If you've not heard the news, a resident of Rockford, IL was arrested last week for plotting a grenade attack on a local mall. When I first heard it, I scoffed. When my turtle loving neighbors to the north blogged about it, I said that I refused to believe it. Yesterday's Rockford Resgister-Star contained the sworn affadavit that led to the charges against Derrick Shareef, and I have to say I am much less skeptical than I was, at least concerning whether or not he was planning to attack the CherryVale Mall.
My initial reaction upon reading the affadavit, printed in full and unedited, was completely emotional. When Shareef spoke about the possibilties for added shrapnel by putting grenades in garbage cans, all I could picture was my wife and kids standing by those garbage cans. We shop there frequently. I was horrified at the thought of an indiscirminate attack that would lead to the injury or death of my wife and/or children.
Along with specific plans to attack the mall, Shareef also made comments that, during the Israeli war against Hezbollah this past summer, he had urges to attack worshipers at a DeKalb, IL synagogue as they entered for Friday night services. He also expressed a desire to attack the DeKalb County courthouse, including killing guards and judges. Clearly, here is an individual so twisted by rage that violence becomes an outlet; he wants to strike out at others, and injuring or killing them means very little to him.
Under the law, planning a mass attack like the one Shareef planned us an act of terrorism. Does that make Shareef a terrorist? In what sense is he qualitatively different from members of Al Qaeda? I am not sure I am qualified to answer, and I have to admit there is still that conflict within me due to my own visceral anger at someone who would injure or kill strangers, including my family. I will say this, however. Had Shareef purchased a gun and entered the mall, shooting indiscirminately, and this been twenty years ago, we would not have considered the word "terrorist". Mass murderer, perhaps. "Sick, deranged individual going on killing spree" would probably have been the headline, rather than "We Were the Target". While I do not know whether Shareef is a terrorist, I do know he is an unwell man; his violent urges and impulses, his desire to harm others for no reason other than perceived grievances against himself, should prompt any thinking person to insist he he put somehwere where we are safe from him for a long time to come. I do not know whether or not he is a terrorist.
