← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 3156 | Posts: 23 | Started: 2002-10-21
2002-10-21 00:56 | User Profile
Stop Calling Him a 'Sniper' Geoff Metcalf Friday, Oct. 17, 2002 Random Rants
The so-called "Beltway Sniper" is no sniper.
The sick punk who is killing innocents in Virginia and Maryland is by definition a murderer ? even a terrorist (although most probably not of the Islamic variety). However, he is NOT a sniper.
A sniper is a skilled and trained technician. The murdering bastard killing folks in Virginia and Maryland may be evasive and slippery, but this criminal is NOT a sniper.
If he were a sniper, he would most certainly use the skills and experience his training provided.
* He would not use a .223 varmint rifle.
* He would not get so close to his targets.
* He would not leave ANY evidence. Most certainly he would not leave a shell casing or tarot card.
* He would use at least a .30-caliber rifle (.308, 30/30 or .30-06).
* He would distance himself from the target (not a football field's length but a quarter of a mile).
An inexperienced neophyte can be trained in an hour to hit a stationary target at 100 yards.
The shell casing was most likely left intentionally and could have been collected at any shooting range. If in the unlikely event the casing is traced to its owner, in all probability he is not the shooter.
The .223 is NOT a sniper rifle. It is a varmint rifle. It lacks the ballistics preferred and required by snipers and it lacks the nail-driving accuracy of the above-mentioned preferred rifles.
REAL snipers (military trained snipers) never intentionally reveal their position (before, during OR after taking the shot).
Eric Haney trained as a sniper at Fort Bragg and was a founding member of the Army's Delta Force. He believes the shootings are the work of a pair of young men, working together as military snipers are trained to do ? one as the lookout, the other the shooter. However, he thinks the closest they got to a real elite sharpshooter was at a Special Operations convention. And I agree.
"They're utter losers, and they know they're losers," said Haney.
What If?
However, if it is NOT a terrorist operation, you can damnsurebetcha Islamic terrorists here are watching this very closely and observing the effects.
A friend in the for-real world of global security observed, "And if it IS a terrorist operation, there is one possible explanation for the persistence in using [apparently] the same vehicle which scares the **** out of me: It's a trap.
"When the cops finally close in on the vehicle, preferably after a protracted chase getting LOTS of units [and media coverage] into the act, they take as many of them to Allah as possible when they blow it in place."
The shootings are also startlingly consistent with the types of training and planning observed in those captured al-Qaeda tapes.
Another security field friend noted, "The person writing 'Dear Policeman' is probably a product of English as a second language, since an English-speaking American would likely have taunted the police with "Dear Police" or "Dear Policemen," not the singular "Policeman."
Unintended Consequences
Very soon the challenge of finding this wannabe wacko murderer will be complicated even more.
Starting Thanksgiving week until the first week of January, Virginia's deer season opens. THEN there will be a whole brigade of hunters stomping around (yeah and driving around) with weapon superiority.
Will local authorities attempt to restrict or harass hunters? Maybe ? probably. However, one of the unintended consequences is a cadre of trained, skilled and armed civilians with experience in hunting elusive prey. Get ready for LOTS of false alarms.
Hey, maybe an expedited resolution to the varmint rifle killer is to establish a bounty or actual hunting season for the suspect.
P.C. Brain Flatulence
By the way, the concept of "ballistic fingerprinting" has got to be one of the dumbest examples of idiot brain flatulence since motor voter.
* Barrels (which would presumably establish the "ballistic fingerprint" can be changed.
* A brass brush or cleaning rod can scar the inside of a barrel so as to alter the original "fingerprint."
* The concept may gorge the erectile tissue of gun grabbers, but it won't do Jack-spit to find any criminal with an IQ larger than his shoe size or even the most basic understanding of firearms.
Anyone peddling "ballistic fingerprinting" as a panacea is either stupid, ignorant or intentionally lying. Of course when it comes to gun-grabbing anti-Second Amendment politicians, they could well be all three.
