Thank you. The way some people describe terrorism, ANY violent attack becomes a terrorist act, and the that's simply not the case. Let's not give this guy any more credit than he deserves: he had a beef with the IRS because he got caught playing fast-and-loose with the numbers (Trying to file your taxes as a religion? Not reporting income? How is that NOT going to come back and bite you?), made some bad choices with his professional life (Moving to Austin without a job prospect? Being surprised that salaries in Austin are lower than California?), and became unhinged because of it. He's not a terrorist. He's just a nutbag with a pilots license. Thankfully, it appears the only life he ended up taking was his own, though one person remains unaccounted for.
I guess someone should have gone to law school, or been an accountant. Somewhat compelling, and good for an afternoon's worth of diversion; but if some celebrity uses the n-word, a Senator cheats on his harpy wife or Linsday Lohan's ticker finally gives out this never happened.
the question of whether or not its an act of terrorism is just arguing semantics. there is no uniform standard for what terrorism is. did you hear the interview w/ the police chief? when he was asked about whether or not its terrorism he said something to the effect of "we have terrorism everyday in this town - violent crimes are terrorism too". honestly, i think calling it an act of terrorism gives this jackass too much credit. he wanted to commit suicide and decided to make a spectacle of himself (and please dont anyone use the term 'homicide bomber').
Sad/interesting part of this nutjob's ranting is that while he was doing all this bs with his taxes, and was aware he was doing it, he had completely and utterly convinced himself that he had some sort of moral high ground. A scary case study in how people will convince themselves they aren't doing anything wrong, even when it leads to such an extreme end.
At the risk of being too flip This guy's manifesto doesn't really warrant the time it'd take to read it. I don't think there is anything he could possibly say that could justify crashing a plane into a building.
thats because our new police chief is an *******. he's a gestapo wannabe. He will be all over the tv on this getting his 15 mins
sorry to see innocent people lost their lives due to this guy. RIP on the bright side, it was fortunate it wasn't more - it could have been much worse
This is a huge problem with the Patriot Act. It does not define the word terrorism. I would think that if he chooses to suicide his plane into an IRS building full of employees who have no dealings on his issue, I would certainly feel this is politically motivated. How is it any different from McVeigh, besides the body count? You can make anything politically motivated. With Columbine, look at the difference on how schools react to kids bullying others. Where do you cut off the definition?
What if the plane was on fire, he thought the building was a Culligan factory, and there was a playground directly behind it.
Guys, some of us live in Austin and have friends who worked in that building. I understand that the ClutchFans tradition is to make jokes about everything, but please try to be a little sensitive.
there's a good story in all of this http://www.statesman.com/news/local...s-glad-safety-features-apparently-251874.html Building's architect is glad safety features apparently worked By Shonda Novak AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Published: 9:46 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010 When Girard Kinney learned Thursday morning that a small plane had flown into the Echelon I office building, he knew the building well. Kinney, an architect, helped design the building at 9430 Research Blvd. some 30 years ago. Built in 1983, the four-story Echelon I was the first of four buildings in the Echelon Office Park. The original tenant was one of Austin's first high-tech firms, the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. research consortium, Kinney said. The 64,000-square-foot building, which has an exterior clad in black glass and a two-story atrium, won several design awards, Kinney said. The Internal Revenue Service now occupies much of the building, with some businesses on the first floor, as well as some unoccupied space. The building is nearly 88 percent leased, according to CoStar, a commercial real estate data provider. "I'm very sad for the fact that it all happened," Kinney said of the crash, which led to a huge fire that took several hours to control. "But if what I'm hearing is true, I'm gratified we were able to design it in such a way that people were able to get out safely." In general, Kinney said, buildings are designed with two ways to exit from each floor for safety. "It sounds like the egress system we designed — a way for people to get out, which is about all you can do as an architect — worked." Kinney anticipates there will be "a very thorough investigation" by engineers and other independent experts to determine how much, if any, of the building can be saved. Steel weakens from heat, so the damage to the building is not only cosmetic but structural as well, Kinney said. Many times, fire-damaged buildings must be torn down because they are no longer structurally stable, he said. Kinney said Walter Vackar Interests was one of the original developers. The Travis Central Appraisal District lists the current owner as 183 Echelon LP. The owners could not be reached Thursday. KVA Inc. is the management and leasing group for Echelon I and Echelon II. KVA's Kevin Kimball did not respond to messages or e-mails Thursday. snovak@statesman.com; 445-3856
Its only terrorism if a Muslim or similar looking brown fella flew that single engine plane into the IRS building, right?
yea this is terrorism, i agree with the above poster, when its a muslim, say it was a muslim american with nothing to do with the middle east but just with the same agenda as this guy, this would've been labeled terrorism easily, he was a nut case that's for sure, but this was a terrorist act because it was an act of violence done to send a message to the government or a government affiliated organization in this case the IRS, this was a terrorist act, even if he doesn't directly relate it to 'future' terrorist acts fear since he is one man, it still sends a message that if other people feel the way he does towards the IRS there is fear of others doing the same and he mentions that in his suicide message stating that violence is the only auction, so by any definition this is a terrorist act, some people don't realize that since he doesn't have a beard or look like an arab.
