Alleged Assassination Plot Update2: No Credible Threat

Now ABC trumps CBS says - no credible threat. Well, hell, these idiots look like a "threat" just by breathing our same air, unfortunately.

Authorities are investigating whether a man arrested with rifles, ammunition and drugs in his truck made statements threatening Barack Obama, but emphasize he never posed a "credible threat" to the candidate or the Democratic National Convention.

Federal and local authorities had scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon, but U.S. Attorney Troy Eid downplayed the case.

"We're absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado," Eid said in a statement.

Latest claims it was an assassination plot - here:

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle … sighted at 750 yards."

Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

One of three, or possibly four men recently arrested on gun charges in Colorado is 28 year-old Tharin Gartrell.

TMZ has a mug shot and it's alleged the individuals had tattoos popular among certain White Supremacist groups.

Classmates dot com has a Tharin Gartrell graduating from Fort Morgan High School in Fort Morgan Colorado in 1999. The age parameters may well fit.

See here for more

Sources tell NBC the two men had tattoos and jewelry popular with white supremacists.

Authorities plan to release more details on Tuesday afternoon.

At the Rockies Inn, investigators made contact with a number of people tied to Gartrell's arrest.

9Wants to Know spoke with the manager of the Rockies Inn and she said that the police were in the inn parking lot on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and they took down car license plate numbers.

Authorities tell NBC News they are skeptical there was anything other than some kind of general animosity and no actual plan to do anything.

"This is a methamphetamine and firearms case that arose from a traffic stop made by an Aurora Police officer. Firearms and methamphetamine were seized, and a number of individual are in state custody. The matter continues to be under investigation. We'll provide more information at 4 p.m. tomorrow," said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid.

Comments

[BobInStamford]

1. White Trash? Check

2. Got Meth? Check

3. Got Guns? Check

4. Wanna kill some libruls? Check.

Introducing the GOP base!

[jharp]

"Authorities tell NBC News they are skeptical there was anything other than some kind of general animosity and no actual plan to do anything."

Don't be so sure this means anything. Under King George's law they might end up as enemy combatants.

Off to Gitmo and get ready for the waterboarding. No charges, no lawyer, no trial. Indefinite imprisonment just because the President says so.

[JustOneMan]

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO da white man wnat to kill da black...er....um....malado man.....

[more]

http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/assisination.plot.obama.2.802827.html

Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point

DENVER (CBS4) ― CBS4 has now learned at least four people are under arrest in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle … sighted at 750 yards."

Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

[Samir]

I wonder what their freerepublic handles are

[Korla Pundit]

If you "directly ask" a meth head if they came from Mars to rape Minnie Mouse, they would "respond in the affirmative" to that as well.

That's not how you question people, by putting words in their mouths. Very amateurish.

By the way, white supremacists are all for Obama getting elected. First, they think it will usher in the race war they've always wanted, and second, he is the anti-Israel candidate. And if white supremacists hate anybody, it is not blacks. It is the "neocons."

[PA]

1. Commie Revolutionaries? Check

2. Got pot and acid? Check

3. Got Bombs? Check

4. Wanna kill some government workers? Check.

Introducing the Obama circle of friends!

[Dead Bowie]

Meth-heads are well known for being able to hold sub minute-of-arc groups. Hitting a human size target at 750 yards is easy for them.

And many common scopes have range adjustments on them that go out to 1000 yards.

/sarcasm

[Pacifist]

I think jharp has a point ...
Just give them a Bama Pop and a tootsie roll and let them go.

[seekeronos]

Erm, I was gonna make the same comment that "Dead Bowie" did upthread.... so yeah, ditto on those ultra lethal meth-necks getting a bead on ANYTHING at 750yds.

It.ain't.happening.

[Cybrludite]

Yeah, I'd be amazed if a meth-head could hit anything at 750 inches, much less 750 yards.

[Jason Coleman]

Lemme just jump in and say that as someone who has hunted the plains and high desert of Colorado that you'd do much better sighting in your rifle at extreme distances rather than the 100-150 yds you might sight in for hunting deer in the SE or NE.

HOWEVER, there is no real way for law enforcement to look at a rifle and determine that it's "sighted in at 750 yds." Short of taking it to the range and shooting groups, you simply cannot tell what range it's dialed-in to.

I do find it hilarious to think that a loser tweaked out on meth could make such a shot.

If I had to bet, this is probably getting blown up out of proportion based on stupid statements by the perps who probably thought they were being cool, tough, whatever.

[ajacksonian]

The rifle to make the shot isn't the problem - it is sighting, steadiness, accuracy and windage. If you have a good idea of those, say by stand-mounting the rifle, then things get a bit easier. A rifle from ERG or LAR, both civilian, would do it, as well as a number of other rifles from overseas, say a Druganov.

Training, patience, concentration and doing the calculations to make the shot? Nope, not buying that. Oswald was a well trained USMC marksman who planned his shots and knew his rifle. Most other assassinations (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Sadat, Ghandi, the multiple attempts on Ford, the attempt on Reagan...) were done at very close range with handguns, while terrorists and mobsters often prefer carbombs. Oswald is a stand-out because he was trained, knew his rifle, knew his shots, knew the surrounding area and could not be immediately apprehended because of those things. This does point to most assassins not having the patience to train themselves to kill efficiently at long range - these are crimes of passion, not calculation save for the aforementioned terrorists and mobsters when the former aren't turning themselves into one-shot weapons.

