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Backpack from attempted MLK Day bombing in Spokane, WA. (photo: FBI--detail)
The FBI announced today that while there’s “a lot of work ahead” they have achieved “clarity” in their investigation for a suspect in the bomb placed on Spokane’s Martin Luther King parade route on Monday.
Federal investigators indicated today that they have made progress in their efforts to identify the person or persons who left a bomb Monday along the route of the planned Martin Luther King Jr. march.
“We’ve obtained quite a bit of clarity” as to the identity of those believed to be responsible, said Frank Harrill, special agent in charge of the Spokane office of the FBI. “But we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The FBI continues to seek leads from the public in the case, which resulted in the re-routing of the King parade commemoration as well as the clearing of several city blocks and business closures while the bomb squad defused the bomb.
Earlier this week, investigators sent the bomb — which other security sources said could have been detonated by a remote triggering device — to the FBI lab in Quantico, Va.
Harrill has indicated that evidence from that analysis — which could take several days — may be needed before investigators levy charges against any potential suspects.
An anonymous official familiar with the case but not authorized to speak about the investigation yesterday provided a very scary off-the-record quote to the Associated Press:
“They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,” the official said. “This was the worst device, and most intentional device, I’ve ever seen.”
I marvel at the lack of attention to this case after America’s Legacy Media went wall-to-wall in November over the Portland ‘bomber’ at our city’s Xmas tree lighting. Maybe we only need to wait for a suspect to be in custody before the current case in Spokane — where there was a real bomb with real, or even historic, lethality — gets that same kind of attention.
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It’s going to be very interesting to watch this unfold if the suspect the FBI captures doesn’t share the, um, demographic characteristics of the “Portland bomber.” With regard to Gateway Media reaction nationwide.
I wonder if that means they have a profile. I have one – a racist and potential murderer.
If the suspects aren’t swarthy middle easterners, no one in the media will care. And if they’re white supremacists (the kind that live just in the next state, for example), they’ll be wagging their fingers at all the “haters” who dare to point out that white supremacists exist.
It’s very hard to decipher this guy Harrill, who is in charge. He went directly to ‘domestic terrorism’ without knowing the color of the bomber, which is hardly in the standard FBI playbook. We may see a very interesting capture and trial, given his penchant for candor and willingness to color outside the lines.
Yup. Or…possibly a DFH lefty hater type…cough
more scaremongering by the fbi, or a real threat for once? time will tell
Clarity? Like muddy water? What’s taking them so long already?
It’s going to be a difficult contrast for the media to draw, though — two Northwestern cities, one with a ‘bomber’ who is Muslim and was led into wrongdoing by the FBI, versus an actual bomb placed where it can do real harm to living persons. We’re going to have the capability to push really hard on motive, opportunity, and means when we hear who the suspect is.
It struck me as a very poetic approach to law enforcement.
I’m thinking there may have been some indication, based on the type of device and the methods of construction, that this is related to a domestic hate group or terror organization. But this concerns me
“They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,” the official said. “This was the worst device, and most intentional device, I’ve ever seen.”
The “in this country” part makes me worry that they’re going to try to pin this on a middle-eastern or Muslim group.
I hope not.
Thanks for updating on this, Teddy, esp since little to no attention is being paid elsewhere. It is, uh, interesting that it’s essentially gone off the radar, but I guess it isn’t sexy or glamorous enough since “not much” happened… as in: no outright incendiary violence occurred, which seems to be the (pardon my using this terminology) “trigger point” for the corporate-owned rightwing media to go full-tilt boogie on it.
Of course, if it ends up being a white supremicist, then, yes, us DFHs will be exorted to STFU and/or someone somewhere will try to say that the perp is actually really a liberal (like that tweet about Loughner, which I’m sure was planned).
And so: on it goes… and onwards into the weekend. Stay safe out there, everyone.
“They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,” the official said. “This was the worst device, and most intentional device, I’ve ever seen.”
In this country the most violent in the world we have not seen anything like this?
That suggests to me Iraq.
Meaning Arab terrorists but why would they bomb on MLK day? That means Iraq war vets those who defused Iraqi bombs.
Thanks for the update Teddy.
The change in point-of-view within the same quote — from “they” to “I” — was intriguing to me as well. But I hadn’t made the connection you did, to the “in this country” part of the quote; I wonder whether that means the speaker is in Quantico, and seeing lots of bombs from lots of places?
Entirely speculative on our part, at this point, of course, but very parse-able as a blind item nonetheless.
Think of the America on Guns, we’ve known since the 1968 murders of Dr. King and RFK. So much time to stop a dire social danger that we keep ignoring…
We have arms control right now. No stingers, hand grenades, tanks, etc. The only question is where to draw the line.
Handguns and their bullets, illegal. Rifles only, sold in only new calibers not shared by handguns. You only get the pistol if you have diminished physical capacity to operate a rifle, such as an elderly person. Then you go to the DHS website to buy it, only after you are vetted for it.
That preserves the armed citizenry of the 2nd Amendment, and over time, will sharply reduce the insane level of handgun violence we are supposed accept as a precious freedom that can never be modified…
– Balkingpoints / www
The official would have to have prior experience with international explosive devices to make that statement. Or have picked it up from someone else. Judging by the language I think they may have picked up the info from someone else and reiterated it here.
However, I’m not concerned with what type of explosive we’re actually dealing with here. This obviously isn’t some backyard fertilizer based bomb, or a few sticks of dynamite, or a pipe bomb. They’re talking about this device like it’s highly sophisticated and highly lethal for it’s size.
could this be the first dirty bomb? I think that unlikely, but possible. Didn’t they bust a guy last year with the makings of a dirty bomb in his basement?
