Sniper places Washington under siege once again

Manchester Union Leader ^ | October 15, 2002 | Bernadette Malone

[billorites]

WASHINGTON IS under siege again, this time because of a sniper.

Waiting for the next attack is something the capital city’s residents learned the pain of a year ago on Sept. 11, as we watched the twin towers burn on television, smelled the smoke pouring out of the Pentagon, and waited for the “other” airplane reported missing by newscasters to slam into our offices on Capitol Hill or near the White House.

That other plane never hit us, because its heroic passengers overpowered their hijackers and drove it into the Pennsylvania earth instead. But now Washingtonians know all too well what it’s like to wait for the next shoe to drop.

“This is not a new feeling.” That’s how my Washington colleague, Miriam, describes her response to the sniper lurking in the suburbs of the nation’s capital since Oct. 2, picking off innocent men, women, and children as they pump gas, mow the lawn, load packages into the car, etc. The sickening familiarity of this feeling is the result of the oxymoronic caution we have been hearing for over a year now: Be on the lookout for terrorists, but don’t “profile” Middle Easterners. Go about your business, but be alert. Alert for what? Look out for what? How does one look out for a sniper? We are sitting ducks for the sniper, just as we are sitting ducks for terrorists. Could the sniper be a terrorist? This possibility has crossed the mind of more than one Washingtonian.

My friend Marcy, who has a daughter “locked down” in a suburban Maryland kindergarten and must now learn the difference between the school system’s “Code Blue” and “Code Red” warnings, finds the timing of the sniper’s activity a little too coincidental. “Don’t you think it’s strange that we’re preparing to go to war with Iraq at the same time this is happening?” she asked me the day a 13-year-old boy was gunned down outside of another suburban Maryland school. No one is officially discussing such a link, but why couldn’t the two nightmares be related?

As the local police departments from Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., join forces with the FBI and Secret Service to track down the sniper, one must ask: could this be an attempt to divert law enforcement’s attention from the planning of a bigger crime? After all, the sniper likely has some sort of military training, killing almost all of his victims with a single shot from his rifle.

At least two eyewitness reports describe two individuals — not just one — fleeing the scene. If the sniper is working in concert with another individual, it decreases the chances that he is a psychotic acting out his delusion of grandeur. And there is no discernible pattern among his victims — they are of every race, age and gender. Granted, the discovery of the sniper’s note near the Maryland school weakens the terrorist theory somewhat. It’s hard to imagine an Islamic fundamentalist blasphemously writing “I am God” on a tarot card, of all things. But regardless of whether the sniper is linked to al-Qaida or not, his intention is clearly to sow terror in the Washington, D.C. community and make its residents feel vulnerable at all times.

The Washington Post reported Friday that more people are using “full serve” at gas stations, because four of the sniper’s victims were filling up their own tanks. Many people have prepaid for the gas, but have driven off without filling up — in nervous, absent-minded haste. “I have to wait for the bus for work in the morning, and every few minutes I look over my shoulder to make sure I know what’s going on,” says Stephan, another Washington colleague. “There’s a special place in hell reserved for someone who shoots little children in the back,” Stephan assures me somberly. Nothing elicits moral judgments in big cities anymore other than incidents of unambiguous evil like the sniper. Or the Sept. 11 terrorists.

Suddenly, a diverse metropolis notorious for its competing opinions on right and wrong unifies against the embodiment of sin in the world. Sadly, nothing brings people closer together, feeling like part of a community. Minutes before the Pentagon City mall closes on a recent weekday, I dash through its parking lot, alert for the sniper, and duck in to buy a bottle of nail polish. (No sniper is going to interfere with my priorities.) As I hand the woman behind the counter my money, she thanks me and warns, “Be careful out there.” She doesn’t have to say why. I want to reach across and hug this stranger goodnight, sister to sister, both of us under siege. Again.

Bernadette Malone is the former editorial page editor.

[jacquej]

In my opinion, the shootings on the DC area are middle-east/muslim terrorism, and none, LE, Media, or Government, dare label it as such.

The possibility is that these are "tests" for the near future, for the holiday travel and shopping season. The evidence is there, but we just can't consider the possibility that these events will be replicated in metropolitan/suburban areas across the country, when the 500 or so terrrorist cells present in this country get the techniques refined.

And why not label it as muslim terrorism? One simple reason...what can be done about it? Nothing. This "test" by the muslim shooters is proving that.

To keep on keeping on, we need to believe that this is a lone nut or two.

The retail sector is what is keeping our economy afloat, and that depends on us all continuing to shop till we drop. Widespread fear as a consequence of the DC shootings spreading across the country will bring commerce and travel to a slow crawl

We do not have the political will to round up and deport all muslims in our country on visas, never mind the ability to control our borders, and let's not even think about the American Muslims, like Louis Farakhan and his henchpersons.

After all, haven't we been told that this is a "religion of peace"?

Homeland Security is a band-aid on a melanoma, and we are all frogs, with the only question remaining in my mind is whether we are being brought to a slow boil, or if we are being fried.

I do hope I am wrong, but increasingly, I doubt it.

[Joe Brower]

[McBuff]

I'm tired of this fear and self pity tone. Lets talk victory. We are in a war folks. The war did not go away. We must win it. . and we can win because we are stronger than our enemy. Okay, maybe I look around at the gas pump a little more. . so what! This is still the best country in the world. . .and another thing. .. we are all going to die some day, stop the whinning as if living forever in the flesh is a realistic goal.

It is the emptiness of liberal values being exposed for what they are: little thoughts for little brains. Am I scared? Sure. . .but my fear pales in front of my faith that this will be an opportunity for our God, our nation and our culture to be proven in front of the world. Let's show the world who we really are! We are Americans! Act like it! Me? I'm going to Home Depot today.