Police suppress terrorism angle

WorldNetDaily ^ | October, 16, 2002 | Paul Sperry

[scripter]

WASHINGTON – Several witnesses to the Beltway sniper shootings over the past two weeks have described suspects resembling Middle-Eastern men, but authorities have played down the Islamic terrorism angle to avoid mass "panic" in the area, an ATF official told WorldNetDaily.

"That angle is actually being looked at, and the FBI has the lead on it," said the official, who is working with the sniper-murders task force based in Maryland's Montgomery County, where the first five shootings took place.

"None of this has been overlooked. There's an awful lot that they're not allowing out," he said. "But the issue really is, as it was with the nuclear (terrorism) stuff, that they do not want public panic."

The Bush administration fears parents might pull their children from schools if police speculate about a terrorist connection, he says. And federal employees might skip work, effectively shutting down the government.

Also, tourists would likely cancel travel plans, dealing another blow to the area's already soft economy, says the official, who wished to go unnamed.

That said, the task force won't likely release a composite sketch of suspects – alternately described by witnesses, law-enforcement lookouts and police-scanner chatter as "Hispanic," "Middle-Eastern," "olive-skinned" and "dark-skinned" – until all other suspects are ruled out.

Two white males apprehended separately in the manhunt, based on tips, have been questioned and released. While they were in custody or under watch, the shootings continued. Police say the men, both from Maryland, are not suspects.

Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose, who is leading the multi-jurisdictional investigation, Tuesday said the task force has at least a "partial" description of suspects who he suggested are minorities.

But he elected not to release the information, explaining it might "paint some group."

Since Oct. 2, the sniper or snipers have cut down 11 people in Washington and five surrounding counties with single shots to the head or torso. Nine have died. All were shot with a rifle or rifles that chamber a .223 round, such as an AR-15 or hunting rifle.

Prince Georges Police Department Detective Paula Pascarella, who is part of the task force, told WorldNetDaily on Friday that authorities are investigating the possibility of teams of snipers using more than one .223-caliber rifle and traveling in more than one white vehicle.

Moose told reporters at Tuesday's press conference that there are "numerous vehicles they could be using."

The task force has released composite graphics of a white box truck witnesses described leaving the scene of one or more of the Maryland shootings. On Tuesday, it released composite graphics of two models of white cargo vans with roof racks that witnesses reported seeing fleeing the last two shootings in Virginia.

Federal authorities interviewed by WorldNetDaily say the sniper shootings are more sophisticated than first thought, and have the earmarks of an al-Qaida operation.

• For one, the shootings are unbelievably brazen, like the Sept. 11 attacks. Eyewitnesses in both the Home Depot shooting in Falls Church, Va., and Exxon station shooting in Fredericksburg, Va., told authorities they saw a sniper taking aim and shooting from outside the reported getaway van, WorldNetDaily has learned.

• The snipers, like the Sept. 11 hijackers, seem highly disciplined and under control. They've stayed away from the District of Columbia, where security is tight and Potomac bridges make escape risky. They take one shot, aiming at the head or heart, and flee the scene. A man shot at a Manassas, Va., Sunoco station, for example, was felled by a bullet that entered the upper left part of his back. They appear to have pre-selected their targets to spread the greatest fear in the nation's capital. Victims range in age (13 to 72), race and sex. Message: No one is safe – not even under a covered parking lot amid other shoppers, as they proved in the Home Depot assault.

• They strike at day and at night – but not on weekends, ostensibly to breed panic among workers commuting into Washington Monday through Friday from the five bedroom communities where they've hit. It's as if the snipers are "on a mission to shut down" the nation's capital, observed one law-enforcement official. And it may be working: Many federal employees, including some at the Pentagon, have requested they be allowed to telecommute to work part of the week until the shootings stop, WorldNetDaily has learned.

• By using common white delivery trucks and/or vans, snipers have spread law enforcement thin. Dragnets that have shut down major arteries in and out of the capital have proved fruitless. Some 200 detectives in the Washington area are working around the clock on the case. The FBI Terrorism Task Force has assigned agents. So have Maryland and Virginia state police. The Secret Service also is helping with the investigation, as WorldNetDaily first reported Oct 4. Next: The Pentagon, which is expected to help with aerial surveillance.

