Two men are stopped for speeding. When they are pulled over, one shuts a laptop. This makes the police officer suspicious, so he asks permission to search the car. The occupants agree. The officer finds a GPS unit, a cellphone, model rocket parts including motors, fuses, and launchers, PVC pipe, and assorted odds and ends.
The two men are arrested and charges with possession of explosives.
What's interesting is the reaction to this story by folks on either side.
Some folks think the young men were targets just because they were from two Middle Eastern countries.
Some folks think that they were obviously terrorists since they were carrying pipe bombs near a Navy base.
A couple of sanity checks for folks on both sides to consider:
My nephew was charged with possession of explosives because he taped a bunch of sparklers together. My nephew probably can't even name two different Middle Eastern countries, yet he was investigated for domestic terrorism.
I, along with 5 of my buddies, was stopped on the side of I-95 for the crime of driving through New Jersey with Florida license plates. We were searched, without giving permission, and they found fireworks, and a baggie of loose pipe tobacco. We weren't arrested, mainly because we all had our military IDs.
They weren't stopped for driving while Middle Eastern. They were stopped for speeding. Their actions made the cop suspicious, although I'm not sure how closing a laptop is a suspicious activity. They agreed to the search, so it seems they didn't think they had anything to hide. They were carrying all the components for pipe bombs, but apparently nothing powerful enough to harm the nuke subs on the Navy base, more along the lines of blowing up mailboxes. They were heading away from the base, not towards it.
So, what's my point? Simple. We don't have enough information to determine whether these guys are terrorists or just stupid. Any commentary on either side is premature.
Posted by Rich at August 10, 2007 12:47 AM | TrackBack