Vet arrested near mosque with firecrackers

| January 31, 2011

1stCavRVN11B sends us news that a Vietnam-era helicopter pilot was arrested in Dearborne, MI yesterday for plotting to illuminate the night sky over a mosque there. It’s funny how the media describes the plot in their headlines. The Chicago Tribune says 63-year-old Roger Stockham was arrested with explosives;

The Denver Post, meanwhile, says it was fireworks;

Of course, both articles call them “Class C fireworks” which are the low grade commercial fireworks you can buy along the road around the Fourth of July. Scary, huh?

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly said the suspect “had a lot of high-end fireworks.”

“It was the max you could buy legally.”

They were not “conventional explosives,” O’Reilly said. “But at that level, those things misused are terrific weapons.”

Whew! we really dodged the bullet on that one didn’t we? There were 700 people at a funeral in the Mosque. Stockham could have blown a finger off every single one of the funeral-goers.

“He’s very dangerous,” Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad told the Free Press. “We took his threat to be very serious.”

Haddad said the man was previously known to law enforcement officials in other parts of the country.

“He’s had a long history of being angry with the United States government,” Haddad said.

Stockham, in jail on a $500,000 bond, drove from California to Dearborn and was caught with a car packed with high-end fireworks. The FBI has been notified about the incident, Haddad said.

How does being angry at the government translate into bombing a mosque with low grade noisemakers?

Yeah, if it was a Muslim person with a truckload of pipebombs we wouldn’t know his name yet and we’d be cautioned not to jump to conclusions about terrorism. But a pensioner with firecrackers in his trunk is “very dangerous” and worthy of involving the FBI.

What was that police chief’s last name again?

Category: Media, Terror War

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Old Trooper

You have to remember that you’re talking about Dearbornistan. The city council and the police dept. bend over backwards to appease the muslim population there at the expense of everyone else. I saw video of some christian converts that were harrassed by the police there for standing on a street corner handing out literature to those coming out of the muslim festival that takes place on public property (actually it takes up the street for a block) and the private muzzy security was also involved in the harrassment and threats against the former muslims. They were told it was a private function (on public streets) and that they had to go a minimum of 6 blocks away to hand out their stuff. You couldn’t pay me enough to go to Dearbornistan.

Anonymous

Just a note: Haddad is a typical Christian name in the Middle East.

Faith+1

One other thing they left out. He’s a Muslim.

http://ceinquiry.us/2011-01-30-roger-stockham

Note the article from the Press-Courier….he converted to Islam back in the 70s.

Old Trooper

Why would they omit that he is a muslim? That’s very odd.

Note the sarcasm.

PintoNag

It also indicates he escaped from a state hospital. If he “escaped,” that means it’s a locked facility.

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Nucsnipe

He was also in the process of getting booted from the VFW. Smoking pot in the post and calling the post Cdr a racial slur.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110131/METRO01/101310345/Plot-to-blow-up-Dearborn-mosque-foiled-by-tip-to-police

malclave

Of course, both articles call them “Class C fireworks”

I’m pretty sure Dick Durbin classified Piccolo Petes as “terrorist weapons”.

Dogs in my neighborhood would agree.

UpNorth

Oh wow, they stopped him before he set off his fountains, and skyrockets? Wow, nice job, Dearbornistan.
Sadly, the Henry Ford Museum is in Dearbornistan. Great place, but I’m not close to ever going back there.
And as OT said, the incident with the folks standing on a public street and being told they had to move 6 blocks away was covered, at least on the west side of the state. The city had to back down. But, the “problem” was taken care of to the satisfaction of the Muslim Festival.

Doc Bailey

kinda sounds like he wanted to pull a prank and they freaked the F**k out. Funny though you never hear about the arsonists a couple of years back that had a great ol time burning down churches. funny how that works isn’t it?