The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Bombings foiled at: OU, Georgia Tech, in San Diego -- and a stolen plane is found outside Atlanta. Are they related?
Two posts from Michelle Malkin today highlight an unnerving number of coincidences around the bombs turning up in the past two weeks on college campuses--and she wonders aloud why all of the weird incidents involving students and bombing and stolen airplanes in the last two weeks are not getting ANY news coverage. And I'd say she has a very good point. First there was this post about a fellow with an Islamic-sounding name committing hari kari in San Diego--as police were about to discover a hidden chemical labaratory:
Bunch of readers and bloggers are sending word of this weird story:
A man who fatally shot himself in his University City condominium during a standoff with San Diego police was identified Saturday as a 29-year-old student.
An autopsy is scheduled tomorrow on the body of Khaled Yasufi, medical examiner Investigator Sal Rodriguez said.
Police were sent to the 8700 block of Costa Verde Boulevard after someone reported a strong odor coming from a condo about 1 p.m. Friday, SDPD Sgt. Jim Schorr said.
A man in the condo told officers everything was fine and shut the door, Schorr said. Within a couple of minutes, a gunshot was heard, prompting police to clear the building, Schorr said.
Police eventually sent in a camera-equipped robot, which transmitted images of a body in the unit. When officers made entry after a standoff of about six hours, a chemical lab was found in the bathroom of the condo, police said.
Smash asks: What's going on?
Maybe CBS News will look into it.
Eric at Classical Values has an excellent related post: "Official rules of disengagement?"
See also The Jawa Report for thoughts on coverage and non-coverage of the Oklahoma bomber incident.
Then Malkin points to the incidence of a missing jet airplane turning up outside Atlanta--at right about the same time that bombs are found at Georgia Tech:
I'm hearing from many Atlanta-area readers in the wake of the Georgia Tech explosive device discoveries. Some are chalking up the incident as a run-of-the-mill prank. Could very well be.
In a post-9/11 world, though, such incidents can no longer be taken lightly. The local cops were right not to rule out the worst possibilities. A couple of readers point to Georgia Tech's central role as an information/computing hub for counterterrorism/first responder research as reason the campus might be targeted by non-pranksters.
In the meantime, there's far more troublesome weirdness in Gwinnett County. Several readers point to this story of a stolen plane that mysteriously appeared at Briscoe Field (via WXIA-TV):
A stolen airplane mysteriously showed up at Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville this past weekend, but no one knows where it came from or how it got there.
Investigators know someone piloted the plane, owned by St. Augustine, Fla.-based Pinnacle Aviation from there to Gwinnett County, but they say they have no idea as to who.
Police say the 1995 Cessna Citation arrived at Briscoe Field sometime between 9 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Briscoe Field, Laura Mansfield points out, is the airport where "two of the 9/11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, trained for their terrorist mission" and also where this former fugitive illegal alien pilot trained.
Ok. How does a $7 million charter jet just disappear from Florida and mysteriously appear in Atlanta without anyone finding out until after the plane has landed and the pilot(s) disappeared?
More details from the Gwinnett Daily Post:
The flight crew responsible for the plane was on a chartered flight to St. Augustine. Crew members discovered the jet was missing when they went to check on it Monday morning, said Sgt. D. Mattox of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
A check of Gwinnett airport records revealed that the jet landed here between 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Mattox said. Whoever stole the jet didn’t file a flight plan, which authorities said is somewhat unusual for that size of aircraft.
The jet suffered damage to the front edge of one wing, but it was not disabled. Police believe the suspect is an experienced pilot who has flown through Gwinnett in the past. Briscoe Field is the third-busiest airport in Georgia.“It had to be somebody that knew or had experience with this type of aircraft,” Mattox said. “You can’t just walk over from one of these smaller planes and fly this.”
Mattox said planes are easy to steal if you know how to fly them, because they usually don’t require a key to start the engines.
