MUHAMMAD WAS A TERRORIST, PART III
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I've been battling a wicked cold. I know, I know--cry me a river.
Anyhow, ever since the arrest of John Muhammad and his sidekick Lee Malvo, I've been one of the few crazy enough to insist that religion is a factor in their sniping spree of October 2002. Alex of the 12th Man has put together a very compelling post on the subject, which you should read now.
Now, once you've read it, also consider this: Malvo's letters refer to a number of motivations that justify, in his and Muhammad's minds, the killings. Among them, slavery and a "continued genocide" against blacks. Those letters were addressed to the Montgomery County police, which continued to insist well into the investigation that they were seeking two white men in a white van.
How likely is it that two white guys would cite slavery and some mythical genocide against blacks to justify a crime spree? Not very. But that's what the police, mainly through Chief Charles Moose, kept telling the public.
Now, there may have been good reasons for this. It's possible that Moose et al didn't want to somehow jeopardize the search by tipping the killers that the police were well on their trail. It may be that the police feared an escalation of attacks at area schools--a fear proved valid when a list of schools turned up in the snipers' car. But--they misled the public, whether from noble intent or not. They told us they were looking for a certain profile, when in fact they had much evidence that pointed away from that profile and toward another.
We need to know why.