NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70306

Three explosive devices found in a courtyard between two Georgia Tech dormitories on the East Campus Monday morning were part of a "terrorist act," an Atlanta police official said.

One of the devices exploded, injuring the custodian who found them inside a plastic bag. Two others were detonated by a bomb squad.

The custodian suffered ringing to the ears and was treated at a local hospital. The events led to a temporary evacuation Monday morning.

"It is a terrorist act at this point and depending on the outcome of the investigation it potentially could become a federal violation as well," said Major C.W. Moss of the Atlanta Police Department.

The custodian found the three devices about 9 a.m. in a plastic-type garbage bag, Moss said. When he picked up the bag, one exploded, as it was designed to do when handled. The explosives were made up of chemicals placed inside plastic bottles and could have seriously injured someone, officials said. Numerous agencies were on the Georgia Tech campus to search for suspects.

"It will be a joint investigation between the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Tech Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Every possible lead will be followed," said Major Moss.

About 100 students were evacuated from the Cloudman and Glenn dormitories, according to school spokeswoman Amelia Gambino.


From our old pals Mirriam and Webster:

Main Entry: ter·ror·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

Ok, what were these kids trying to coerce exactly? Who were they trying to instill terror in by playing around with some coke bottles and chemicals?

Was making and leaving these things dangerous? Yes. Was it wrong? Yes. Was it terrorism? Hardly.

Now what we have is the government essentially threatening a punishment that couldn't possibly match the crime and a perpetrator who might have come forward and apologized, if it weren't for the government threats. Hmmmm....

Aaaawwwwwwwww, nobody wants to talk about terrorism at GA Tech?

Seriously - does ANYONE want to have ANYTHING to do with Georgia?

:rolleyes:

Just kidding. ;)

Terrorism doesn't need to have a coercive aspect to it.... as far as I'm concerned, any act with the intent of causing general panic is a terrorist act (let's analyze the word.... terror.... ist...). And they definitely didn't forget to leave the explosives there.

And who says it was necessarily a student that left the explosives?

Terrorism is still terrorism even when committed by an American.

Maybe it wasn't a 'systematic' campaign, in which case they are anarchist terrorists or something. Meh, the courts will find a way.

I blame George W. Bush. I hear that Atlanta didn't vote as Republican as he would have liked in 2004. I also understand that college students are more liberal than he cares for people to be. He obviously placed the explosives to send GT students and Atlantans in general a message: "Vote Republican or I'll blow you up."

Terrorism doesn't need to have a coercive aspect to it... as far as I'm concerned, any act with the intent of causing general panic is a terrorist act (let's analyze the word.... terror.... ist...). And they definitely didn't forget to leave the explosives there.

(a) The word becomes useless if it begins to cover basically all crime. We have a word for that - crime.

(b) How do you know there was intent to cause general panic?

And who says it was necessarily a student that left the explosives?

That is most likely.

Terrorism is still terrorism even when committed by an American.

This is certainly true. That does not, however, make this particular act terrorism. If this is terrorism, then a kid who puts a cherry bomb in a trashcan is probably a terrorist as well, as is any kid who sets off firecrackers in a public place just to see people jump.

If this is terrorism, then a kid who puts a cherry bomb in a trashcan is probably a terrorist as well, as is any kid who sets off firecrackers in a public place just to see people jump.
This sounds a bit bigger than a kid lighting a firework. For one thing, the explosive mixture was left unattended for people to pick up.

the meaning of terrorism hasn't been agreed on yet but if it ever does I will be able to tell you

(a) The word becomes useless if it begins to cover basically all crime. We have a word for that - crime.


Most crime is not comitted for the sole purpose of causing terror. Robberies, murder, etc. all are committed for a reason... greed, revenge, etc. Just putting down a bomb and walking away certainly has no productive motive behind it.... besides media attention maybe.

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70306 Don't know about that one, but how about this one... (funny how quiet has been kept...)

Student recounts talk with worker
Tulsa World ^ | 10/07/2005 | Mick Hinton

Posted on 10/07/2005 7:04:52 AM PDT by indcons

NORMAN -- An incident related by a ticket taker at Saturday's OU-Kansas State game raises questions about whether a student who died in a suicide explosion tried to gain entrance to Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

But University of Oklahoma officials continue to deny that Joel Henry Hinrichs III tried to enter the stadium before dying about 100 yards away.

OU student Adam Smith said Thursday that he was approached as he was leaving the stadium Saturday by a ticket taker from Gate 6 who wanted to know what had happened.

Smith said he told the gate worker that there had apparently been an explosion outside the stadium and someone had been blown up.

"He gave me a wide-eyed look, and said: 'Oh, that's really strange,' " Smith said. The ticket taker recounted that a young man who looked strange and was wearing a backpack that looked full tried to get into the stadium.

However, when he was asked to open his backpack, "the guy didn't say a word and sprinted away," Smith said he was told.

Vice President of Communications Catherine Bishop said OU officials have "been assured that there is no validity to the Gate 6 rumor." Bishop said the story has been checked out by the university's athletic department.

Meanwhile, the FBI continued to have no new comments on the case Thursday. ... snip...

News reports:

http://newsok.com/video/1634836/
http://www.newsok.com/video/1633639
http://zombietime.com/oklahoma_suicide_bombing/

Oh, BTW, the explosive he used was TATP - Called "Mother of Satan" by the Islamic Extremists who like to make and use it. (bad TATP was what Richard Reid had in his shoe...) http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/5058347/detail.html

Quack Quack... Waddle Waddle...

