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It should be apparent to everyone now that the sniper is a lone operative, not an Islamic terrorist, almost certainly an American, and interested in one thing: money. This will come as a big disappointment to all those out there who want to believe Al Quaeda or Saddam is behind this. The long rambling notes, the "I am God" stuff, and the extortion attempts for millions of dollars, are all inconsistent with the usual M.O. for the ME terrorists.
This guy apparently had a modest education, because the letters reportedly contain many grammatical errors, and are rambling. On the other hand, he is not stupid, because he has left no clues except the ones he wanted to leave. Whether he is actually a nut case and really believes he is God, or just a mercenary who means it figurately as his way of boasting of power and control, he is obviously not prone to making mistakes. My guess is he is not some looney living out in a shack in the woods somewhere, but he clearly lives alone and works a job with flexible or irregular hours. Otherwise, it would be hard for him to slip away unnoticed by family and co-workers at the varied hours of these shootings.

The sniper started his one-shot murdering the day after Ari Fleischer said "one bullet is all it would take [to remove Saddam]".

There's some indication the sniper is working to a theme of the American People, American Business and the American President: the shooting at Home Depot, the shooting at a Presidential Taxi driver , "Father, mother, priest and King" on the tarot card, the shooting at the gas stations, the shooting of and threats on children.

Continuing on the "children" aspect. Remember Saddam's usage of "baby milk factories", his taking of British children and families hostage during the Gulf War, his constant use of little children in photos. Saddam is fascinated with children as props and pawns.

And in the recent note: "Your childen are not safe anywhere and anytime". That "anywhere and anytime" is the exact phrase we -- the President -- have been demanding in inspecting for weapons in Iraq.

So *NO*, it is *not* apparent to everyone now that the sniper is a lone operative -- NOR SHOULD ANY SO BELIEVE! For safety's sake the best assumption is that this is one act of war, and others are planned.

I agree with you completely. It is 100% obvious that we are talking about an American-grown nutjob now. He asked for a DOMESTIC bank transfer. His notes in garbled English just show that he was one of the millions of sub-par-educated Americans.

I do not think he has the means or ability to carry out his biggest threats; he is bluffing with anything more than just his usual sniper attacks, one shot one victim.

Though he is good as egressing, he is no smartie. He thinks he is G-d and is in charge of this, but he is just an angry loser who, if denied his way, will make his fatal mistake and end up caught or dead.

He may well want to go out in a blaze of glory, and I would still consider him dangerous, but if I were the police I would risk making him angry, treat him as the idiot killer that he is (stop talking about his genius, maybe print all his error-filled letters in the press!), refuse to negotiate with him, and let him get so angry that he reveals himself and can be caught. That risks other deaths or innocents, though... that may be more than the police are willing to do.

It should be apparent to everyone now that the sniper is a lone operative.

About 1 hour ago, MSNBC stated that they have found out that the second letter left yesterday was definitely written in the same manner as first, BUT the handwriting was different. (2 people ?) I've only heard this report once so far. I'm monitoring MSNBC and will update. Karen.