Bomb Plot Thwarted at Jerry Falwell’s Funeral
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James Joyner | Wednesday, May 23, 2007 |
A bomb plot targeting Jerry Falwell’s funeral was thwarted by police yesterday. And, no, it’s not what you think. ABC News has the details:
Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas. They were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.
“There were indications that there were others involved in the manufacturing of these devices and we are still investigating these individuals with the assistance of ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms], Virginia State Police and FBI. At this time it is not believed that these devices were going to be used to interrupt the funeral services at Liberty University,” the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.
Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect.
Quite bizarre. One would think there would be something in the Liberty curriculum about how murdering people is strongly discouraged by the 6th Commandment. Then again, crazy people — usually my operative assumption in cases such as this — tend to have their own interpretations of these things.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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So, here's another rightwing Christian terrorist like Eric Rudolph, Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Do you think Michelle Malkin will be in favor of interning all Christians now?
I dunno, but I bet Debbi Schlussel will be hollering about his "Muslim background" any minute now...
The Sixth Commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." It says nothing about people getting killed by explosive devices you just happened to leave lying around. I mean, they're not even relations.
Alan Kellogg, that commandment says "Thou shalt not Murder" so you are wrong and it does cover acts such as the one you are describing.
So, here's another rightwing Christian terrorist like Eric Rudolph, Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Yep. Granted the fundamentalist christian terrorists are far behind the fundamentalist islamic terrorists in terms of body count. But in terms of number of attacks here in the US they blow the muslims away (no pun intended).
What a shame. He looks like such a nice, well-adjusted young lad.
Alan Kellogg, that commandment says "Thou shalt not Murder" so you are wrong and it does cover acts such as the one you are describing.
I've seen both, it depends on the translation/publisher.
tlaloc;
Are you jumping to conclusions or did the text state that the boy was a Christian?
You imply that there is some sort of link between being a Christian and terrorism. Would it not then follow that atheist and agnostic violence is the result of an internal or philosophical flaw in all of them?
I think NOT in either case.
I've seen both, it depends on the translation/publisher.
It's heresy to suggest that the bible is anything but the literal word of god, who of course speaks english. To suggest that human hands had a part in its creation is to infer that errors might have crept in. Personal biases and prejudices might have corrupted the divine truth.
Please report for reeducation.
Do those of you who think that "christian identity" membership makes you a Christian also believe that Christian Dior is a Half-elven Fundamentalist Christian plot to overthrow the government of Doriath?[lol]
They were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.
Did everyone miss this part of the article? He wasn't trying to hurt anyone!
Dammit legion, I was going to write that, well something like it.
Are you jumping to conclusions or did the text state that the boy was a Christian?
That's a joke right? Now the Religious Right is disowning Fallwell's very University for the training of theocrats?
Man, it's hard to please some people.
You imply that there is some sort of link between being a Christian and terrorism.
I'm saying that there are people who commit acts of terrorism out of what they believe are religious motivations. Some of those people are Christians. In fact in the US the ones that are Christians (rather than Muslims, Buddhists or Sikhs for instance) are the biggest threat.
They were “slow burn,” according to the official, and would not have been very destructive.
Did everyone miss this part of the article? He wasn't trying to hurt anyone!
I believe slow burn means they were incendiary bombs rather than explosives. The description of gasoline and detergent sounds a lot like the anarchist's cookbook version of napalm.
tlaloc; And the third point??
Don't know if you all know but napalm doesn't explode. You need an explosive device to set it off and the media said nothing about other devices so can you really call them bombs or just altered gasoline? IF that's the case then everyone that mixes 2 stroke in there gas for their lawn mower or chainsaw is creating an explosive device, should we all be arrested for making bombs?
Don't know if you all know but napalm doesn't explode. You need an explosive device to set it off
I think the explosive is just for dispersal, ignition can be achieved through more conventional means.
IF that's the case then everyone that mixes 2 stroke in there gas for their lawn mower or chainsaw is creating an explosive device
Well, yeah, how do you think an internal combustion engine works? The different is that a lawnmower and chainsaw do not make very good incendiary weapons. Now if someone put that same mixture into a glass bottle with a piece of cloth sticking out the top, they'd probably get into some trouble.
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