Visit Geoff Metcalf's Web site at [url=http://www.geoffmetcalf.com]http://www.geoffmetcalf.com[/url]. He may be contacted at geoff@geoffmetcalf.com.
url: [url=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/10/17/154618.shtml]http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2...17/154618.shtml[/url]
2002-10-21 02:54 | User Profile
That sounds like neocon nonsense. This guy is a sniper: "One who shoots at other people from a concealed place." To insist that he should be called a "murderer" or a "terrorist" rather than a "sniper" is cowardice. It's the leftist fear that using accurate, detailed, and informative terms will expose weakness. It's like how Foxnews wants to call "suicide bombers" "homicide bombers." Maybe Geoff Metcalf would be happy with the sniper word if we called the gunman a "homicide sniper"?
The argument that snipers are skilled is absurd. There's nothing in the definition of "snipe" that requires a sniper to be skilled. No one is calling this guy a "military sniper."
Anyway, the more this sniper defies the keystone cops the more skill it indicates that he has. In fact, all those points Metcalf uses to prove that this sniper is not a pro only prove that Metcalf is being an idiot.
Why not use a varmint rifle if it gets the job done? Why not be close if he's still far enough to avoid capture?
Why wouldn't he leave evidence? Does being skilled prevent someone from having fun? There's no evidence that he hasn't left any evidence that he hasn't wanted to leave and that's all the counts.
Sure, a neophyte can, with a bit of training, hit targets at moderate range, at least in the comfert of a shooting range. I don't think this guy has missed or winged any of his victims, in spite of the stress he's under himself, which indicates that he has more targeting skill than a neophyte.
Skill frees a man from the rules rather than enslaves him to the rules.
2002-10-21 04:09 | User Profile
Another security field friend noted, "The person writing 'Dear Policeman' is probably a product of English as a second language, since an English-speaking American would likely have taunted the police with "Dear Police" or "Dear Policemen," not the singular "Policeman."
Something horrible just occured to me. Besides killing people, this guy has dared to offend all women cops. He must be foreign born since he does not write 'inclusively.'
2002-10-21 04:19 | User Profile
Originally posted by Happy Hacker@Oct 20 2002, 21:54 Why not use a varmint rifle if it gets the job done? Why not be close if he's still far enough to avoid capture?
This weekend I was out with some buddies shooting a .30-06 and that is one loud round. The wife of the latest victim reported she thought she heard a car backfire. If the sniper can make people think his shot is just a car backfiring then he has increased his chances of going unnoticed. The bottom line is that this guy has been very effective with his .223. I wonder why someone would chastize a person for being a less than perfect murderer.
2002-10-21 05:04 | User Profile
Wintermute, I read at CNN.com that it was the Death card. CNN had interviewd a new age woman who claimed that the Death card did not mean actual death. AFIK that is a falsehood, since one possible interpretation is indeed real Death. I also read (possibly at CNN) that Tarot cards were invented by gypsies, which is, AFIK, another falsehood. I am no expert at Tarot, so feel free to correct me if you think I am wrong on this score. I agree with you that a Muslim would not touch a tarot card with a ten foot pole. Neither would a fundamentalist Christian for that matter. If indeed it was the sniper that dropped the card, then I doubt that he has much to to with the occult scene. Dropping Death cards with self-aggrandising writing on them does not sound like an occult act (not that I have any in depth knowledge of the occult). I regard it as a publicity stunt.
Happy Hacker, I agree. I don't know if this tendency is new or confined to a particularr group of people but I keep hearing people call their vanquishers, "losers". Geroge Bush called the 9-11 terrorists, who were willing to donate their lives to their cause, cowards. This guy going around shooting people has to be credited with success, given that his probable aim is to kill people. If this guy doesn't qualify as a "real sniper" then what qualifies someone as a "real snipers" needs examination.
2002-10-21 13:16 | User Profile
Happy Hacker,
Great Post.
That sounds like neocon nonsense. This guy is a sniper: "One who shoots at other people from a concealed place." To insist that he should be called a "murderer" or a "terrorist" rather than a "sniper" is cowardice. It's the leftist fear that using accurate, detailed, and informative terms will expose weakness. It's like how Foxnews wants to call "suicide bombers" "homicide bombers." Maybe Geoff Metcalf would be happy with the sniper word if we called the gunman a "homicide sniper"?
wintermute,
Also, it seems very unlikely that one of Allah's boys would even get near one of the Triumphs, so the probability of Al-Quaida involvement should be downgraded accordingly.