Oswald is pretty much unique: skilled and with a political passion. Getting the skills requires self-discipline which usually kills the passion end of things. Skilled and experience hitmen do *not* go after political targets... I come up with a very, very short list on that as mixing politics with business is bad for that business. Pretty much ends it. And even Oswald was not a professional hitman.

[Uh...]

jharp, they're US citizens. Unlike un-uniformed unlawful enemy combatants they have rights.

Why is it so hard for leftists to understand this distinction?

[Spartan112]

Has anyone seen SacTownMAn???

[chris]

He's working a second job to keep the house that is worth half of what he paid for it. A real winner, that guy!

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

"Why is it so hard for leftists to understand this distinction?"

Because it's a meaningless distinction invented by fascists, and has no basis in law or fact?

[seekeronos]

"--- Has anyone seen SacTownMAn??? ---"

He's likely off making money, and from what I could guess, at least as much if not more than a prep school teacher. Nice attempt to "implicate" him in something though.

"--- He's working a second job to keep the house that is worth half of what he paid for it. A real winner, that guy! ---"

Some folks like ol' Socko there just don't quite have a blessing in either memory or reading comprehension.

STM has stated repeatedly that he bought his house well under even current market values, and even in tdoay's depressed market, he'd turn a profit off of it against what he paid for it nearly 20 years ago... and that is even adjusting for inflation as well:

Shall I quote STM's earlier post:

"----
Well Chris I paid $72,000 for my house in 1988 at a whopping 11% interest rate. It appraised two years ago for $575,000 and my current loan is at 5.25%.

I happen to live in a highly sought after area that has maintained value quite well. Seeing as how I don't plan to go anywhere soon, my house will be paid off in about 10 years and I still have over $400,000 in equity so I'm doing just fine thanks.
----"
(Posted by: SacTownMan | Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 04:21 PM)

But some chuckleheads just can't let an incorrect, even stupid idea go... wait a second, I bet it is just something common to liberal Democrats.

[templar knight]

"...and has no basis in law or fact."

Bullshit, the Geneva Conventions have always separated uniformed and non-uniformed combatants, providing specified protections for one, but not for the other.

[Spartan112]

I have no problem with the money I make Seek, success and happiness is more than a dollar amount. I do just fine and that doesn't include the benefit of tuition remission I'll get when it comes time for Spartan113 to enter middle school.

[Xanthippas]

"jharp, they're US citizens. Unlike un-uniformed unlawful enemy combatants they have rights."

Jose Padilla anyone?

[Spartan112]

Jose Padilla anyone?

Posted by: Xanthippas

Yeah but he has a funny name...

[George]

If this doesn't give Obama that bounce he's looking for, I don't know what will. Obviously these morons had no plan to kill Obama, and eventually it will come out that the media, and perhaps a source within the police, tried to make this a bigger deal than it was.

[templar knight]

Uh, Sparty, you need to refer to your idiot friend, chris. He is the one concerned about the value of people's homes, etc. Seek could care less, he was just using you as a foille, something you're most likely accustomed to, given your "winning" personality.

[seekeronos]

"--- I have no problem with the money I make Seek, success and happiness is more than a dollar amount. I do just fine ... ---"

Nor do I have a problem with the money you make. Pursuit of happiness (and by extension, success) is a quintessential American right.

I'm just saying that the implication that STM (however jokingly meant) was up to no good ala the couple-three useless idiots that got caught with guns and meth in a send up of "librul killers" that Socko would be happy to point to as exemplars of conservative Americans was a bit "short of funny".

[seekeronos]

As an aside, the stereotyped meth-smoking redneck is not likely to have much connection to reality know or to even care about who is running for POTUS, much less the subtleties of each candidates' politics as it appeals to the many factions each party has.

I believe that they have no real focus on "right" or "left", rather seeking to earn or steal a few bucks to get their meth.

You might find a few politically minded stoner/meth-head Alex Jones type "Truthers", and a few handfuls of Aryan racialist/Nazi types who are really outside the Right/Left matrix and are just thugs who'd make great authoritarians: they are just swept into the "extreme right" with a broad brush of convention which says that these sorts of villains are "extreme rightists".

But most tweakers don't even care about that: they are just looking for their next date with "Crystal".

Curiously, there is a rather high level of meth usage among gay men, the vast majority of whom are quite liberal in their sober waking hours.

[Spartan112]

So these were gay white supremacists? Well I'll be a monkeys uncle.

[BruceH]

"By these truths we hold self-evident, that ALL men were created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Quoted from memory so forgive me if it's not precise.

This means, of course, that everyone has rights. Even "un-uniformed enemy combatants." Well, it should mean that at any rate.

[seekeronos]

"--- This means, of course, that everyone has rights. Even "un-uniformed enemy combatants." Well, it should mean that at any rate. ---"

Ideally, this should be the case.

However, in a battlefield situation where you have plainclothes warriors (terrorists) discharging firearms in your direction and exploding themselves on buses, and stringing up contractors and civilians...

... AND where the Geneva Conventions and other international laws of armed conflict provide for separate levels of treatment for uniformed combatants (typically bound to those same rules of law) and non-uniformed combatants, it might be more efficient to not have to have lawyers deployed in foxholes with our soldiers to make sure that non-uniformed combatants are read their Miranda rights and given their phone call and defense lawyer, but to bundle them off to detention camps where they might be pressed for any valuable information, or terminating them summarily as permitted by the GC's.

Now AFTER the initial detainment, ensuring that they've been moved into enemy prisoner holding, they should be treated with same rights that any prisoner under the law has under admiralty or military law, and that justice should be served as expeditiously as possible.