M-80s for a Mosque in Dearborn

Oh-oh.

You don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that this is going to be trouble: an old white guy tried to blow up a mosque in Dearborn. Gantdaily.com has this report:

A 63-year-old Vietnam veteran has been charged with threatening to blow up one of America’s largest mosques.

Roger Stockham, of Imperial Beach, CA, was arrested Jan. 24 in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America. Police found a large quantify of class-C fireworks, including M-80s, in the trunk of his car.

Wait a minute — this is a 170,000 square foot mosque. It would take a lot more than a trunkload of M-80s to blow up a building of that size.

But we’ll put that quibble aside for a minute and continue with the article:

He has been charged with one count of a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of explosives-possession of bombs with unlawful intent.

If convicted, Stockham could face 15 years in prison on the fireworks charge and up to 20 years on the terrorism charge.

He was arraigned Wednesday and is being held on $500,000 bond.

According to local reports, a bartender in a Detroit bar overheard Stockham threaten to damage a mosque in Dearborn. The bartender followed the suspect outside and copied down his license plate number. He then called Detroit police who called police in Dearborn.

Detroit police then sent out an alert. Stockham was arrested in the mosque’s parking lot. About 500 people were inside at the time.

[…]

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said announcement of the arrest was delayed out of fear of copycat incidents.

The delay makes sense. As it happens, however, it was CAIR that forced the chief’s hand. According to the Press and Guide:

The story was first reported by The Press & Guide Saturday night. Though the incident happened almost a week ago, information wasn’t made public until Saturday when the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan issued a press statement on the incident.

“We thank law enforcement authorities for their quick and professional actions in this troubling incident,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter. “The increased number of bias incidents targeting American Muslim institutions must be addressed by local, state and national authorities.”

Now the picture is becoming clearer: CAIR needs these M-80s to be an attempt at a major terrorist attack in order to confirm its assertion that racist, Islamophobic sentiments are on the increase in the United States.

And what about Roger Stockham? Why would he fill a trunk with M-80s and make the long trek to Dearborn?

Well, it seems that Mr. Stockham may be a couple of laceholes shy of a fully tied shoe. The Press and Guide again:

Police said Stockham has a lengthy history of mental problems and crime.

According to published reports, Stockham previously has been implicated in a bombing plot. A 1985 Los Angeles Times article said Stockham was arrested that year at Reno Cannon International Airport for planting a pipe bomb and carrying an unregistered firearm. The newspaper said Stockham, 38 at the time, had a history of criminal and mental problems and was being sent to a federal penitentary [sic] for evaluation of symptoms reportedly caused by post-traumatic stress related to his service in Vietnam. The article doesn’t mention what the outcome of the evaluation was.

So the man is a Vietnam combat vet with PTSD. Normally the MSM would be greatly sympathetic towards the poor fellow. The narrative would describe him as “troubled”, and reporters would examine the negligence of the Veterans’ Administration in allowing one of its charges to deteriorate to this level.

However, to his great misfortune, Roger Stockham messed with the most untouchable special interest group in America: Muslims. This puts him beyond the pale.

Forget “troubled” — enter the “deranged loner”. In the cloud around this news story, expect these additional keywords: militias, Tea Parties, right-wing extremists, Second Amendment, and Sarah Palin.

Wait and see. Tomorrow, when the news bureaus are fully staffed, and all the Homeland Security apparatchiks are behind their desks again, the full-court press will begin.