-Caveat Lector- http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=74687
Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com Cost-effective terror: a van and 13 bullets Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune Thursday, October 24, 2002 For millions in U.S. capital, a siege of fear WASHINGTON It has been three weeks now since the first shot was fired - and 3 million people are still ducking and holding their collective breath. People in the Washington area have now grown accustomed to pumping gas in a crouch, or at a station sheltered from view (and from a sniper's scope) by a huge tarpaulin; to fearfully scanning tree-lined stretches as they drive along increasingly deserted roads; to walking in what would have seemed a bizarre zigzag fashion through a shopping center parking lot. Normally bustling movie theaters are nearly empty in the evenings, as are many shops and restaurants. Every white van has become suspect - and white vans, people now realize, are absolutely everywhere. People turn on their televisions first thing in the morning to learn, from breathless announcers who seem to talk of nothing else, whether yet another innocent has died in their midst. They then calculate grimly how yet another huge - and probably fruitless - manhunt will affect their morning commute. Or else they simply call in sick and stay in the one place they feel safe: at home, with the shades drawn. Political parties are worrying about low voter turnout when midterm elections are held Nov. 5 and have encouraged people to file absentee ballots. The governor of Maryland is considering mobilizing the National Guard for the polls. After the first burst of shootings in Maryland, some people in affluent northern Virginia congratulated themselves on their good sense for living there; then the sniper suddenly invaded their territory and chopped off that complacency. Every few days comes a televised briefing by a new sheriff, as the shootings migrate north, then east, then south, then back north again, from state to state, county to county. The message seems clear: No one is immune; no one can relax. Chief Charles Moose of the Montgomery County police, whose reassurances at frequent televised news conferences seem to ring more hollow as the days go on, summed it up: The shooter, or shooters, he said, have "shown a clear willingness and ability to kill people of all ages, all races, all genders, all professions, different times, different days in different locations." It is surely worst for parents, especially after the police released a chilling warning left at the site of a recent shooting: "Your children are not safe anywhere, at any time." Schools canceled classes in Richmond, the capital of Virginia, after the warning. In Maryland, where schools remained open despite the shooting of a 13-year-old - he had been kicked off his school bus for the offense of eating candy, and so his aunt had just driven him to his middle school - many have been keeping their children home, or fearfully accompanying them to school. There they are kept locked in through the day in classrooms with drawn blinds. They are allowed out only under escort. They call this Code Blue. Code Black would better convey the mood. At least one family, in a move reminiscent of besieged Londoners in World War II, has sent a child to live with relatives in Baltimore, 40 miles (64 kilometers) away. But there are no German buzz-bombs crashing into the area, no Luftwaffe bombers swarming overhead. Whatever the motives of those responsible, the 13 sniper shootings to date - leaving 10 dead and three wounded - amount to one of the most cost-effective acts of terrorism ever. Each shooting, the police say, involved a single shot. Thirteen bullets, at 20 cents each. For $2.60, a sniper (some reports suggest that two people may be involved, but the common parlance refers to one) has succeeded in terrorizing, locking down and chilling the economy of a region of more than 3 million people. The economic impact has spread in many ways. A dry cleaner near the site of one of the early shootings, in the Maryland suburb of Kensington, just north of Washington, said her business was down by 60 percent. Other businesses report lesser declines. Are people overreacting? One angry high school father took out an advertisement in The Washington Post to denounce the cancellation of the homecoming dance at the elite Sidwell Friends School in northwest Washington - Chelsea Clinton's alma mater. He called the decision a show of paranoia and bad judgment. Psychiatrists say their patients are especially perturbed; one reported the institutionalization of one person as a direct result of sniper fears. There has been a rise in purchases of flak vests. More people have died in "traditional" shootings than in sniper attacks since Oct. 2, when the awful series began, The Washington Post reported. But the randomness, the invisibility of the sniper, his chilling willingness to aim at a child, a retiree, a man mowing a lawn as a favor, a woman on a bench, people going about day-to- day errands - all this has left every person in a huge area feeling as if a target had been pinned to their backs, in an unreachable place. If any silver lining has emerged, it has been forged by the same sense of equality: that all are equally targeted by some evil Other. The family of one shooting victim gave the man's van to the surviving husband of another, who needed one for his work. At a victim's funeral, 12 candles were lit - symbolizing all the victims at that point. Flowers pile up at shooting scenes. Money has poured into funds set up for each of the growing number of dead and wounded. "We are seeing a real determination, resolve and even strength in the members of the community," said Doug Duncan, Montgomery County's executive, who often appears with Chief Moose, leader of the investigation. Wednesday, a day after a 35-year-old commuter-bus driver was killed as he prepared his vehicle for the day's work, large numbers of off-duty drivers appeared at the bus depot, Duncan said. "We're not co-workers, we're family," Duncan quoted them as saying. They were there "to drive buses, to work, to do what needs to be done." They said, "We're getting through this together." Copyright © 2002 The International Herald Tribune <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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