violence update

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:30 pm

If you havn't heard- there have been two incidents in LA.

First, a guy in LAX (Las Angeles International airport) shot up a line of people in the EL AL section of that building. As EL AL is known as the most secure airline in the world, their security guards shot the man fataly.
1 confirmed dead, in addition to the shooter. Several injured.
If you've been under a rock for the past 50 years- EL AL is Israel's national carrier. I don't think this a coincidence.

Second, in an amusment park, a small plane crashed, with one unconfirmed dead and several injuries.

Happy 4th of July

CM · Post by CM » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:42 pm

Opening CNN right now.
Just got home.
You are serious right?

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:45 pm

I saw a report at another site saying the L.A.X. was a white American and shouted something like "Hardy took away my job".This does not sound like terrorists. Disgruntled employee most likely.

The second one..I have only seen reports of a plane crashing into a suburb in L A.

MSNBC

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:45 pm

This is not the kind of thing you joke about

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:47 pm

Originally posted by Weasel
I saw a report at another site saying the L.A.X. was a white American and shouted something like "Hardy took away my job".This does not sound like terrorists. Disgruntled employee most likely.

That was the initial report, but then they said that the guy was carrying a gun and knife and was shooting unspecificaly into the line of people.

CM · Post by CM » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:47 pm

Sorry morlock, but i thought it was a hoax, one of those things to scare people on 4th of july.
Terrorist or not, not a good sign for the day.
Hope nothing else goes wrong.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 2:53 pm

Originally posted by Morlock

That was the initial report, but then they said that the guy was carrying a gun and knife and was shooting unspecificaly into the line of people.

Yes I just read this at a MSNBC.

MSNBC

The main being though...don't panic. (Not you Morlock..I mean in the general sense) If this is a terrorist attack on the US, panic will only do what the terrorist want.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 3:21 pm

Originally posted by Weasel

The main being though...don't panic. (Not you Morlock..I mean in the general sense) If this is a terrorist attack on the US, panic will only do what the terrorist want.

If this is a terrorist attack, then it's on Israel, not the US.

The body count has been increased to 2.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 3:42 pm

Disgusting. Especially on this day for the American's I feel ashamed that some of the human race has the compunction to do this.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 4:04 pm

Let's not conclude that it's anything, yet. It's too early.

CM · Post by CM » Fri Jul 05, 2002 6:09 am

According to CNN the individual was Egyptain, though they have no clue if it was Al-Qaeda. Even if he wasn't, they will say he was to make it easier to swallow for the american people, that it is one group. Well actually not one group anymore. Hizbollah Islami has joined forces with Al-Qaeda and i would expect more such alliances esp. between Hizbollah and Hamas if the Palestinain situation worsens.

Tamerlane · Post by **Tamerlane** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 6:27 am

I honestly would associate the tragedy more in line with America's gun culture then with a terrorist attack. These guys are usually more sophisticated in their attacks. Apart from 9/11, theres the Yemen boat blast and the hotels bombed in Moscow amongst others.

One person on a shooting spree just doesn't seem like something Al-Qaeda or any other organisation would plan to do.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 6:37 am

I am in agreement with our friend Tamerlane about the LAX shooting. Without specific information, a single gunman in an airline terminal doesn't seem to be the work of a known terrorist group; Al-Qaeda wants to make statements and conduct operations that will take up lots of time on the news and are "photogenic", and to do that you either have to kill a lot of people, or make a show of what you manage to pull off.

For instance, how ingenius is it to ram a plane into a building, then after all of the news agencies have shown up with their cameras, do it again 20 minutes later for the world to see over and over again? Whether this guy was a disgruntled former employee or had some personal vendetta against a person or El Al Airlines, it didn't have the kind of impact that Al-Qaeda wants to make.

As to the other story our friend Morlock brought up, it seems that the plane that crashed in California was experiencing mechanical problems and that the pilot radioed to someone that he was losing control of the aircraft before it crashed.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Fri Jul 05, 2002 8:22 am

Here is a story from the Times.. NY Times

One source said something about it might be a hate crime..(If so I consider this worst than terrorism)

CM · Post by CM » Fri Jul 05, 2002 11:15 am

HLD, dont discount anything.
This is the same trap the media fell into during the Okla. City bombing.
They said it was big and flashy thus must be a muslim terrorist group.
This group works on the psychological and well as physical level.
As soon as this news went out, i bet everybody was think Al-Qaeda and there is more to come.
Scared the american population to a great extent.
They dont need to kill alot of people to achieve their aims of making people worry on the 4th of july.

These guys aren't egotistical meglomaniacs that they want everything on tv.
There was no such media blitz in 1998 or after that.
It has only been recently when these guys have gone of the flash and stuff.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 11:55 am

Originally posted by CM
HLD, dont discount anything.
This is the same trap the media fell into during the Okla. City bombing.
They said it was big and flashy thus must be a muslim terrorist group.
This group works on the psychological and well as physical level.
As soon as this news went out, i bet everybody was think Al-Qaeda and there is more to come.
Scared the american population to a great extent.
They dont need to kill alot of people to achieve their aims of making people worry on the 4th of july.

These guys aren't egotistical meglomaniacs that they want everything on tv.
There was no such media blitz in 1998 or after that.
It has only been recently when these guys have gone of the flash and stuff.

Here is where Fable's (IIRC) example.."US attention span" will come into play. Most of the US will not worry about one crazed terrorist with a gun...

(We in the US have them running around all the time.....some even deliver the mail, some get cut off in traffic and decide to get even, some even get fired and decide to payback the company with bullets).

The chance of one of these people killing you are slim...(US attention span)...why worry.

Now start poisoning the water...dropping planes..or blowing up buildings and you wake up the attention span. Send ten men into different airports at the sametime and you will see people start to worry. One man will get his 15 minutes of fame, then for most of the US...he is history.