http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060813/OPINION/608130306/1048We forget that such violence has a history in Northwest
August 13, 2006
It takes a sick mind to make a bomb and plant it where innocent people could get killed. Yet that happened four times Thursday -- not in Baghdad or London, but in Salem and Dallas, Oregon.
We can be thankful that authorities destroyed all the devices without harm. These bombs were more than a grim joke; they contained enough explosives to potentially injure or kill someone. They were a form of domestic terrorism. Someone deliberately traveled around the Mid-Valley, apparently fastening them to vehicles. snip
For the past five years, it has been tempting to believe that the Mid-Valley somehow is exempt from the realities of the post 9/11 world. For many of us, improvised explosive devices are what we hear about on the evening news. Airport security checks are temporary annoyances on the way to a vacation.
We forget the history of domestic terrorism in the Pacific Northwest -- political and environmental extremists, white supremacists and cults that spoke through arson, explosives, murder plots or bioterrorism. We don't think about the twisted person who creates pipe bombs to wreak revenge, entangling bystanders in the plot.