Posted on 10/15/2002 10:09:05 AM PDT by Maceman
The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that an alQaeda cell is conducting a sniper operation carried our by two or three two-man teams. Such as strategy would have many advantage for alQaeda:
* It would confound the police, and make their job geometrically more difficult.
* Conflicting witness reports (since the witnesses are seeing different teams) would keep law enforcement scrambling and chasing false leads for a long time.
* It would create a climate of terror in the population.
* It would cause economic dislocation as people curtail their activities to the greatest extent possible.
* The teams could stay local, thereby remaining in their comfort zones.
* The team could operate for a long time -- operating at any pace it wants including going dormant for a time.
* It would be a great percursor to a larger attack, in terms of softening up the public and diverting law enforcement resources.
* From all accounts, the shooter(s) need not have a lot of training to operate at their current skill levels.
* The odds of not getting caught appear high, which means that you don't need to recruit suicide bombers. I have read reports that al Qaedas suicide bombers are mostly dim bulbs. Moreover, telling someone they probably won't die HAS to be an easier recruitment pitch.
No I'm not ignorant about handguns and yes I have made football field length shots and you don't want to be the target at 100 yards.
I don't believe the shooters in this situation are using handguns, but they could be. Some are chambered for the .223 cartridge and can (in the right hands) hit man-size targets well past 100 yards.
Check some of the other threads on this subject. It's been discussed by some who are definitely NOT ignorant about long-range handgun use.
And it is just as easy for a forensics expert to CONVINCE A JURY (which is the important thing) that this bullet came from this gun because you can see it was altered in this way...
Now cut that out, you're assuming words mean things.
How can we go off on tangential rants if you insist on verbal comprehension?
Only if the bullet is intact.
Only if the barrel/chamber has not been modified through months or years of use.
Only if the barrel/chamber has not been replaced.
Only if the barrel/chamber has not be intentionally modified.
Only if the bullet has not been intentionally modified prior to firing.
Only if the ammunition has not changed substantially.
Only if normal bullets are used, and not discarding sabot bullets.
Fingerprint makes it sound as if its unique, just like DNA. Its possible for multiple barrels to impart the same markings on bullets.
If they are really professional about it, then the shooter might have a "nylon stocking" over their head, and gloves on. Someone looking over after the shot is taken will see the clothing - but nothing distinguishing about the face, hair color, or hands. Using a different "flesh tone" for the stocking will lead the witness to say the shooter is "white", no he's "beige", no "kinda brown", no "olive skinned", etc.
And it appears the goal of the shooter(s) is not so much to take out his frustrations on strangers, but to paralyze a community by fear -- which is what the terrorist game plan is all about. This may not be "personal"; it may be "political."
Your suspicions may yet prove to be correct. I'm sure we'll find out in due course.
On a side note: Maybe my tin-foil beanie is plugged on too tight; but when I heard about the massive poultry recall by Wampler, I thought that might have a terror connection, also. Listeria can be, after all, a deadly biological agent...and we Americans all have to eat.
But I strongly suspect this is one "domestic" terrorist, possibly motivated by fundamentalist islamic impluses but certainly NOT connected to the al Quada group or other international group.
This is why - al Quada is now only interested in suicide attacks. Why? Because dead men tell no tales, so they can't implicate other members of the cell or organizing group. This sniper clearly does not want to get caught.
An al Quada sniper who wanted to create terror in the capital would scale an unsecure structure and open up on milling crowds of tourists and others, killing as many as possible, and also have other weapons with him to shoot it out with the cops when they showed up. (Note - I lived in Fairfax for over a year and worked in DC about half the time each week, and I can think of three or four buildings that fit this description, needless to say, I'm not going to share any of them on this forum.) Perhaps he would be rigged with explosives to detonate when he felt capture was immiment. He wouldn't drive around shooting one person at a time. This type of crime certainly does not fit the al Quada MO. Bali fits the al Quada MO. The attack on the french supertanker fits the al Quasa MO. The beltway sniper does not.
* It would be a great percursor to a larger attack, in terms of softening up the public and diverting law enforcement resources.
But that's not how it works in the capital. There are essentially LIMITLESS resources for security, since they can call out the military far more easily than in other areas of the country. I think all these attacks have done, from an al Quada point of view, is tighten security there and even elsewhere. Preparations for terror attacks are back in the news here in Austin, after months of being off the screens.
* From all accounts, the shooter(s) need not have a lot of training to operate at their current skill levels.
This may or may not be true. I think there is some difference of opinion on this, however, if they were al Quada, they would be highly trained at one of the terror camps in Afghanistan or Iraq.
* The odds of not getting caught appear high, which means that you don't need to recruit suicide bombers. I have read reports that al Qaedas suicide bombers are mostly dim bulbs. Moreover, telling someone they probably won't die HAS to be an easier recruitment pitch.
But the odds are extraordinarily high he will be caught. And he probably will die ultimately, either the cops will kill him or he'll get the death penalty after capture. Either way, the preferred way for al Quada types to go is in a blaze of glory, a suicide bomb or crashing your vehicle into a building full of innocent people. I think it's possible that it's Islam related, however, I feel a more likely rationale for the attacks would be an eco-terrorist or anarchist type, given that they obviously don't want to get caught, and they are essentially targeting only gas stations and chain stores (Limbaugh just mentioned that all the victims have been "model citizen types" which is interesting from my angle as well - "Let's go kill some squares man!" Or it's just a classic psychopath, ie, other famous American sniper killers like Charles Whitman and Lon Horiuchi.
Therefore the Police would have to let the first one go.
So to my point. This guy in Baltimore.
What if he has got himself a team of snipers to start a race war with the Muslims in the US. The snipers are not Muslims, just far right extremists. They have sent things to the Police which show them as Muslims i.e kill the infidels etc. (Theory Only).
But the Police do not want to release it because of the carnage it might create in the US with civilans shooting muslims in the street. This is why they are checking past military records of ex-snipers.
Tell me more. How can they do this with mere fragments?
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