Posted on 05/05/2002 4:00:32 AM PDT by TomGuy
Six Pipe Bombs Found in Nebraska Mailboxes; Some Leads in Bombs That Hurt 6 in Iowa, Illinois Published: May 5, 2002
Federal officials had described the earlier bombings as an act of domestic terrorism and said anti-government propaganda and notes warning of more "attention getters" were found nearby. It appeared that the six devices discovered Saturday also were accompanied by letters, at least one of them identical to those found in eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois, FBI Special Agent Jim Bogner said. Unlike the bombs found Friday, authorities said, none of the bombs in Nebraska exploded. After Saturday's discoveries, postal inspectors in Iowa and Illinois curtailed inspections planned for thousands of mailboxes. Mail was suspended in the area and officials did not say how soon it would resume. "We're using all of our resources for investigation and apprehension of whoever is responsible," said Rick Bowdren, inspector-in-charge of the Midwest division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. He urged people across the Midwest to use caution in opening their mailboxes and said anyone who sees tape, wire or anything unusual around a mailbox should report it their local post office. "We are asking postal patrons to keep their mailboxes open. We would recommend they tape it open," Bowdren said. "That way the carrier making a delivery can look in and patrons can look in and that anxiety factor will be alleviated." The devices found Saturday near the central Nebraska towns of Ohiowa, Columbus, Dannebrog, Davenport and Scotia had been placed in the mailboxes, not sent through the mail, said Weysan Dun, assistant special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Omaha office. He said four were found by mail carriers and one was discovered by a resident. A sixth bomb was found in a residential area of Seward late Saturday night. That bomb, which appeared to include a note and was similar to the other devices, was detonated by the Nebraska State Patrol shortly after midnight without injury, said Terri Teuber, a spokeswoman for the patrol. "For the individuals or individuals who may have been responsible for this and who may be listening: You have gotten our attention," Dun said. "We are not certain we understand your message. We would like to hear from you. You do not need to send any more of these devices." Earlier Saturday, Bogner said authorities had some leads on who may have planted pipe bombs in at least eight rural mailboxes in eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois on Friday, but they didn't know if one person or several people were responsible. Four postal workers and two residents in Illinois and Iowa were injured in the explosions, including one woman who remained hospitalized in fair condition Saturday. The note that had been left with the pipe bombs said more "could be delivered to various locations around the country," and postal officials in Washington on Friday had advised mail carriers across the country to be cautious. A map of the bombs found Friday forms a jagged circle straddling the Mississippi River and covering part of eastern Iowa and the northwest corner of Illinois. Saturday's pipe bombs were found about 350 miles west of there, not far from Interstate 80, which runs through both regions. "You might find a beer can in a mailbox every once in a while around here, but not a bomb. Somebody obviously is screwed up in the head," said Cathy Meyer, an Ohiowa resident and former postmaster in the area. "This obviously is very, very troubling that someone would do this," Meyer said. Gorlyn Nun said he wasn't aware of the explosions in Iowa and Illinois when he walked down his gravel driveway Saturday morning and opened his mailbox to find a pipe inside with a battery attached to it. "I opened it up, my mail was there and there was a clear Ziploc bag in there. I could see it was a pipe and it had a 9-volt battery in there," he said. The 59-year-old carpenter said he took his mail out and left the device behind, then called the local sheriff. The state patrol later arrived and detonated the pipe bomb. Postal officials said the bombs that were found Friday were accompanied by typewritten notes in clear plastic bags that began: "Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask?" Then it said, in part: "If the government controls what you want to do they control what you can do. ... I'm obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on its way. More 'attention getters' are on the way." It was signed, "Someone Who Cares." Officials described the bombs as three-quarter-inch steel pipes attached to a 9-volt battery, which appeared to be triggered by being touched or moved. Jon Petersen, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said some of the bombs went off when the mailbox was opened and others went off when they were moved. Postal officials were working with the Iowa state crime lab to devise a gadget similar to a fishing pole that would allow inspectors to open a mailbox without having to get close to it, said Ron Jensen, a postal inspector from Des Moines, Iowa. In Illinois' Carroll County, Sheriff Rod Herrick spent Saturday morning opening mailboxes for worried residents. He fastened a clamp to the mailbox handle, tied fishing line to the clamp, then stepped behind his car and pulled on the line. "It's no high-tech thing. I'm not a bomb expert," Herrick said. "But I need to do something to keep the calm here." AP-ES-05-05-02 0159EDT
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" gluttony is just another slow form of suicide and self destructive people only care about themselves so if every fat person got dismissed from this reality, the human race would be better off"
found here:
I've gone over the letter a few times and he used that term dismissed twice referring to people. It was too late to deal with it last night but I did a search on Google this morning and came up with the above link. I thought song lyrics might play in this guy's head. Rock fans would know where they got this expression.
The target probably isn't any more significant than it being roughly the middle of North America, I'd bet there is a map of the USA with a dart hole in Eastern Iowa in this guy's posession.
The writing style strikes me a incredibly typical of the mindless freshman and sophomore screeds written to and ocassionally end up in the editorial section of college newspapers. The "I've lived here for many years" strikes me more as his proclaimation that he isn't a kid more than an admission of being a foreigner. The various civilizations remark also strikes me as a juvenile attempt at appearing knowledgable.
But hey, I could be wrong.
Who benefits?
It took trouble, knowhow, resources, planning, covered a lot of ground in a short time. Sounds like more than a bunch of kids or the Unibomber.
Cindy noticed something in the letter..and Lion's Cub picked it up..
Good pickup on the The United States strives to provide freedom for their people, Cindy. I agree that this person is not a US citizen, or least doesn't consider himself one.
New Al Jazeera Tape Aired-9/11 Hijacker Says 'It is Time to Kill Americans in The Heartland'
Now that you mention it, yes I do. I live 42 miles S.W. of Chicago, and it's fairly "rural" out here. Not as rural as the western part of the state & eastern Iowa, but rural enough.
If it weren't for the birds that decided to next in my mailbox, I'd be taking the door off of it for the mailman to feel safer.
As it is, he's in for a shock when he sees that birds nest tomorrow. I don't know how those stupid birds built a nest and laid eggs in one day, but dang if they didn't do it!
A map of the bombs found Friday forms a jagged circle straddling the Mississippi River and covering part of eastern Iowa and the northwest corner of Illinois.
Saturday's pipe bombs were found about 350 miles west of there, not far from Interstate 80, which runs through both regions.
So either it's the same person/group of people doing this using I-80 as a corridor between destinations, or an active terrorist cell here in the heartland.
350 miles is a long way to go down I-80 to plant a few pipe bombs, so I'm leaning (but am not convinced) it's a terrorist cell, or local terrorism.
I respectfully disagree. The syntax is that of a native speaker of English. (It could conceivably be someone from another English-speaking country, or even someone who has been here for a very long time, probably since childhood, and speaks like a native. But it's probably written by an American)
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