Sniper Attacks: War coming home or criminal act?

Here we go again...

Highway Signs Flash Warning Of "SNIPER ATTACKS":
www.edmontonsun.com...

In October of 2002 something was made obvious to law enforcement in the US:

They are almost nearly incapable of investigating or for that matter solving the crime of "random sniper-style shooting sprees".

The Beltway Sniper Attacks of Oct 2002 may also have given terrorists a peek in to a weak spot in US law enforcement. Here was a simple enough type of attack. A shooting. Can not be any simpler then that. Again it seemed that the police can NOT "solve the crime" of who did the shooting providing that the victim was completely random and that the actual attack allowed the shooter to escape the area (the advantage for the shooter being that no one knows where you are to begin with). In fact, most of the murders that go unsolved in the US are unsolved because the victim had no real link to the criminal. Since the attack was almost completely random in nature it makes it very difficult for police to solve if its even just a stabbing. It has been suggested that the Beltway Sniper Attacks could have continued for months had they not provided "game like" clues to who they were while making a pathetic attempt to blackmail the state police in to stopping the attacks. People in the area were further traumatized because it really did seem like the police were up against something they were just not equipped to fight. So civilians were told to stay indoors, or if they had to leave, to continue moving, to "not stand in one spot" for too long - which ended up having as much a "terror" effect as 9-11 did... except these two morons didn't have to learn how to fly a plane or even harder, how to crash one while evading US radar and jet fighter defense systems. However the shooters of the fall of 2002 were not "terrorists" - they were killing to scare the general population, but for the most part they were just common (although murderous low life) criminals, what would have happened had these shooters believed that they were fighting a war (and therefore taking what they were doing VERY SERIOUSLY)? What would have happened if there was more then just ONE team of snipers in any state? Worse still ... what would happen if there were simultaneous sniper attacks on highways all over the US?

If US law enforcement couldn't handle one team of criminally insane snipers in the heart of the nation what would happen if professionally trained soldiers who believed they were fighting a war on their enemies home soil were doing the shooting? In fact, everything a terrorist / soldier would need is available to them the second they got in to the state they had chosen to start their carnage.. if they wanted to move from state to state they could do that as well making things even more difficult for law enforcement to contain the situation and scaring people just that much more. They can buy everything they need at WalMart except for ammo now.

Perhaps we are about to see what would happen...

www.usatoday.com...

...we can of course only hope that this remains a criminal occurrence, because any thinking individual should already know what would happen if "someone serious" decided to attack civilians in this manner except with the intent of "bringing war to them" and not just because they are sick enough to harm people for their own PERSONAL gain. Realistically, can we expect a country like Iran once its under attack to lie down and simply die after existing as long as it has? Is this the beginning of the Middle East war coming home or just another group of criminals that have sunk to the lowest depths of criminal behavior in the US (the only country where it even seems to happen - not that anything is wrong with that) and have simply decided to kill innocent people for apparently no good reason?


-VMX

Well, you're correct in your thinking, IMO. Just a handful of trained and dedicated snipers, could essentially terrorize the nation until they got bored of it.

Concealing the shooter in a mobile platform, like a van or car trunk, and randomizing the attacks, makes identification and apprehension of the shooters very difficult indeed. Law enforcement would be hoping for a lucky break, hoping that the shooters got sloppy and forgot to check for working tail lights one night, or decided to run a red light on the way home. If the shooters were careful, it would take an extraordinary amount of effort on the part of the authorities to apprehend them.

Step it up a notch, to an anti-material rifle and someone who knows how to use it - and that's another level entirely.

All of a sudden, helicopters, tanker trucks, even airplanes (taking off and landing), and the mobile command centers utilized by law enforcement, these become possible targets.

This is one of the reasons why I don't put a lot of stock in the theory that the world is swarming with boogeyman terrorists. We're as soft as soft targets go, at the moment. Our fuel distribution networks are soft against everything but hijackings, our water supplies are basically unprotected, our food supply is similarly exposed. Our electrical grid has its butt in the wind...

And the list goes on...

I noticed the recent rash of sniper attacks too, and wondered if those weren't our own soldiers, fresh from battle?

www.indystar.com.../20060725/LOCAL/60725033

www.indystar.com.../20060725/NEWS01/60725019

Teen angst?

Manchurian Candidates?

Maybe people sent to create havoc to scare people into accepting more government control, like surveilance cameras everywhere and gun control?

Or soldiers turning on the nation that sent them into that mess called Iraq?

It is most likely copycat killer/s, someone who is looking to be in the history book....

Police: Teen admits to highway shootings

Police: Gaston high school student is sniper

They have not released any info concerning a motive. Initial court appearance is scheduled for this morning.

This is what happens when you tell youngsters through your forign policy that killing people is the way to deal with any situation that comes up.

How can we expect childern to not follow the lead of the... leaders?


Well thats a blow out anyways.

BTW WyrdeOne: Yeah this is the same reason I don't believe in the "non-combatents" that are alledgedly out to attack the US either. Its as easy as can be and yet doesn't happen.. doesn't make sense. Its the easiest type of attack to pull off.. no flight training required. And you're right too about the weapon, if someone out there was able to get some serious 2km range rifle going.. it would be a much different story.. hell one could take out small airplanes coming in for landing.


Anyways, because of these facts.. I'm sure that it won't be long I'm sure before it happens again shortly anyways. Its inevitable.


-VMX