Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Community Comment

We were lucky. Next time we might not be…

 

Good evening, Netizens...

 

We were damned lucky last Monday!

 

Of course, no one publicly made such a statement after a sophisticated bomb was left Monday directly along the path that Martin Luther King Day parade marchers would have been following if a remarkably resourceful group of city employees had not summoned police in time. However, given what little we know of the (a) bomb's construction, or (b) the manner in which it was to be detonated remotely, we can only speculate at the amount of damage, in terms of human injuries and/or deaths that this device would have caused. Once again, depending upon the explosive charge, the bomb could certainly have caused a lot of collateral damage to surrounding businesses.

 

Once you begin to really assess the possibilities one can quickly see just how lucky we were.

 

The only methods of preventing similar incidents such as this from occurring again in the future are  Monday's are constant vigilance and rapid response. If you see something that just “doesn't fit”, such as a backpack or other container sitting unattended, do not assume someone else will report it to authorities.

 

While the FBI is quoted as saying “The confluence of the holiday, the march and the device is inescapable, but we are not at the point where we can draw any particular motive...” I do not believe that coincidences such as Monday's event ever take place without a motive. Had the bomb been detonated during the march, and I believe that was what the bomb's creator had intended, we could easily have lots of dead and injured bodies with wholesale property damage and be no closer than we currently are in resolving who was responsible.

 

We were just lucky someone was vigilant.

 

Dave



Spokesman-Review readers blog about news and issues in Spokane written by Dave Laird.