'We Did It' letters eyed in NY bombing

WASHINGTON - Capitol Hill offices received letters Thursday containing a photo of the Times Square military recruiting office before it was bombed and including the claim "We Did It." ADVERTISEMENT

The manila envelopes contained a photo of a man standing in front of the recruiting station before it was bombed. The photo was the kind commonly sent as a holiday greeting card, according to a Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation.

The envelope also contained a packet of approximately 10 sheets of paper that seemed to be a political manifesto railing against the Iraq war and a booklet. The aide didn't know what the booklet was. A second aide, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said similar letters arrived in as many as 10 offices.

Capitol Police, FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service were investigating. In an e-mail to lawmakers, Capitol Police said the envelopes went through the standard security process. That process, which involves radiating incoming mail, can easily take a week or more, making it likely the letters were mailed well ahead of the bombing.

The small bomb caused minor damage to the New York military recruiting station before dawn Thursday and police were searching for a hooded bicyclist seen on a surveillance video pedaling away.

Each envelope was stamped with two $1 stamps and contained a white label with a return address, which the police did not identify in the e-mail. Police said the letters were safe and did not contain threats to lawmakers.

The man in the photo was thin, white with graying hair, wearing a striped flannel shirt and jeans, the Democratic aide said. A law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, confirmed some of the contents of the letters as described by the aide.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of an e-mail sent from the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to other lawmakers Thursday that reads:

"A few offices on the House side have received a letter today addressed to 'Members of Congress' with a picture of a man standing in front of the Times Square recruiting station that was bombed in New York today with the statement 'We did it.' He is standing in front of it with his arms spread out and he's attached his political manifesto."

The blast left a gaping hole in the front window and shattered a glass door, twisting and blackening its metal frame. No one was hurt, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the device, though unsophisticated, could have caused "injury and even death."

Associated Press writers Erica Werner and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.

By arrojalabomba

Bringing the war home, a hooded bicyclist bombed the Times Square Armed Forces recruiting station this morning. There has been no statement regarding this thus far, and perhaps there will not be, although in this case, perhaps the medium is the message. Unlike the bombs dropped by the US armed forces on various brown people around the world, no one was hurt.

I got into work this morning and someone was playing the radio. Bloomberg was giving a speech about how our armed forces were protecting us, and protecting our AmeriKKKan freedoms and so forth. After the billionaire finished his propaganda statements via the corporate conrolled radio station, pig commissioner Kelly came on and I then perked up. He was looking for rats to come forward and finger the male (according to them) who early this morning placed a bomb at the Times Square Armed Forces recruiting statement and who then buzzed away on his bicycle.

News also reports that the police began stopping cars around New York and questioning the drivers...no, I am just kidding. The news does actually report that police began stopping those beatnik, gas-hating people riding bicycles this morning and questioning them.

Unlike the bombs the US Armed Forces drops on brown people around the world, this bomb hurt no one. It just makes our Keystone Kops and the “FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force” look silly, incompetent and impotent. The boys in blue will be scratching their heads and downing their donuts trying to crack this caper for some time to come I’m sure.

Not news

Mar 06, 2008 08:00PM EST
anonymous

nothing to see here...now move on.

WE DID IT!!!!!!

Mar 06, 2008 08:43PM EST
Ann R. Key

Not one person was harmed.

Only property.

Kudos on a perfect action!

Plea

Mar 06, 2008 11:15PM EST
HVR

It was ONE station in ONE city and got minimal coverage.. And the coverage it did get was places next to what’s happening with insugency in Iraq. This paired along with the arrest of the fellow in AZ with ricin or whatever... Does this help or hurt? I will suffice to say remember the Paris commune.

I agree, property distruction is not violence, but please- if you are going to destroy I just hope your doing more then traveling around the country in box cars. Community devopment needs good heads. We need people working with youth and creating sustainable co-ops to do it- transience doesn’t help. Prostesting doesn’t help.

Community development does, talking to your neighbors and organizing in your primary area and maintaining relationships does.

The pump don’t work..

Mar 07, 2008 02:34AM EST
delgado

“It was ONE station in ONE city and got minimal coverage..”

Not quite. 1,445 news articles, with extensive international coverage according to Google News.
[ http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1139880800 ]

Wonder how much corporate media coverage the M19-20 protests will get?

Meanwhile, loose lips sink ships.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981663/posts

The Gathering of Eagles, a patriotic organization dedicated to the public support of all Military persons, active duty or veteran, announces a patriotic rally in front of the Times Square Recruiting Station in New York City, NY on March 8 from 1PM to 4PM.

The Police have allowed us a rally at the Times Square Recruiting Station Island, 43rd Street and Broadway, to hold a patriotic rally as a show of encouragement for our troops and our recruiters in New York City.

The action of trying to destroy public property and place the lives and safety of Americans in jeopardy just to make a political point must be answered with the firmest response from Patriotic Americans. In times past, these actions were considered abnormal and best ignored. The actions and national responses to the bombings and protests of the 1960’s and early 1970’s and the failure of Americans to rise up and demand an accounting of those who engage in criminal acts under the false banner of FREE SPEECH led to a national embarrassment at the end of the Vietnam War, and eventually to a Military pullout and subsequent deaths of a Million People when the North Vietnamese broke the Paris Peace Accord treaty and invaded South Vietnam in 1975.

This criminal action against the recruiting station in Times Square has the potential of leading a national downturn in the minds of those who disagree with the war.

It is imperative that Patriotic Americans demand a show of force by law enforcement and Patriotic Groups in calling these acts what they are: cowardice and criminal.

Please direct all media questions to: James Bancroft (860)516-8912

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