As Sporon said it was the Death Card, I agree, as I have said before I do not think this guy is an Arab!
amundsen,
The bottom line is that this guy has been very effective with his .223. Very True, Also the .223 is a military round, it the round of the US Army. It first made from use in the AR-15, it is true it is based off the .222 varmint round.
Sporon,
Great Post. I agree with you that a Muslim would not touch a tarot card with a ten foot pole.
Very True. I agree. I don't know if this tendency is new or confined to a particularr group of people but I keep hearing people call their vanquishers, "losers". Geroge Bush called the 9-11 terrorists, who were willing to donate their lives to their cause, cowards. This guy going around shooting people has to be credited with success, given that his probable aim is to kill people. If this guy doesn't qualify as a "real sniper" then what qualifies someone as a "real snipers" needs examination.
2002-10-21 15:36 | User Profile
It's a tough one to call. The Arabs have consistently tried to portray their tiff with the Jews as a struggle between the White West and "pipples of color", an inconvenient fact that many of my fellow White Nationalists have been unable to see btw, so you'd think that Arabs would stay away from non-White targets. But then, they've always been PR morons, so who knows? Guess we'll just have to wait for Chief Moose to figure it out for us.
2002-10-21 18:21 | User Profile
Snipers intend to kill people. It matters very little the weapon they use. The man is far more important. I would like to suggest the shootings may be done by those who sit in a vehicle and wait for a white truck to show up. Then they shoot.
If the memory needs to be refreshed about the killings on the West Bank of Israeli soldiers and civilians: [url=http://www.efreedomnews.com/News%20Archive/Israel%20Palestine/IRASniper.htm]http://www.efreedomnews.com/News%20Archive...e/IRASniper.htm[/url]
**IRA link to PLO examined in hunt for deadly sniper By Sean Rayment The Telegraph (Filed: 10/03/2002) ÃÂ
BRITISH security officials are looking into suspicions that a crack sniper who killed 10 Israeli soldiers and civilians on the West Bank a week ago might be an IRA gunman. ÃÂ Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, has asked European and American security agencies if they can help to identify the killer, who shot dead seven soldiers and three civilians in 25 minutes using 25 bullets from a [color=red]bolt-action rifle.[/color]
The sniper was hidden in trees on a hill overlooking an army checkpoint near the Jewish settlement of Ofra. When he fled, he left behind his weapon, which is standard IRA practice. ÃÂ The attack last Sunday shocked the Israeli Defence Force. Mossad believes that the sniper could be an IRA agent or special forces-trained contract killer.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that British security officials have been checking whether any known IRA members capable of carrying out the shootings or training others to do so have gone abroad in recent weeks. ÃÂ One security official said: "To be able to get 10 kills in 25 minutes using 25 rounds without being spotted means this guy is good. He could be a former member of the IRA; he could be a former member of a special forces unit. He is clearly well trained."
The IRA is known to have links with the Palestine Liberation Organisation and other Middle East armed groups, and at least one member of the IRA's army council is known to speak Arabic. The security official added: "Many IRA men and women have been trained in camps in the Middle East and north Africa."
Training and tactical exchanges between the IRA and other terrorist groups is not unusual. Last year, four alleged IRA members were arrested in Columbia and charged with terrorist offences after allegedly training members of the Revolutionary Forces of Columbia (Farc) guerrillas.
Last October, a European security conference in France concluded that new links had been created and old ones regenerated between the IRA, Basque separatists and Farc. ÃÂ British security forces are well aware of the IRA's sniping skills. During the 1990s, nine soldiers and policemen were murdered by snipers in South Armagh. **
The story itself:
**Hilltop sniper kills 10 Israelis By Alan Philps in Jerusalem (Filed: 04/03/2002)
A LONE Palestinian gunman killed 10 Israelis, including seven soldiers, yesterday at an isolated checkpoint. The early morning shootings brought to 21 the number of Israeli dead in less than 24 hours, one of the highest casualty tolls in more than a year of violence.
