More Domestic Terrorism
I don’t want to be the guy that sees terrorism everywhere, but the NY Post’s response to a faux anthrax-letter sent to Keith Olbermann is beyond shameful. This is their comment on the incident:
Keith Olbermann flipped out when he opened his home mail yesterday. The acerbic host of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” was terrified when he opened a suspicious-looking letter with a California postmark and a batch of white powder poured out. A note inside warned Olbermann, who’s a frequent critic of President Bush’s policies, that it was payback for some of his on-air shtick. The caustic commentator panicked and frantically called 911 at about 12:30 a.m., sources told The Post’s Philip Messing. An NYPD HazMat unit rushed to Olbermann’s pad on Central Park South, but preliminary tests indicated the substance was harmless soap powder. However, that wasn’t enough to satisfy Olbermann, who insisted on a checkup. He asked to be taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where doctors looked him over and sent him home. Whether they gave him a lollipop on the way out isn’t known. Olbermann had no comment.
As David Neiwert points out, this is an act of terrorism:
Just in case the folks at the Post have forgotten, what they’re describing here — sending threatening letters through the mail — is a federal crime. Not only that, but fake-anthrax letters are widely recognized to be a form of terrorism, since they clearly “piggyback” off of the still-unsolved anthrax attacks of 2001.
Perhaps the most notorious of these was the case of Clayton Waagner, who sent fake anthrax letters to some 500 Planned Parenthood clinics. Of course, as Frederick Clarkson reported at the time, despite having been on the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List, the Justice Department wound up playing down the prosecution of Waagner, who was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison.
Of course, this will probably not get any kind of attention (though it is getting some). It will be interesting to see if this is mentioned on Countdown tonight.
[…] This after publically mocking Keith Olbermann for receiving an anthrax letter yesterday. Which, by the way, was interfering with a federal investigation. I’m beginning to wonder if journalistic integrity matters to Rupert Murdoch at all. […]
[…] The person who had mailed a white powder to Keith Olbermann has been captured by the FBI. If you remember, the investigation was put in jeopardy by an article in the NY Post mocking Keith Olbermann’s (completely reasonable) response to opening the possibly deadly letter.. Apparently Olbermann was not the only person this kook targeted The letters, which had fake return addresses, were received by Pelosi, a California Democrat who is in line to become speaker of the House; comedians Stewart and David Letterman; Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York; and MSNBC host Keith Olberman. […]