You’re welcome.
I think the media also needs a face, or preferably a mugshot, to focus on. While “it leads if it bleeds” is certainly true, there’s also a very extensively documented (Niewert, et al.) history of media silence when non-brown “real American” perps are involved.
We can only wait, but it will be fascinating to see what develops in this case. At least no one was hurt.
But we know it’s a grave insult to veterans to suggest that disaffected members of their group, unemployed and casting about to place blame for their circumstances, would resort to militia or right-wing violence! Janet Napolitano was forced to apologize to them, recall, and pull back her department’s report, that insinuated that disillusioned veterans would be ripe for recruitment by violent militia.
So there’s that.
This entered my mind. There are more than a few prior-service folks in white supremacist groups. Militant hate groups with bomb experience from the middle-east would be able to reconstruct a device fairly easily. However, they talk about the device like it was highly sophisticated. This, to me at least, doesn’t suggest the middle east. Those devices tend to be mortars with 9V batteries wired to them and detonated via cell phones or some other RF device. For FBI agents to be afraid of this thing, it’s got to be more complex than that.
You’re welcome.
Well, it’s a conversation-starter, I guess.
Do you really think America could ever get that far? I don’t have much hope.
The FBI recognized the bombers style sure a home grown terrorist can be a genius and make a great bomb they would not know no matter how smart they are how people in other countries make bombs unless they been there or studied up.
Maybe Al Quieda is putting bomb plans on the net but to build a sophisticated bomb you need a level of expertise and there are not that many people who speak Arabic look at Al Quieda web sites and have that expertise.
Try explaining the internal combustion engine on the internet to a rain forrest tribesman or an Ivy League Gentlemen’s C Grad.
Then ask them to fix your car.
The media have less interest in this case because they assume the bombers are white supremacists instead of Muslims.
Yeah, the Gateway Media is eerily silent.
Q: Has the FBI always been co-located with the Marines in Quantico?
American-bred bombers can get all the training they need in America. In fact, the federal government will pay them to learn about these things. The American-bred bombers can join the Army or the Marines who, depending upon their specialty, will train them to handle weapons, including explosive devices. Moreover, many American men have recently had the training they would need to build and defuse devices like this. They acquired this expertise in Iraq.
Teddy, thanks for always keeping us up to date. I really don’t trust the FBI not to get it wrong, but maybe this time….
They needed to find a Koran for the main stream press to get excited. There have been a large number of militia related shootings in the US against the police. Very little coverage. It is always individual “lone gunman” stuff unless the perp is a Muslim. Someone needs to do a story on these shootings. The Hutaree militia in the Midwest. The Tides foundation shootout. The press sees nothing of interest since these wackjobs are right wing.
-”They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,…”
Waiting for a plane yesterday, I spent time at the Murray Federal Building (Oklahoma City National)Memorial. A very sobering reminder of what home-grown domestic terrorists are capable of.
Perhaps the anonymous analyst is too young to remember….
They should never have torn the remainder of the Murray building down. They should have fenced it off and left it as a memorial to what happened, what could happen, and that it wasn’t dark skinned people. We turn our eyes away and remove ugliness from view and in 5 years or so it’s gone from memory. Not a good idea.
Perhaps, but the memorial and exhibit do a decent job of taking you through the event. Plenty of artifacts, including the differential from the bomb truck, hurled a block away. There is even attention paid to the fact that Muslim’s were initially blamed and up to at least 3 separate individuals were detained on that alone (in those days we let them go after questioning).
Notably, the criminal was an Army veteran.
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building…
Thanks
Right Wing Rules of Nomenclature: If the perpetrators are white and christian, they can’t be Domestic Terrorists. They are Patriots – watering the Tree of Liberty with the blood of tyrants walking in a MLK parade.
Atlanta Olympics (1996) 1 dead, 111 wounded. (Wrongly accused guard, Richard Jewell)
Gay bar in Atlanta (1997) 5 injured
Birmingham abortion clinic (1997) 2dead, a cop and security guard
Atlanta abortion clinic (1997)
Eric “Run Run” Rudolph finally caught 2003 dumpster diving
(With regards for the guys admiration of the bomb, I’m sure Al Quaeda would think his construction far inferior to a Muslim device.)
So often people use superlatives to describe the ordinary. ‘“They haven’t seen anything like this in this country,” the official said.’ Either this guy was so excited he couldn’t remember such recent history, or (most likely) was not an adult when it happened. Why does it seem every time an assassination or bombing happens in the US it is treated as if it is the very first time? With an ever increasing population the statistical chances are that these will only increase in frequency over time. Our friend “the official” may unfortunately have other bombs to make comparisons with only too soon.
Unless, as another commenter suggested above, it’s a dirty bomb.
Except that, in this case, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation called it a case of domestic terrorism practically out of the box. Very unusual for the feds, when the ‘terrorist’ is unknown and, therefore, uncertain to be Muslim.
More likely: The field agents look it over, just another home-grown bomb…remote detonator (e.g. sophisticated). Report filed.
The ‘anonymous official’-a senior official reviewing the field report, remembers the memo about the ‘Keep the (foreign) Terror Alive (c)’ campaign and spins this to “they haven’t seen anything like this in this country.” His/her rapid rise in the ranks now assured, he or she can disavow, or ignore, the anonymous statement.
Mission Accomplished!
Notice the subtle effect of misdirecting the clear racial-hate motive onto a potential foreign source?
Just the fact that the most inflammatory quotes about the bomb were made under cover of anonymity was enough to ensure some skepticism on my part. But, yes, events like this make/break careers, and the named spox seems to be not following the predictable pathways.
Although those pathways are illustrated by Ms Anonymous.