• Snipers have managed to terrify America's capital with just 11 strategic shots. Homecoming football games and SAT tests have been canceled. Drivers are afraid to pump gas. Shoppers brave enough to go out walk briskly across parking lots in zig-zag patterns. Schools are in indefinite "lock-down," meaning kids can't go outside for recess until the snipers are caught.

• The shootings took place alongside a resurgence in al-Qaida terrorism. Successful smaller-scale attacks against Americans and other Westerners in Yemen, Kuwait and Indonesia were apparently praised in a letter penned by Osama bin Laden himself, who appears to have reemerged defiantly from the shadows.

"These shootings are in line with cheap, low-level terrorism designed to disrupt commerce and law enforcement, and to lower morale," the ATF official summed up.

Al-Qaida training videos recovered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan demonstrate small-scale attacks such as drive-by shootings and assassinations, as WorldNetDaily first reported. The al-Qaida cell recently busted in Oregon was uncovered after local police spotted operatives shooting targets with assault rifles.

Other developments:

• Surveillance-and-detection teams in unmarked cars have been deployed to watch for snipers at locations and intersections around Washington that have been profiled as possible targets.

• Authorities now suspect the so-called tarot card left near a Maryland school-shooting scene is more a "red herring" than a break in the case. Police still have not made the document public.

• They also view the Michaels crafts store connection as nothing more than a coincidence. Michaels stores are located in shopping centers, such as the Seven Corners Shopping Center in Falls Church, where the Home Depot is also located. The snipers are targeting high-traffic areas such as shopping centers.

• The task force did not get a good license plate number for the sniper van used in the Home Depot attack. "We have a lot of numbers," said the ATF official. "That's the problem."

• FBI agents are upset Moose is still running the investigation, and think the FBI should take over.

  "There have been more shootings outside Montgomery County than inside his jurisdiction," said an FBI veteran. "Yet he's still in charge."

  He called Moose's performance so far "disquieting."

• Authorities aren't sure anymore that the snipers are escaping shooting scenes on highways. They may be stationed locally and then draw back to nearby hideouts, which may explain how they've managed to slip dragnets.

• It's unlikely the administration will authorize National Guardsmen to help with roadblocks and other aspects of the investigation, because that would "tip the hand" that it's terrorism and spook citizens, the ATF official confided.

[B4Ranch]

"When Peace comes we will perhaps, in time, be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons."
- Golda Meir

[who knows what evil?]

Paul Sperry being interviewed LIVE on Mike Gallagher's show RIGHT NOW!

[browardchad]

I think Chief Moose is stalling on releasing the composite drawing because “he” (people telling him what to say) is afraid that everyone with a gun is going to target ME-appearing people.

There may be another factor in play here, which aids and abets Moose, et al, obvious reluctance to target a "group of people"

There were more than a few ME-looking customers in that shopping center Monday night, which makes sense, since there is a large concentration of them in that area. Last night, Arafat's buddy, Rita Cosby, had a phone interview with a "witness" who spoke in a decidedly middle-eastern accent, who emphatically ID'd the perps as "white." How many of these supposed "witnesses" have called or come forward to promote that theory, I wonder?

What we seem to have here is "witness by committee" -- with no ranking of contradictory evidence based on credibility of witnesses. Thus we have two renderings of a van, instead of someone in LE taking the bold initiative of making a decision on the most likely description. This type of investigation also spreads the blame for failure over a wide area, which may be the point, considering who's in charge.

[white trash redneck]

I heard this same comment attributed to Moose this morning on Mike Gallagher, as well. It sounds as if Moose is willing to sacrifice a few more victims rather than to have the DC area's "Moose-lim" citizens subjected to some hard glares. It's a shame that LEO's are so rarely sued for incompetence.

[Dan Cooper]

They never took credit for 9-11, the Cole, the Embassies in Africa, the Khobar Towers bombing, etc... Why start now?

[quebecois]

Despite everything that has happened, the elites in DC are still more worried about "right wing white guys" than they are about the terrorists. They are more concerned about "not painting some group" than they are about apprehending this sniper. Its pathetic. America is still in a PC coma (I had hoped that 9/11 would have jolted us out of it, but it didn't)

[quebecois]

Unfortunately, you are correct. Any serious country would have stopped immigration and assylum influxes immediately and sealed its borders with the military. But our elites in govt and media are fanatically dedicated to a vision of globalistic, multicultural socialism. They will not allow anything to derail this process. They look at the terror attacks as a problem, but one that is much smaller than the bigger and more important issue of "fighting right-wing extremism" that is "intolerant" towards their plans for america.