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, was under pressure last night to restore the honour of the army and make good on his promise to tighten security. ÃÂ There were calls from Right-wingers for the army to go to war against the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. ÃÂ Israeli planes bombed Ramallah and Bethlehem, killing four Palestinians. But this was seen as little more than a routine reaction, while the cabinet considered its options. ÃÂ After Mr Sharon met his security advisers, a statement said that they had approved plans for "constant military pressure" on Mr Arafat. No details were given. ÃÂ Later, 14 Israeli tanks entered the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza and destroyed dwellings with a bulldozer. Soldiers open fire, killing at least one Palestinian.
The army was shocked to learn that a single Palestinian, armed with a non-automatic rifle, managed to kill seven of its soldiers and three civilians in half-an-hour of shooting. ÃÂ The gunman was hidden in trees on a hilltop overlooking an army checkpoint near Ofra on the West Bank, home to 2,500 Jewish settlers.
Using only 25 cartridges, he shot dead three soldiers, one by one. When a paramedic and an officer arrived, he shot them too, as well as two settlers waiting in their cars. ÃÂ A vehicle arrived with the head of security at the settlement, and the gunman shot dead two more people, mortally wounding a third. A helicopter tried to locate him, but he fled, abandoning his weapon.
Such havoc is scarcely credible for an army that takes pride in protecting the lives of every soldier. It exposed the vulnerability of the troops as they protect isolated settlements amid a hostile population of more than three million Palestinians.
"The Palestinians have learned that they will never win a firefight with the IDF [the Israeli army], as they will always be outgunned," said a foreign military expert. "But if they close with the enemy and get right down to them, they have a chance of success.
"They have realized that the IDF is not quite as good as they thought." ÃÂ The loss of the soldiers and civilians was added to the death of nine people, six of them children, killed in a suicide bombing in an ultra-Orthodox religious quarter of Jerusalem on Saturday night. A soldier and a policeman died in separate incidents.
Yesterday, howls of grief could be heard as hundreds of mourners turned out at cemeteries outside the city where the victims were being buried. ÃÂ The Israeli Right called on Mr Sharon to recognise that the army could not control the Palestinians using current methods.
"We will lose a war of attrition," said Benny Elon, tourism minister and a member of a far-Right faction. "The Palestinian Authority is an enemy and its infrastructure has to be destroyed and all those who carry weapons and make war have to be killed." ÃÂ But the cabinet is deeply divided, with its Labour coalition members insisting that there can be no military solution to the conflict and the way should be left open for a diplomatic negotiations.
The split was highlighted when Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the defence minister and leader of the Labour party, opposed Mr Sharon's plans to move tanks up to Mr Arafat's front gate. ÃÂ While Mr Arafat has few supporters in the Israeli government, there is little stomach for the alternative: re-occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip. ÃÂ Many Israeli officials hope that Mr Arafat could be replaced by his lieutenants, who are thought more amenable to pressure, but it is likely that if he quits, they would be replaced as well.
Responsibility for yesterday's deadly shooting was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement. The same group said it carried out the Jerusalem suicide bombing. ÃÂ Palestinians said the attacks came in revenge for Israel's two-day sweep through Palestinian refugee camps in Nablus and Jenin, two areas which had previously been "no-go areas" for the army because of their narrow alleys.
At least 20 Palestinians were killed, and the army was considered lucky to have completed the operation with the loss of only two soldiers. ÃÂ The Israeli government accused Mr Arafat of giving a green light for a "terrorist offensive". ÃÂ Ruhi Avital, who has lived in Ofra for 16 years after leaving Montreal, said: "People are deeply upset about the constant erosion in Israel's ability to deter Arab attacks. ÃÂ "The Palestinians are becoming bolder, and they interpret our lack of response as weakness."
