| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front |
| Mailbox boy may be targeting postal workers |
| 2002-05-05 |
| The note found accompanying pipe bombs in rural mailboxes in three Midwestern states reflects a writer who is angry with the government and appears to be either working alone or in a very small group, a former FBI profiler said Saturday. We guessed that... Eight bombs were found Friday in eastern Iowa and western Illinois, including six that exploded and injured six people. On Saturday, six more bombs appeared in central Nebraska mailboxes; none exploded. Ran out of switches? "This is someone whose thinking ... whose anger, sense of frustration is so strong, that he doesn't care who else is injured because he feels his message is so important," said Clint Van Zandt, who started his own behavioral analysis company after a 25-year career with the FBI that include leading the team credited with identifying the Unabomber. The anger appears to be pretty vaguely directed, almost manufactured, like somebody who wants to be a revolutionary and can't quite figure out what to revolt against. So he picked "death" and "government control," the vaguest of "thems". Van Zandt believes the bomber may have written to his local newspaper or the government with his grievances and felt ignored. "This guy didn't just fall off of a turnip truck. This is a guy who is angry with government," Van Zandt said. Actually he may have fallen off a turnip truck and landed on his head. His wrappings are obviously loose. Nothing in the note indicates the writer was a woman, a foreigner or anyone whose primary language is not English, he said. So there, Kathy... The use of the phrase "attention getter" seems to indicate the writer is older, and other aspects indicate the writer may have mental health problems. I still don't think he's old enough to vote. FBI officials have not said whether they think the bombings in Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska were the work of a single individual or a group. I'm holding out for one person... The first bombs appeared in a jagged circle around the Mississippi River, between Dubuque and Davenport. One person driving the route in one night "would be a very doable thing," said Jon Petersen, an agent with Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Van Zandt said the geography of the bombs found Saturday in Nebraska indicated it would have been easier to plant them with help. That the bombs were planted overnight indicates they likely were not targeted at rural residents but rather at the mail carriers, Van Zandt said. Either that or that he didn't want to be seen. If he's 17 1/2 most of his previous depredations were at night, usually at the school — breaking windows, drinking warm beer, hollering, that sort of thing — so that's what he's used to. Now that he's got his driver's license he can expand his field of action. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 I'll vote for 'didn't want to be seen'. Rural routes at night are very deserted areas. Even the stray dogs take a while to find you and start the barking. I honestly don't think it's a (real) young 'un. I think it's a (gen-X or) baby-boomer who thinks his/her 'enlightened theories' have been ignored and decided to have a temper-tantrum. (You won't Pay Attention to Me? Ok, I'll blow things up until you do!) Una-bomber wannabe, but somewhat less intelligent, I think. Also STILL think this one is not born 'n bred American. |
| Posted by: Kathy 2002-05-05 17:14:00 |