Theres not "I don't care about Georgia" catagory.

it could be terrorism. it depends on WHY the maker left the bombs there. its hard to imagine that it was for any reason other than to scare people.

they may have had a very weak political agenda. could be "to show those bastards" or 2 "let everyone know that bad stuff can happen even here at georgia tech" or "get classes cancelled because i didnt study for my test"

but that would still be terrorism. just extremely stupid terrorism.

Far too little evidence to judge either way. If it was some protest against a school policy, like, say, a co-ed floor, then yes, it is terrorism. But we don't know the motive.

it could be terrorism. it depends on WHY the maker left the bombs there. its hard to imagine that it was for any reason other than to scare people.

they may have had a very weak political agenda. could be "to show those bastards" or 2 "let everyone know that bad stuff can happen even here at georgia tech" or "get classes cancelled because i didnt study for my test"

but that would still be terrorism. just extremely stupid terrorism.

Or it could have been a bunch of fratboys playing with dry ice. Apparently, it's somewhat of a tradition at Tech. When my boyfriend was a freshman, they made dry ice bombs and threw them - yes - on campus. Given that history and the description of the "bomb" in question, I'd say that's probably what this was all about as well. The people doing it could have gotten scared by something and left them there, or could have been drunk and forgotten there were any left there at all.

University of Georgia fans/students are attacking GT fans/students?


Ferduy Osrut
Citizen of the
Federation of Grand Mortland

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70306

From our old pals Mirriam and Webster:

Main Entry: ter·ror·ism
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r-"i-z&m
Function: noun
: the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

Ok, what were these kids trying to coerce exactly? Who were they trying to instill terror in by playing around with some coke bottles and chemicals?

Was making and leaving these things dangerous? Yes. Was it wrong? Yes. Was it terrorism? Hardly.

Now what we have is the government essentially threatening a punishment that couldn't possibly match the crime and a perpetrator who might have come forward and apologized, if it weren't for the government threats. Hmmmm....Bolding mine. Note: the definition of Terrorism is the systematic use of Terror Especially, not for, or with the express purpose of coercion.
Why did they build those explosives?
Why leave them in a place where people will find them and (like that janitor) get hurt?
After all, those pilots that flew the planes into the towers were only taking flight lessons in the US.
they caused terror, thus terrorism.

Or it could have been a bunch of fratboys playing with dry ice. Apparently, it's somewhat of a tradition at Tech. When my boyfriend was a freshman, they made dry ice bombs and threw them - yes - on campus. Given that history and the description of the "bomb" in question, I'd say that's probably what this was all about as well. The people doing it could have gotten scared by something and left them there, or could have been drunk and forgotten there were any left there at all.
yupyup
if its just boys being boys (so to speak since we dont know who did it) then its not terrorism.

Bolding mine. Note: the definition of Terrorism is the systematic use of Terror Especially,

Note the word systematic. The closest definition of systematic in this case being:
"3 a : methodical in procedure or plan <a systematic approach> <a systematic scholar> b : marked by thoroughness and regularity <systematic efforts>"

Does this really seem methodical, thorough, or regular to you?

Why did they build those explosives?

Most likely to play with them - the same reason kids at Tech have been building them for years.

Why leave them in a place where people will find them and (like that janitor) get hurt?

(a) Beats me. I'm not in the habit of playing with explosives. My best guess is that they were drunk as hell and didn't even think to pick them up.

(b) The janitor was not hurt. He could have been, true, but he was not.

they caused terror, thus terrorism.

You know, I'm on GA Tech campus. I haven't run into a single terrified person.

The explosives were made up of chemicals placed inside plastic bottles and could have seriously injured someoneSounds like it was made by some retarded pot-head student looking for some extreme amusement. A terrorist explosives would be a lot more sophisticated than that.

The word terrorist was coined to differentiate certain kinds of acts from all others. Plenty of criminal acts are perpetrated with the intent to cause terror, but prior to 9/11 people didnt designate them as being terrorist acts because simply intending to cause terror was not the conventional accepted meaning of the word terrorism. The only thing accomplished by designating all terror causing acts as terrorism is the redundancy of the word terrorism.

To the Georgia Tech Community:
A Georgia Tech student has indicated his involvement in the Oct. 10
incident involving a crude bottle explosive found on east campus.
The incident was not in any way the work of a "terrorist" group.

The student turned himself in to Georgia Tech police the morning of
Oct. 11 and confessed to his involvement. He's facing charges for
possession of a destructive device (a felony under Georgia Law) and
reckless conduct (a misdemenor under Georgia law).

The freshman engineering student has been temporarily suspended
pending a student judiciary ruling.

Georgia Tech Police and the Atlanta Police Department are still
investigating the incident. The contents and exact nature of the
bottle explosives has not been determined and is still under
investigation.

While this incident unfortunately was frightening for many of our
students, faculty and staff, it turned out to be an excellent test of
Tech's emergency preparedness program. All emergency response
efforts functioned exceedingly well, and we have every confidence
that would be the case if such an incident occurred in the future.


Ah, it seems it was a student action, although I highly doubt that this lone student was the only one involved. And it seems that they may charge him for a felony for a crime that shouldn't be more than a misdemeanor. Perhaps they will only charge him with the misdemeanor charge.

Kudos to him for coming forward even with a bunch of idiots blowing things completely out of proportion.