There was a triumphant tone to statements by Marwan Barghouthi, a Palestinian leader on the West Bank. ÃÂ "The Israeli army has suffered a number of painful blows in the occupied areas recently," he said. "Sharon must have the courage to admit his failure." **
2002-10-21 20:46 | User Profile
I still prefer calling this murderer a "bushwacker." It is certainly true that he fits within the literal definition of "sniper", but I see no reason to bracket him with such persons as the late GySgt Carlos Hathcock, USMC, (the top sniper during the Vietnam War) when a more specific and descriptive word can be used. It should be evident that the constant harping about the "sniper" is an attempt at Pavlovian conditioning by the gun grabbing dominant media culture. They are looking forward to demonizing yet another class of firearm to justify further encroachments on the rights of those who choose to own them. I refuse to fall into their trap by repeating terms chosen to advance their agenda.
2002-10-23 05:26 | User Profile
Originally posted by Fliegende Hollander@Oct 21 2002, 20:46 I still prefer calling this murderer a "bushwacker."
Bushwhacker is literally someone who whacks bushes (or chops at trees such as to clear a path). In a less literal sense, it is used to refer to someone who ambushes. Ambushing is only hiding up to the point of the attack and then attacking by any means. The sniper hides before, during, and after the attack, exactly as implied by the word "snipe", as well as shooting at his target as implied by the word.
This guy is a sniper. He's exactly a sniper. It is proper to call him a sniper.
I understand the desire not to use words that imply something positive with criminals. But, that's no excuse to be imprecise or, worse, inaccurate with language. I understand and agree if you don't want to call the 9/11 hijackers "brave" but don't call them "cowards." But, to me and the dictionary, there is nothing positive implied about being a sniper. A war hero doesn't make "sniper" a postive word anymore than a great race car driver makes "driver" a positive word.
Of course, the leftist media wants to turn every gun-related crime into an argument to ban guns from non-criminals. They could use gun-related crimes to push for tougher punishment (such as the Death Penalty) for murder, or for more guns in non-criminals hands' (as a deterrent for crime), or for returning morality to public education, or to push for boarder control (if the sniper turns out to have not have been born here), etc. But nooo... Still, the leftist media's desire to use the sniper against legal gun owners is no execuse to be imprecise or inaccurate.
When you start trying to play games with the words used then you become as guilty as the leftists in that Pavlovian conditioning thing you spoke of.
2002-10-23 05:45 | User Profile
Hail FliegendeHollander!
I concur with you. This person is nothing more than a murder or a bushwacker as you put it. He is not a "sniper." Some people here are making a mistake about the use of this term by the media. When I was on active duty I had a fine young soldier assign to me that was trained by the Army as a sniper. Unlike this dirtbag who fires at a range of 100m, my man could nail someone at 1,000m. The media uses terms like "sniper" simply because they are either ignorant or know that most people would associate the term with a trained soldier.
Another example of the media misleading people is with the expression "assault rifle." Once again it is used due to ignorance or to associate it with something of a military nature. There isn`t any such thing called that. The military term for a select fire weapon is a "battle rifle." All an "assault rifle" is a semi-automatic.
Just like I refuse to use a media term like "assault rifle" I refuse to dignify this guy by calling him a "sniper." Doing so plays in the hands of the Neo-con/"liberal" media and their agenda of gun control.
2002-10-23 19:10 | User Profile
HH, let the leftists continue to control the usage of "sniper" and I guarantee you the word will become every bit as misused as the word "racist." I am open to nomination for a better "mot juste" than "bushwacker" (all the nore so after discovering that the term was misapplied to Confederate partisan rangers). I continue to object to the word "sniper" because it gives too much stress to the markmanship involved. Certainly there is basic proficiency in his marksmanship. What is primary to the perp's continued ability to engage in terror is his ability to avoid detection --- and this capacity is what most requires understanding if he is to be stopped.
Let's focus on finding a term which will best help in stopping this creep ASAP!
2002-10-23 22:03 | User Profile
I don't even know how you could report this story without using the word "sniper" and without looking like you're straining to avoid the word.
"(AP) Tuesday, a buss driver was killed by the murderer who uses a rifle to shoot victims from remote, concealed places..."
As for catching the guy... When killers get to kill for a long time I usually suspect citizen cowardice. If the public would show some guts this guy would probably have been caught by now. If I were nearby when someone was shot by this sniper I'd do my best to determine the direction that shot came from and then chose down the gunman. But, when everone around hides, he has his oppertunity to make a clean getaway to kill again.
