Shooting at LA airport El Al counter ruled terrorist act

AP via Haaretz.com ^ | April 12,2003 | The Associated Press

[aristeides]

Release of determination on hold until Iraq war was decided?

[Michael2001]

So when are they going to admit that John Muhammed (the sniper) and Hasan Akbar are also terrorists

[Fred Mertz]

I suppose a nine month delay could qualify as a pregnant pause.

Like Aristeides says, the timing of this news release could be significant.

[Mitchell]

Release of determination on hold until Iraq war was decided?

The point may be that this is a subtle bit of support for the Israeli view of the world, a small confirmation that we know that the U.S. and Israel are on the same side in the same war. This is especially appropriate as world attention moves to Syria (and as we also start hearing about the "road map" for Israel and the Palestinians again).

[Allan]

federal agents launched a worldwide probe to determine
whether it was a terrorist attack
hate crime
or motivated by personal reasons.

Of course
a terrorist attack is not a hate crime
and never is motivated by personal reasons.

George Orwell would have loved this sentence.
Where do they find people who can write them?
Oh, I forgot. Public school graduates.

[Mitchell]

Of course a terrorist attack is not a hate crime and never is motivated by personal reasons. [Said in sarcasm, of course -- I shouldn't really quote out of context.]

This is a good point.

There is a major distinction between: (1) the psychological reasons underlying a person's deciding to become a terrorist, and (2) the political reasons underlying the machinations of those exploiting terrorists for their own ends. This distinction is very commonly obscured, as if it didn't exist.

[Shermy]

DEBKA linked him to Egyptian Islamic Jihad from the get-go:

LAX shooter was terrorist (duh!)

[Grampa Dave]

You are correct!

Within hours Israel had called it an act of terrorism and identified the terrorist as a son of an Egyptian General who was embarrassed by the Israelis in the 7 day war.

[Grampa Dave]

Actually the Israeli equivalent of our FBI announced within hours who he was and that it was an act of terrorism.

[Mitchell]

DEBKA linked him to Egyptian Islamic Jihad from the get-go

That goes along with the idea that the latest statement from the FBI is a timely expression of our support for Israel.

[LauraJean]

''He said Hadayet acted alone and had no ties to any terrorist organization.''

Why do you think they believe he was working alone? I think a limo owner would be the perfect conduit to reciving and distributing information. You pick up one contact, and take the information left on the back seat.

[jethropalerobber]

this item is big news because it couldn't make ashcroft's double standard approach to terrorism more clear.

here is a story about someone who is apparently not a muslim, er, i mean terrorist:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/23/florida.explosives/

terrorism is a real threat, but the fight against it is being undercut by such misuse of the term.