Homeland security? What homeland security?
Let's hope there's a non-terrorism-related explanation for this. Which would make it just slightly less discomfiting.
***
Photo Dude adds perspective to the Georgia Tech story and is also bothered by the stolen jet timeline.
Where in the hell is the media???
Bunch of readers and bloggers are sending word of this weird story:
A man who fatally shot himself in his University City condominium during a standoff with San Diego police was identified Saturday as a 29-year-old student.
An autopsy is scheduled tomorrow on the body of Khaled Yasufi, medical examiner Investigator Sal Rodriguez said.
Police were sent to the 8700 block of Costa Verde Boulevard after someone reported a strong odor coming from a condo about 1 p.m. Friday, SDPD Sgt. Jim Schorr said.
A man in the condo told officers everything was fine and shut the door, Schorr said. Within a couple of minutes, a gunshot was heard, prompting police to clear the building, Schorr said.
Police eventually sent in a camera-equipped robot, which transmitted images of a body in the unit. When officers made entry after a standoff of about six hours, a chemical lab was found in the bathroom of the condo, police said.
Smash asks: What's going on?
Maybe CBS News will look into it.
Eric at Classical Values has an excellent related post: "Official rules of disengagement?"
See also The Jawa Report for thoughts on coverage and non-coverage of the Oklahoma bomber incident.
Then Malkin points to the incidence of a missing jet airplane turning up outside Atlanta--at right about the same time that bombs are found at Georgia Tech:
I'm hearing from many Atlanta-area readers in the wake of the Georgia Tech explosive device discoveries. Some are chalking up the incident as a run-of-the-mill prank. Could very well be.
In a post-9/11 world, though, such incidents can no longer be taken lightly. The local cops were right not to rule out the worst possibilities. A couple of readers point to Georgia Tech's central role as an information/computing hub for counterterrorism/first responder research as reason the campus might be targeted by non-pranksters.
In the meantime, there's far more troublesome weirdness in Gwinnett County. Several readers point to this story of a stolen plane that mysteriously appeared at Briscoe Field (via WXIA-TV):
A stolen airplane mysteriously showed up at Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville this past weekend, but no one knows where it came from or how it got there.
Investigators know someone piloted the plane, owned by St. Augustine, Fla.-based Pinnacle Aviation from there to Gwinnett County, but they say they have no idea as to who.
Police say the 1995 Cessna Citation arrived at Briscoe Field sometime between 9 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
Briscoe Field, Laura Mansfield points out, is the airport where "two of the 9/11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, trained for their terrorist mission" and also where this former fugitive illegal alien pilot trained.
Ok. How does a $7 million charter jet just disappear from Florida and mysteriously appear in Atlanta without anyone finding out until after the plane has landed and the pilot(s) disappeared?
More details from the Gwinnett Daily Post:
The flight crew responsible for the plane was on a chartered flight to St. Augustine. Crew members discovered the jet was missing when they went to check on it Monday morning, said Sgt. D. Mattox of the Gwinnett County Police Department.
A check of Gwinnett airport records revealed that the jet landed here between 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Mattox said. Whoever stole the jet didn’t file a flight plan, which authorities said is somewhat unusual for that size of aircraft.
The jet suffered damage to the front edge of one wing, but it was not disabled. Police believe the suspect is an experienced pilot who has flown through Gwinnett in the past. Briscoe Field is the third-busiest airport in Georgia.“It had to be somebody that knew or had experience with this type of aircraft,” Mattox said. “You can’t just walk over from one of these smaller planes and fly this.”
Mattox said planes are easy to steal if you know how to fly them, because they usually don’t require a key to start the engines.
Homeland security? What homeland security?
Let's hope there's a non-terrorism-related explanation for this. Which would make it just slightly less discomfiting.
***
Photo Dude adds perspective to the Georgia Tech story and is also bothered by the stolen jet timeline.
Where in the hell is the media???
