Plot to bomb abortion clinic foiled, man arrested

[Grebrook]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/14773941.htm

A man who told police he made a pipe bomb to attack an abortion clinic was arrested Thursday, shortly before the device went off in a friend's home while authorities tried to disable it, according to court documents.

No one was injured by the explosion, which started a fire that burned the top floor of the Riverdale home, officials said.

Some friends of Robert F. Weiler Jr. had tipped off police about the 25-year-old's alleged plans Wednesday night.

Weiler then called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and surrendered to state troopers at a rest stop on Interstate 68 just after midnight. Investigators found a handgun and ammunition in his car, officials said.

According to an ATF affidavit, Weiler planned to bomb an abortion clinic in Greenbelt and use a .40-caliber handgun he had stolen from a friend to "shoot doctors who provided abortions."

Weiler faces four federal counts including making a destructive device and possessing an illegal handgun. He was being held Thursday.

Phone messages left at Weiler's home were not returned. A car in the driveway had a frame around the front license plate that read "Choose Life" and "God is pro-Life."

A woman who answered the phone at the Greenbelt clinic said they had not heard of the threat. In 1989, 80 abortion opponents were arrested for trespassing in a demonstration outside the clinic.

[Clark2008]

1. Yea - blowing up innocent clinic workers and clients is choosing live.

Geesch. What a freak.

:crazy:

[muntrv]

2. PRO-LIFE MY ASS!!!

I bet this guy doesn't think killing Iraqi civilians is murder.

[ContraBass Black]

3. "God is pro-Life."

Then why aren't you, Mr. Weiler?

[AX10]

4. It's about time Ann Coulter was arrested.

Seriously, these righties are horrible bastards.

[MountainLaurel]

5. ATF didn't tell the folks at the clinic?!

WTF?!

This hits really close to home for me. I live in DC and will be using PP for my gyn services because I don't want to find a new doctor if we're moving in a few months anyway. I should not have to worry about being blown to bits while I'm getting a Pap smear.

[Roland99]

6. I thought we were fighting terrorists over THERE and not HERE?

[Tsiyu]

12. Did they use the word "Terrorist" in the story?

This is something my daughter - antigone382 - just asked. And she makes a great point.

Abortion is legal, constitutionally protected.

Committing a violent act for political gain is TERRORISM.

But the media won't call it that, will they?


Have I mentioned how much I hate Corporate Media today??????? :grr:

[The Deacon]

17. In Clinton's DOJ

These were classified as "Terrorist Acts" (along with bombing/burning churches in the South) and a high priority. After Junior was elected I never heard them mentioned again - everything was al-Qaeda (yes, I worked with FBI agents in a professional capacity for a number of years.)

[Swamp Rat]

19. "Robert F. Weiler Jr. is a Terrorist and should be prosecuted as such."

That was my very first thought.

:hi:

[Tsiyu]

23. You're a brilliant person

but then, we already knew that! :hi:

[Swamp Rat]

24. Oi!

Tudo bem? Um :hug: pra você e um :hug: pra antigone382 também. :)

[Tsiyu]

25. Repukes sao repugnante

they're making me sick these days!

Um :grouphug: pra Swamp Rat tambem!

:)

[Swamp Rat]

26. são muito muito mal...

do Diabo. :yoiks:

[AnnieBW]

7. And this is in Liberal Maryland

This is in Prince Georges County, Maryland. A county that gave Kerry something like 70% of the vote in 2004. Of course, we have our crazies, too.

[ComerPerro]

8. terrorists always think they are doing God's work

[Lib Grrrrl]

9. Too Bad The Bomb Didn't Blow This Asshole Up!

Yeah...the best way to show you're pro-life is to go around bombing the fuck out of life, and shooting up others!

Lots of people work at abortion clinics, doing clerical work, just trying to support their families! And lots of women go to these clinics for things other than plain abortions.

Planned Parenthood, for example, provides low and no-cost pre-natal care to poor women who can't afford it, and choose to continue their pregnancies...also they provide routine female health care to thousands of poor women who otherwise would not get the care they need.

Many are there for nothing more than a Pap smear or a mammogram! Not everyone who works at a clinic takes part in performing abortions, and not every patient who goes to a clinic does so seeking an abortion!

God, these fucking crazies!!

[Quantess]

10. He probably thinks

In his own twisted mind he probably thinks the abortion doctor is the terrorist.:crazy:

[The Straight Story]

11. Left wing propoganda

No one was gonna bomb anything, just a ploy to help hillary's numbers, that guy was a freedom fighter. Blah blah blah....

Obviously, sarcasm...

[Caution]

13. So will he be charged with terrorism?

[rkc3]

15. Sounds like a terrorist act to me.

He'll probably get the Medal Of Freedom.

[MamaBear]

16. Only if he also belongs to Greenpeace.

:eyes:

[greekspeak]

14. This man is a terrorist in every sense of the word

But I doubt he will be tried as an enemy combantant. These people are not pro-life; they are pro-zygote, or pro-fetus. Maybe zygotodoules? People who worship fetuses?

[benburch]

18. Here is the essential evil of the Far Right.

And why I think that we need to suppress the Far Right as terrorists when we take this country back.

[Cerridwen]

20. Another one to add to the list

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/history_extreme.asp

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, there has been an organized campaign by anti-abortion extremists which has resulted in escalating levels of violence against women's health care providers. In an attempt to stop abortion, anti-abortion extremists have chosen to take the law into their own hands.

What began as peaceful protests with picketing moved to harassing clinic staff and patients as they entered clinics and eventually escalated to blockading clinic entrances.

This foundation of harassment led to violence with the first reported clinic arson in 1976 and a series of bombings in 1978. Arsons and bombings have continued until this day. Anti-abortion extremists have also used chemicals to block women's access to abortion employing butyric acid to vandalize clinics and sending anthrax threat letters to frighten clinic staff.

In the early 1990s, anti-abortion extremists concluded that murdering providers was the only way to stop abortion. The first provider was murdered in 1993. Since then, there have been six subsequent murders and numerous attempted murders of clinic staff and physicians, several of which occurred in their own homes.

[Fleshdancer]

21. Shouldn't he be sent to Guatanamo? War on terror and all?

Thank Goddess his friends were sane enough to tip off the authorities.

[MadHound]

22. Well isn't this a kicker, no terrorist or terror related charges

" Mr. Weiler was charged today with possessing an illegal explosive device, making an illegal explosive device, illegally possessing a firearm with a prior felony conviction and possessing a stolen firearm. He is expected to appear in federal court tomorrow."<http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20060608-114838-2665r.htm>

Funny, isn't it. If you're brown skinned, lean left, or Muslim, you're almost guaranteed to get popped with a terrorism related charge if you pull some stunt like this, as witnessed by the ELF and ALF people early this year and late last year. However if you're white, right wing fundy, or "pro-life" it seems that you can do what you want, and no terrorism related charge is forthcoming, even though your plot is aimed at killing people and the ELF and ALF charges only related to property damage.

Nice two tiered system of justice we have here, one set of laws for the right and one for the left.

[Rocknrule]

27. THIS IS COULTER'S DOING!

She needs to be arrested for inciting violence, or at least sued for everything she owns

[slackmaster]

28. What a dumbass

I hope nobody was injured.