Washington sniper planned to terrorise America, says partner(The Guardian)

[Up2Late]

(I don't know if all of you have been wondering the same thing as I was, I was thinking, "Why is this News again?" The "Washington Snipper case" suddenly re-appeared on CNN today. Well here's the answer, they are back in court for the Maryland trial, even though they were both convicted in 2002 in Virginia. I'm a bit suspicious of the timing though, is the RNC going to try to use this as another pre-2006 Election distraction?)

Washington sniper planned to terrorise America, says partner

Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday May 24, 2006
The Guardian

Lee Boyd Malvo, one of a two-man sniper team that shot 10 people dead in 2002, testified yesterday that his former partner and mentor, John Allen Muhammad, had planned to "terrorise" America with a month of shootings followed by bomb attacks on schools and hospitals.

Malvo, a Jamaican who was 17 at the time of the killing spree around Washington, said Muhammad later planned to abduct his three children whom he had lost in a custody battle, but had refused to explain the purpose of the terror campaign.

"I said: 'Why?' He didn't give me an answer," Malvo told a court in Montgomery County, Maryland, north of Washington, where the two men are being tried for a second time. Both have already been convicted of one of the killings in Virginia, where Muhammad was sentenced to death and Malvo to life in prison. But Montgomery County authorities insisted on pursuing a separate trial to bring justice for the six victims killed there and in case the first conviction was overturned on appeal.

Malvo, now 21, has pleaded guilty to two of the shootings and agreed to testify against Muhammad, 45. Dressed in a dark jacket and white shirt, he said the man he thought of as a father figure had outlined a plan in July 2002 for shooting six people a day at random for 30 days, and then planting home-made bombs in schools, school buses and children's hospitals. "We're going to terrorise this nation," he recalled Muhammad telling him.

(more at link)

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1781709,00.html?gusrc=rss>

[Mythsaje]

1. Why?

Because he COULD.

I don't think there's any reason to look for deep motivations here. He was pissed off and wanted everyone to pay attention to him.

As far as why this is still news, or news again, we all know the answer to that. It's a much more comfortable thing to talk about than anything that's of any importance in the present or the future.

It's too early for it to be a convenient distraction, IMO.

[Up2Late]

3. I don't know about it being too early, who would have thought they...

...could stretch out the Terry Schivo or Lacy Peterson media hype for so long. By November, it might just be peaking.

[Mythsaje]

4. Different circumstances, I think...

This is already old news. The initial trial is over.

[mark11727]

2. I thought originally they were just in it for the money...

...something about a $3,000,000 ransom.

[Bridget Burke]

5. John Allen Muhammad was a Gulf War Veteran.

As was Timothy McVeigh. Of course, 99.999% of these veterans do NOT go on murderous rampages. But many suffer less dramatic sequelae--for years.

Who will come back damaged from our current wars? Most of them will suffer quietly, so they won't show up on the news.