2002-10-23 23:42 | User Profile
HH,
You are right about citizen cowardice. A friend of mine related a story about a party attended mostly by law students. Three negroes entered the house carrying shotguns and demanded everyone's money. Interesting, most people ran out of the house. I assume that most felt that their fellow students would provide a sufficient buffer between them and the gunmen. But what they did next was most telling, they got in their cars and left. What a sorry lot to leave some of their friends behind in the hands of robbers with shotguns. This is the modern American citizen. Leave no man behind? Hardly.
2002-10-24 02:52 | User Profile
This guy's success lies mainly in his ability to slink and lurk in modern suburbia. Snipers, to be sure, are trained in these arts, but then so are others and I understand that ninja are particularly adept at this. I am beginning to think the perp is quite good at this, and I think he has more than one technique for getting in and getting out and changes them as changing conditions warrant. I am more amenable to believing the perp might be alone.
Either way you look at it the typical modern suburbanite is poorly suited to be a careful observer. They don't know much about cover and concealment or modern firearms. I remember one of Lee Harvey Oswald's co-workers (a black, I believe) drove him to work on the morning of November 22, 1963. He remembered that LHO carried a paper bag with him and when asked what was in there replied "curtain rods." He could not have told the difference between a disassembled rifle and curtain rods, but a person knowledgeable about guns could.
One thing for sure --- the search in Tacoma, Washington and the warrant in Montgomery shows that the authorities are frantic is showing they are "doing something" about it. Are we in for more of this "person of interest" innuendo?
2002-10-24 03:37 | User Profile
AntiYuppie,
You are most Right. I was thinking the same thing the first time I read this article. The .30-30win is close to 7.62x39mm Russian in power, both rounds made for close shooting and never used for long range work.
"Show me one sniper who would use the 30/30 round. Any self-respecting deer hunter could tell you that a 30/30 round is for a "brush gun" for shots at under 100 (preferably 50) yards... Metcalf isn't quite the expert on the subject that he's trying to make himself out to be."
Links: 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge [url=http://www.sovietarmy.com/ammunition/7.62x39.html]http://www.sovietarmy.com/ammunition/7.62x39.html[/url]
Loads for the 30/30 Rifle [url=http://www.reloadammo.com/3030load.htm]http://www.reloadammo.com/3030load.htm[/url]
Loads for the 7.62x39 Russian Rifle (SKS) [url=http://www.reloadammo.com/762rload.htm]http://www.reloadammo.com/762rload.htm[/url]
Loads for the .308 Winchester Rifle [url=http://www.reloadammo.com/308load.htm]http://www.reloadammo.com/308load.htm[/url]
Related threads:
Big white truck apparently sniper suspect! [url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=3728&s=03373104fefc5b3bdc9508c23248e932]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...c9508c23248e932[/url]
Suburban bushwacker may have struck again! [url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=3757&s=03373104fefc5b3bdc9508c23248e932]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...c9508c23248e932[/url]
2002-10-24 03:47 | User Profile
Fliegende Hollander,
"One thing for sure --- the search in Tacoma, Washington and the warrant in Montgomery shows that the authorities are frantic is showing they are "doing something" about it. Are we in for more of this "person of interest" innuendo?'
Yes, I fear you are Right! More "person of interest" innuendo is coming.
2002-10-24 04:38 | User Profile
FBI looking for Washing DC sniper in Washington State - (reader link) Two sought are John Mohamed, born in 1960 and Lee Malvo - (a 'malevolent' suspect) A (terrorist) tree stump was also loaded into the truck.
url: [url=http://msnbc.com/news/816566.asp?cp1=1]http://msnbc.com/news/816566.asp?cp1=1[/url]
2002-10-24 20:10 | User Profile
Looks like I was wrong about the snipers' not being Muslim. At least one of the dynamic duo was indeed a Muslim. Even so, I don't know the extent of his devotion.
2002-10-27 04:27 | User Profile
Now that it looks like the sniper has been caught, we can see how accurate Metcalf was.:
"He is NOT a sniper." This is already pointed out as being false. You may wish not to dignify the sniper with the term, but he precisely is a sniper (besides, I don't think calling the gunman a sniper dignifies him at all).
