniered off of a rifle range and left for the law to find as a red herring. Very easy to do and a very effective countermeasure.
I have little doubt that the perps chose this particular AO in large part due to the heavily disarmed nature of the populace. If such events were to happen here in Florida, the terrorists, although likely prepared to die, would be severely shortening their operational lifetime if they chose this area for their crimes. Where they are now, it's like shooting ducks in a pond.
As for stumbling on the shooter as he/she's about to fire and engaging with a handgun. It's doable, if one was to be so incredibly lucky. Get as close as possible without being detected, seek cover, call on cellfone to notify police and give location, and see what happens after that. If you deign to take a shot or two at the perp, you know they will very likely engage you. And when the law shows up, be prepared to be treated like the bad guy. If you can nail the goblin and disappear without notifying the authorities, engagement would be more of an option. You would still be putting yourself at extreme personal risk from both sides of the equation by doing so.
I must add that it's pretty apparent that the powers-that-be don't want to mention the terrorism aspect of this because they simply don't want to cause a panic. The herd is obviously already pretty spooked. The authorities have worked hard and long over many decades to breed a docile, defenseless and obedient population of sheeple, and they don't want these events to spoil it now. Reminds me of that curse about "be care what you wish for"...
Stay safe, everyone.
I agree. I think many of us are jumping to the conclusion that his primary aim is to kill people. It could be that he is satisfied to simply shoot them and doesn't really care if they die or not.
I haven't had time to read all the articles on this and only saw one police press conference.
My speculation on this is it's more than one "person",and they are working together.
There are a lot of dead VC and NVA and whitetail deer and coyotes not to mention these poor victims who might choose to argue that point. Plus, the 5.56 in Nam was FMJ and not hollow point or some other frag prone round like this shooter is using.....although the old Nam rounds supposedly like to tumble.
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