Why So Little Mention of the Two Officers Killed in the Oregon Bank Bombing?

[tekisui]

Source: NY Times

WOODBURN, Ore. (AP) — A bomb technician and another police officer have died of injuries from an explosion at a bank, the Oregon State Police said on Saturday.

The bomb exploded inside a West Coast Bank branch here late Friday afternoon, also seriously injuring the Woodburn police chief, Scott Russell, the state police said.

Before the detonation, a bank branch nearby received a call that was “a potential bomb threat,” but the police searched and found nothing, said the West Coast Bank president, Bob Sznewajs. He said his bank then got a call “from an unknown person saying that we should look for one as well.”

Mr. Sznewajs said an employee saw a device in the bushes near the bank and called the authorities, who decided to move the device inside the branch. They apparently scanned it, and it went off, he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/14bank.html

_______________________________________________________________________

This doesn't count for terrorism on US soil? Why is it not getting more attention?

[malaise]

1. Very sad

I guess M$Greedia know that people are not exactly happy with banks these days and don't want to give others ideas.

[sandnsea]

2. We've had a slew of bank robberies

Maybe they don't want to draw attention to that little detail.

Also, terrorism is politically motivated. I think all these robberies are financially motivated.

[tekisui]

4. How do you know it was a robbery?

I find that the distinction between murder and terrorism based on intent is ambiguous and often arbitrary. Generally, I try to consider all acts of violence as violence. To me, there is no difference between the gunmen from Columbine, Virginia Tech or Mumbai. When we label some things as terrorism, while not doing so in other cases, we are lead down a path of taking rights and breaking laws to deal with the former. My question of why its not terrorism was more a comment on that use of the label.

Did they say it was a robbery, though?

[sandnsea]

16. Motive matters

A random nut with a grudge is not the same thing as an organized group that is recruiting and targeting and will continue to do so. It is also not the same thing as a group whose aim is to take down the current government.

I don't know that it was a bank robbery. We've had a slew of them lately and that is the most likely conclusion. It is highly unlikely that it was somebody making a political threat, but it could be. We'll see. If it is, it won't be kept a secret in Oregon.

[tekisui]

18. You make a good point

about the recruiting and organization, that is important to understand.

I guess my angle is the exploitation of the label. When it is convenient or beneficial, governments decide what events are labeled as terrorism and which don't and then they exploit the event to there advantage.

[uppityperson]

29. Have the bank robbers been using bombs?

I agree that a random nut is not the same as an organized group, but then an organized group could be a bunch of random nuts doing stuff together, if that makes sense.

[TomClash]

23. These days the financial is the political nt

[madrchsod]

3. i heard that this morning on the radio

at that time there was only one death....domestic terrorism is under reported

[sakabatou]

5. * has kept us safe.

Yeah, fucking right... :grr:

[ColbertWatcher]

7. He's kept us scared, that's for damn sure! n/t

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. Exactly. The media is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the GOP.

[sakabatou]

25. Some of the media. Not all.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Have they found out why the bomb went off?

Was it an accident? Or was there a timer?

BTW, Not all crimes are terrorism.

[tekisui]

9. See my reply #4

I don't what caused it to go off, who put it there or why. I was being a little facetious when asking if it is terrorism.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. So, no one knows why it went off when it did? Much less who planted it and why? n/t

[tekisui]

14. Not that I can find.

This is the most detail I have found:

The bomb detonated about 5:30 p.m., several hours after someone made a threatening phone call to Wells Fargo around 10:30 a.m. Oregon State Police, the FBI and Woodburn police responded to the call. Police did not provide many details about what transpired between the early calls and the blast.

West Coast Bank Chief Executive Robert Sznewajs told The Statesman Journal that his bank also took a call "from an unknown person saying that we should look for one as well. We called authorities, but they looked and found nothing."

Sznewajs said that "one of our people saw a device in the bushes around the branch and called authorities. We looked at it and evacuated the branch and sent people away."

The bank had been evacuated, Sznewajs said. The branch, in the 2500 block of Oregon 214, has been there for at least 10 years, he said.

He said authorities decided to move the device inside the branch and apparently scanned it -- and then it went off. Sznewajs said he did not know whether the bomb went off on its own or as a result of the technicians' investigation.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/police_identify_colleagues_kil.html

[sandnsea]

27. Nope. Still being investigated

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/police_identify_colleagues_kil.html

Although considering they show chases on MSNBC these days, it is surprising they aren't all over this. Maybe they don't know which media outlets in the state would be happy to fear-monger, yet.

[Posteritatis]

8. Hell, why so little mention of the bombing itself? (nt)

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Coverage of this is almost non-existent.

This doesn't happen every day. What's going on in the media?

[tekisui]

11. My only guess is they can't make it fit into one of their

over-simplified narratives. :shrug:

[leftstreet]

17. BINGO!

The M$M have specific graphics and bylines to feed us the BS narratives.

[bain_sidhe]

15. My guess: with the economy as bad as it is

especially with all the foreclosures, they don't want to give any desperate folks ideas.

[BR_Parkway]

19. Cause they can't keep claiming as part of Bush's legacy that "there

haven't been any attacks on US soil since 9/11 if they publicize this.

Someone losing their house or 401K perhaps?

M$M can't report it now, might cause us to be afraid and not go out shopping (all hallowed be thy name). Terror reports are to ramp up to elections to scare us to voting for GOP or staying home.

[geckosfeet]

20. Domestic terror is not as scary as muslim terror. Come on - get with the program.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Yes, and everything is scary and everything scary is terrorism. n/t

[geckosfeet]

22. I suppose that it is possible that this was a bomb with friendly intentions.

But the police simply over-reacted to the explosion.

[ColbertWatcher]

30. Or the bank executives planted it themselves. n/t

[tekisui]

26. Had this happened in an Israeli bank, an Iraqi bank, a Lebanese

bank, an Indian bank or a Pakistani bank---would it not be immediately called terrorism? Would it not be the next act in the 'waronterra'. I just don't get why it is reported differently in the US.

[HooptieWagon]

24. Did they belong to a union? n/t

[gratuitous]

28. Of course this wasn't terrorism, you sillies!

Now, if an SUV had been burned, then it would have been terrorism. Or if some lab animals were turned loose into the wild, then it would be terrorism.

[tekisui]

31. This has dropped off the radar.

An effective bomber is on the loose and the motive is not known. Nothing new on this story for some time now.

[leftstreet]

32. They've had the same story up at NWCN for some time

(Northwest Cable News)

http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/stories/NW_121308ORB_bank_explosion_KS.5cbb0ab3.html

Here in the West especially this should just be DOMINATING the news, but it's not.

[tekisui]

33. Succesful bomber on the loose.

Should be dominating. It was reported there could be a second device, but I found only one mention of that.

Bizarre. We are played like fiddles.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

34. it probably wasn't done by Muslims

[tekisui]

35. Yep. Not worth noticing if it doesn't perpetuate the regular 'enemy'.

[file83]

36. I'll tell you what, though: If another bank gets bombed, it'll go viral.

Like that sniper case back east about 5 years ago. It didn't become big news until several people got shot.

Essentially, there is no "villain" yet. They don't have a suspect, a motive, an organization to pin it on. They don't know shit, so...

2 cops are dead - apparently that isn't news worthy enough. But if it happens again, then we have a story because it becomes a pattern. This bombing is too random at this point.

[Catherine Vincent]

37. I thought the media reaction was strange also.

This would have been breaking news if it was on a weekday. :shrug: