FBI/ATF surveillance of domestic terrorists

[RossG12345]

Let's consider past FBI/ATF surveillance of domestic
terrorists in the context of Freedom Club bombings.
In May 1979, a bomb was left at a Chicago University.
The bomb had not yet been linked to the May 1978 bomb,
and it was not a major investigation.

In June 1979, five bombs were sent to rightists
across the countries, including several Chicago-based
rightists (e.g., Gerhard Lauck, Frank Collin).

On June 24, 1979, Chicago-based rightists had a convention
in Parma, Ohio. There they announced a "United" Front
that would be formed among rightists. The rightists
wanted to kill themselves a communist.

A new undercover ATF agent named Bernie Butkovich
(out of the Cleveland office) was sent to the rally to
investigate the rightists' chief of security, a guy
named Mr. Wood. Mr. Wood had claimed that some
communists had planted a bomb under his car, but
ATF suspected that he had planted it himself in
order to increase his reputation among the ranks.

It was said that Wood had an automatic weapon
(and ATF hoped he would bring it across state lines
from North Carolina).

The second-in-command of the Chicago rightists
gave a napkin to the ATF undercover agent with
Mr. Wood's name on it as an introduction.

A plane flew overhead and the ATF undercover
agent wore a transmitter. ATF agents parked
nearby monitored the transmitter, but forgot
to bring batteries. Even before the batteries
ran out, the agents had a hard time hearing
the conversations over the "Ride of the Valkyries"
blasting over a loudspeaker.

In August, the Communists (the Communist Workers
Party) humiliated the rightists by raiding another
rally they were having and tearing down a flag.
(China Grove). And so the rightists were determined
to retaliate. Mr. Wood and his friends brought
guns to a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina
in early November 1979 and killed several
communists in a shootout.

One of the rightists made it back to Chicago
on November 14, but then turned himself in.

On Nov. 15, a bomb detonated on a plane
going from Chicago to D.C. where there was
a memorial rally planned for the communists.
The bomb was linked to the earlier two bombings
and it became a "major" investigation.

The address was an airlines on K Street in DC.
United had an office on K Street.

The return address was a fictitious
company named the Weiburg Tool & Supply Co.

In May 1980, in a book titled "ICE BROTHERS"
a bomb was sent to Mr. Wood of United Airlines.

It was mailed from the fictitious
"Enoch Fischer" who lived on Ravenswood.

"Ice Brothers" is suggestive of the name
adopted by a group called the "Silent Brotherhood",
the name of which stems from a German
drinking song. The book was about the hunt
for German U-boats during WW II. The dedication
says "little remembered and little honored then,
but they'll never have to doubt that they were men."
It could have been the rallying call of the Chicago-based
rightists.

Kaczynski, who also wanted to kill a communist,
was using symbolism in his bombs to appeal
to other revolutionaries who wanted to destroy
the industrial society. And he was lucky to avoid
detection given the number of ATF agents
and informants around.

[obiwan]

RossG12345 wrote:
> ...

> "Ice Brothers" is suggestive of the name
> adopted by a group called the "Silent Brotherhood",
> the name of which stems from a German
> drinking song. The book was about the hunt
> for German U-boats during WW II. The dedication
> says "little remembered and little honored then,
> but they'll never have to doubt that they were men."
> It could have been the rallying call of the Chicago-based
> rightists.

...

Intriguing connections, as usual. Another possibility:
Could "Ice Brothers" symbolize two brothers working
together to destroy industrial society?

[RossG12345]

Obiwan writes:
"Intriguing connections, as usual. Another possibility:
Could "Ice Brothers" symbolize two brothers working
together to destroy industrial society?"

I think David is too ethical, in a Buddhist-trained way,
to want anyone harmed. But did he live at home with
Ted in that smallish house while TK made the May 1979
bomb in his garage? Was Ted partly upset that David
married Linda because of what David knew? Did David
and TK's relationship become increasingly tense, beginning
in 1985 or so, because of the first fatality?
____________________