[AmericanInTokyo]

There are so many threads on these shootings and comments, so this may have been expressed before.

ANYBODY NOTICE A WEIRD SIMILIARITY BETWEEN THE WAY THE POLICE ARE PROFILING COMPARED TO THE WAY OUR 'BRILLIANT' SECURITY AGENTS PROFILE AT AIRPORTS?"

All the emphasis is on the physical tools, i.e. the non-human aspect. i.e. all the emphasis at US airports is looking for a possible weapon, rather than also looking for a suspect who fits the profile. As a result, EVERYBODY gets searched. Same with the shootings. The whole hang up in the DC area today is on different kinds of vehicles, even with eyewitnesses mentioning aspects of the SHOOTERS themselves; they stay CLEAR away from any discussion of the HUMANS and providing a profile in that way. As a result they will end up trying to stop various kinds of cars in the DC area even if an 80 year old silver haired caucasian grandma is at the wheel. Same approach as our airports.

This is RIDICULOUS!!

Israeli profilers at Tel Aviv's Lod Airport point out the difference between the American and Israeli approach. The Israelis not only go after the bomb materials, they also go specifically after single, Arab travelers. They are aghast at our foolhardy approach to throw EVERYBODY into one big pot and try to find the needle in a huge haystack we have needlessly created.

[quebecois]

"attacks on malls"

I agree. My father-in-law is in retail, and he has told me that one of the things that everyone in the industry is worried about is terror attacks on malls. Osama has made it plain that he believes that our economy is our weak link. A few dramatic attacks on shopping malls could have a horrible effect on a variety of industries and lead to real economic problems for this country.

[Eva]

I think that Bush said that they weren't sure that it was a Middle Eastern terrorist, but that it was definitely terrorism. I read that to mean that they were moving closer to having the FBI take over the investigation, but they hit a Moose .

[tm22721]

they do not want public panic

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

BUMP

[Demidog]

That's why I dislike trying to solve terrorism issues by shooting things up in the Middle East. It just doesn't make us safer at home. The priorities are out of order.

Thank you. Well said and right on the money.

[Travis McGee]

We really are at a tipping point, and lying about the facts that are in front of our face doesn't pull us back from the precipace, it pushes us forward toward the edge.

[Lion's Cub]

I worry about it, too. My son teaches guitar in a large mall here.

I would like to think it wouldn't be that easy for them; but I know better. The malls are just too tempting a target. And our friggin government won't stop letting the murderers in.

That's the sad thing about these murders that are happening now. The big guys who make the decisions are well protected. It's not their family members who are being slaughtered.

[Sender]

When they bring their BS down to Georgia, they are in for a surprise.

Oh Hail yes they are! Got ever'thing ready down to the potassium iodate, RC cola an' a box a moon pies.

[spodefly]

Oh Hail yes they are! Got ever'thing ready down to the potassium iodate, RC cola an' a box a moon pies.

What, no field peas or turnip greens? How you expectin' to survive then?

Cirrus-lee, I do wonder how many of us Georgia boys have, since sometime around noon on 9/11/2001, had all the guns and gear packed up and ready to roll ... I thought I was the only one until I mentioned it once before and about 10 people jumped in to say that they did the same thing ... :)

[Sender]

Well, aside from the KI3 tablets, I can assure you that since 9/11 I have never been more that a few feet from a Springfield Armory 1911A1, and never more than a parking lot away from a Mossberg 500 with a whole buncha shells, and never more than an hour away from Free Republic :) Jawja out, 10-8.

[Letitring]

President Bush is not running the investigation.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yep, people are dying while the cops tiptoe through the PC minefield.

This is like the Egyptian immigrant who sent his family back to Egypt before shooting up the LA Airport. It took the cops literally 14 hours to release his name and nationality. If it were done by a white guy from Arizona, the guy's full biography would have been on every newswire within an hour of the shooting.

[WRhine]

BTTT