[Miss Marple]

Things that indicate a domestic shooter:

Familiarity with the area and routines (such as the bus staging area)
Anger and name taking of those who ignored him on the tip line
Desire to withhold the writings from the public
Ransom demand
Demand for wire transfer, indicating he understands the hazards of a money drop

Things that indicate a foreign terrorist:

Odd phrasology in some of the writings that have been leaked to the press
Disciplined shooting and well-planned escape
Use of multiple escape vehicles and/or methods
Avoidance of cell phones
Tightwad tendencies (give me an 800 number....toll free) consistant with other terrorist behavior
Heavy involvement of the federal government, indicating they may have picked up "chatter" that indicates terrorism
Threat against children coincident with AQ's big threat a couple weeks ago
Ransom demand goes on this list as well, because it is consistant with Abu Sayef

I believe these are the most telling things on both sides of the argument. I have deliberately left out Chief Moose's comments about groups of people and his demeanor, because he sometimes seems to me to use awkward phrases and is emotional, so I choose not to use his words or appearance as evidence.

I wrote this down to illustrate how difficult it is for me to come down on one side or the other.

[harpseal]

I fail to see why any of the things you stated indicated a domestic shooter are not equally applicable to a foreign shooter.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

[harpseal]

And the converse.

[Peach]

Good list Miss Marple. Can also add to the list that CNN reported a week ago after the FBI agent was shot at Home Depot that several witnesses got a good look at the shooter, according to CNN's sources with LEO's. I understand one witness was discounted and now in jail for providing police with made-up information, but "several" witnesses would still be left, according to CNN. Those witnesses described the shooter at swarthy skinned, possibly ME.

As you indicate, it's difficult for us, and probably LE, to form an opinion on exactly what kind of shooter they're looking for, which makes the job doubly difficult.

[tomkat]

thanks for taking the time with all that, MM.

other than wanting to see this madness down there stopped, i honestly don't have a dog in this fight.

having said that, i would add that all the items in the first category, with the possible exception of the 'writing' part,
could as easily be moved to category 2 with little, if any, incongruity.

the thing that intelligence agencies fear the most is a mole, and with good reason.
a mole appears, often for years, to be one of the good guys.
the really good ones can even appear to be the best of the good guys - ask the brits.

while not discounting the possibility of this being an 'american' jihadi,
i'd point out that the DC area is bustin' with swarthy candidates as well.

either way, i just hope someone, soon, manages to capture this a-hole alive.
i can almost guarantee that he/she/it won't last long in any prison in the country,
and what breathing time they do get will make them wish they'd died before they got there ...

[looney tune]

Great post! I keep hopping from one side to the other. Your post makes me see how reasonable each argument is. *Sigh* Life in the post 9/11 era has become disconcerting.

[spodefly]

Good list, MM. I have been back and forth on the subject. I have actually hoped that it was anything other than a 'white male with a gun', mainly because of the political hay that the gun grabbers will make of that. But my wishful thinking does not make it any less possible.

At this point in time, I am still undecided.

The sad fact is that this is a case study for any enemy, whether they are directly responsible for this incident or not. Combine a concerted 'anthrax attack' thru the mail system with several snipers in major cities, and you will pretty effectively shut down the country, and do so with minimal costs and effort. There may be less 'bang' in that approach than in leaving a bomb in a stadium or something, but it is cost effective, and psychologically terrorizing. I am sure this approach is now in the play book of Iraqi agents, AQ and symps.

[Elenya]

Very thoughtful post as usual, MM.

All theses inconsistencies make me believe the snipers might be mercenaries hired by Saddam. As such, it could perhaps explain the terrorism angle and the domestic shooter angle. Plus the fact that children are killed and threatened.

But of course, we don't know enough to make any enlightened speculation. We're all lead by our intuition more than anything else at this point since we only know part of the story and it doesn't match any previous pattern.

[livius]

"Things that indicate a domestic shooter:
Anger and name taking of those who ignored him on the tip line..."

Relating to Atta's rage, does anyone remember the account of Atta's visit to a federal office down here in Florida when he was trying to get a loan to buy a cropduster? He raged at the woman loan officer (after first refusing to even be interviewed by a woman), pointed to a picture of the Washington Monument behind her desk and asked her how she'd feel if it was gone, and then suggested that it would be very easy for him to strangle her. At that point, she informed him that she had a security call button under her desk and terminated the interview, fortunately after having denied his application.

He was a very unstable, hate-crazed man, perfectly open about it, too. And that didn't stop him from being a cold, calculating planner of mass homicide.

[185JHP]

Remember the old Billy Martin commercial - "I feel very strongly - both ways!"? We (the public) don't have enough information to know. When we do, we'll pounce like an Alpha Bullfrog on a fat Junebug...