Under the heading fact is stranger than fiction, Joe LaFollette, David's
friend, wrote an unpublished novel titled "PHOBIA: a tale
of being". Originally titled TECHNOPHOBIA, it was about a
Berkeley graduate's one-man war against technology. It was
based on an idea Joe LaFollette got from David, while on a camping
trip in 1985 or 1986 (according to the Joe L.). The linguistics
specialist went to work for a company called Wes-Tech
(as distinguished from Rentech, the company owned by the
victim of a December 1985 bomb).
The author explains in the novel that Wes-Tech was a
“metaphor for progress.“ The Berkeley graduate’s job at
Wes-Tech was to talk to a supercomputer, providing it with the
basis for advances in artificial intelligence. Author LaFollete
and David had talked about linguistics and computers, and the
dangers posed by computer technology.
The short unpublished novel was written in February 1991,
when, according to LaFollette, "the Unabomber thing was in the air"
in the university computer lab. In the novel, the Berkeley type,
who visits a psychiatrist for help in understanding his dreams,
became increasingly deranged. It becomes evident in the end
that he had killed some people, though the dividing line between
dreams and reality is purposely left unclear by the author.
The novel ends with the pitiable figure handcuffed in a cell
with a beard. He wakes confused, trying to remember what had
happened. “Shave... me,” he says to his jailor. He hopes that
“Perhaps that person in my dreams is just hiding behind that
beard.”

*******
Neither David Kaczynski nor myself were aware of the reward
when we contacted the FBI.
Statement by Anthony Bisceglie, Kaczynski family attorney,
at press conference
*******

“$1 million for clues to Unabomber.”
Headline, USA Today, October 7, 1993

*********

"We will not be speaking with anyone from the media now or
in the future."

April 1996 written statement by Kaczynski family shortly
after Ted Kaczynski’s arrest, read by Attorney Bisceglie at
press conference

[obiwan]

RossG12345 wrote:

>
> I think David is too ethical, in a Buddhist-trained way,
> to want anyone harmed.

Is David Buddhist?

> But did he live at home with
> Ted in that smallish house while TK made the May 1979
> bomb in his garage? Was Ted partly upset that David
> married Linda because of what David knew? Did David
> and TK's relationship become increasingly tense, beginning
> in 1985 or so, because of the first fatality?

Possible. I have to agree that taking a job as a social
worker looks a lot more like the action of someone who
wants to affect slow change from within rather than
violent overthrow the industrial system.

The passage about the book "TECHNOPHOBIA", (below) is fascinating.
Thanks for posting it again. Where did this info come
from, if I may ask, "Mad Genius"?

obiwan

[RossG12345]

Obiwan writes:

"Is David Buddhist?"

I don't know. His wedding ceremony, though, was Buddhist, I think.
Throughout the 1980s, he subscribed to "wouldn't want to
hurt a fly" type views, according to his friend, Joe LaFollette, Jr.
I contacted Joe L. after I heard his father being quoted on CNN
about "Washington Criminals" after a boy was shot on the Texas
border. (I noticed the phrase because I was used to hearing
Milton and other political radicals use it). The father is a man
of the cloth. I found Joe L., the son, not far from where Dave lived
in that hole.

David's wife, a professor in philosophy, I think, is widely read in
Buddhism.

Obiwan asks where the description of TECHNOPHOBIA (PHOBIA)
came from. I got it from the archives of the U.S.
Copyright Office, after David's friend claimed that he had
lost the only copy of his unpublished manuscript.

I sent a description of it to TK -- let's see if he has any
reaction to the novel that David's perception of Ted
inspired. There's even a Linda with a prominent role in the novel.

[RossG12345]

Here are some samples from the unpublished novel "PHOBIA: a tale of being"
(originally titled TECHNOPHOBIA).

“I got a job in Midland, Texas with a company called Wes-Tech.
It’s a computer company --programming mainly, but I got brought
in as a consultant in languages. No, not computer lingo. S****,
I can barely use a computer.
***
There’s a small gym and a spa and all the rooms are furnished
with all of modern Utopia’s finest. I began to think that
everything in Midland was made out of plastic though.
***
The salary was a little more than thirty pieces of silver
but the feeling and the after the kiss numbness on my lips
still stung me. What had I done? Well I wasn’t going to look
back on a pillar of sale, I going in that mylar think tank and
I was going to make it mine or be swallowed up in the
tempest of trial and error. “Leviathan,” I spoke almost
loud enough for the blue suits to stare back at me,” prepare
to meet thy master!” and I walked through the doors and into
this strange new world.
***
Exactly Jake, West Tech is a metaphor for progress.”
***
“Let’s just say West-Tech represents diversified interests
and some of these are in highly classified areas.” ...
Linda [his old girlfriend that he left behind when he move on]
probably would have called it quits right there.
***
“LAURA is short for Low frequence radiation Artificial
neurological Unihemispherical Reference Axial differentiation
module -- its a sort of artificial intelligence.”
***
“then you’re the brain from Berkeley?”
***
"Life as a psychosocial eunuch was too much for him
and he had snapped. I was witnessing the demise
of a scientist. It only reinforced my prejudice towards
this profession of Judases which would sell out the human
race for a laboratory and a sportscar and a Mother machine."