"A sniper is a skilled and trained technician." As already pointed out, there is no requirement that a "sniper" be skilled. However, this sniper is a military-trained gunman with the highest marksmanship rating. Although, he was not trained to be a sniper. Yet, he displayed sniping skill both through the quality of his shooting and through the use of his car as a blind. Where the sniper failed to show skill (or intelligence) was in his decisions unrelated to the actual shooting, such as his communications with the police.
"An inexperienced neophyte can be trained in an hour to hit a stationary target at 100 yards." Now, don't that look dumb. Those who thought they sniper displayed more skill than a neophyte were proven right, unless the military gives top markshmanship ratings to neophytes.
"[Eric Haney] believes the shootings are the work of a pair of young men ? one as the lookout, the other the shooter. ... I agree." Partially right. A middle-age man and a teenager. But, the second man was driver.
"Another security field friend noted, 'The person writing 'Dear Policeman' is probably a product of English as a second language, since an English-speaking American would likely have taunted the police with 'Dear Police' or 'Dear Policemen,' not the singular 'Policeman.'" Metcalf does best when he's quoting others. This is good reasoning except that it ignores the ebonics-speaking population (blacks). As it turns out, it was a black guy, not an English-as-a-second-language guy.
"Very soon the challenge of finding this wannabe wacko murderer will be complicated even more. ... [when] deer season opens..." For thinking the sniper is such an unskilled loser, Metcalf doesn't show much faith that the cops will catch him soon. The cops did catch the sniper well before deer season and if the cops weren't idiots they would have caught him much sooner.
2002-10-29 10:40 | User Profile
Happy,
As already pointed out, there is no requirement that a "sniper" be skilled. However, this sniper is a military-trained gunman with the highest marksmanship rating. Although, he was not trained to be a sniper.
No. He isnt a sniper by military definition which is what I go by, not something generated by the media. Thats right, he never attended an Army sniper school, therefore he is not a sniper, only a murderer. Calling him a "gunman" is the correct term.
As for him shooting expert that is something that everyone who goes through basic rifle markmanship can possibly attain. Thats called a quailification badge. As far as his techniques are concerned he is applying what any combat engineer and infantry man learns about using concealment. We dont call an infantry company that uses cover and concealment a "Sniper company."
It isnt silly at all to think that one can take a newcomer and within an hour teach him to hit a target at 100 yds. Ive done that before and I note that this guy was firing from a stable, supported position with a scope. With those advantages I still dont think that shooting someone at 100 yds is a great feat of marksmanship. ( putting a scope on a rifle, btw, doesnt make a person a "sniper" either, just someone with a scoped rifle. )
In short, why he may appear to be a "sniper" by using certain tactics it doesn`t make him one, not by military definition, only by a media with an agenda.
You and I will have to agree to disagree on this one.
2002-10-29 15:35 | User Profile
"In short, why he may appear to be a 'sniper' by using certain tactics it doesn`t make him one, not by military definition, only by a media with an agenda.
You and I will have to agree to disagree on this one."
It is more important that we agree on calling a spade a spade. :D
2002-10-29 19:09 | User Profile
Originally posted by Happy Hacker@Oct 21 2002, 02:54 **That sounds like neocon nonsense. This guy is a sniper: "One who shoots at other people from a concealed place." To insist that he should be called a "murderer" or a "terrorist" rather than a "sniper" is cowardice. It's the leftist fear that using accurate, detailed, and informative terms will expose weakness. It's like how Foxnews wants to call "suicide bombers" "homicide bombers." Maybe Geoff Metcalf would be happy with the sniper word if we called the gunman a "homicide sniper"?
The argument that snipers are skilled is absurd. There's nothing in the definition of "snipe" that requires a sniper to be skilled. No one is calling this guy a "military sniper."
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This guy sounds like a neocon who is incensed that a lowly Black Muslim could attract the "sniper" epitaph. After all, anyone can hit a fat women unloading grocery carts. To compare them with IDF snipers who can hit tiny targets like 10 years old kids running down the street hundreds of yards away is just an insult to every good Zionist (and Freeper - same thing).