The snazziest graphic of the day comes (with a peacock) from Chris Vanderveen at 9 News dot com in Colorado whose headline reads:
Man charged after explosives pulled out of home
Technically it is true that police searched Swerlein's home after receiving a report three days earlier. It is also technically true that police searched Swerlein's home after 9/11, or that police searched Swerlein's home after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, for that matter. Personally, when I think of this case in its proper historical context, I believe it's important to note that police searched Ronald Swerlein's home after Lincoln was assassinated.Boulder County prosecutors have charged a man with 10 counts of illegal explosives possession on Friday.
Ronald Swerlein, 50, offered no comment as he, his wife, and his attorney walked into a Boulder County courtroom Friday afternoon.
His attorney, Jeffrey Larson, did say in court that he believes Swerlein "has no intention of harming anybody or frightening anybody."
Over the weekend, Longmont Police say they pulled out from Swerlein's home more than 200 chemicals, numerous guns, and even a few magazines connected with eco-terrorist organizations. In court documents Swerlein has reportedly told police he was interested in model rocketry.
Police have not said if they think Swerlein posed a threat to anyone other than himself.
Police first searched Swerlein's home on June 15 after a neighbor reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.
Swerlein will be back in court next month.
If you get my drift.
This short report gives no hint that police had received 15 reports of explosions in Swerlein's neighborhood dating back to January of 2006. Regular readers of this frozen page know that already, of course, because they've already read "Ronald Swerlein's Out On Bail And Going Home But The Neighborhood Is Safe Because The Cops Have All His Explosives, Weapons, Glassware, Magazines ...".
It also doesn't mention the one drug-related charge. Ahem. Next up in our roundup of the Colorado regional media Swerlein extravaganza is a report from the AP via KJCT-8 (ABC, Grand Junction / Montrose):
Longmont man charged with possessing illegal explosives
A Longmont man accused of keeping explosive chemicals and handguns in his home was charged today with ten counts of possessing illegal explosives and one count of drug possession.Homemade nitroglycerin?
Fifty-year-old Ronald Swerlein, a retired electrical engineer, was arrested last Sunday after local and federal agencies spent the weekend searching his home. Neighbors had reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.
Authorities says they found more than 400 chemicals in Swerlein's house, including homemade nitroglycerin. Officers say they also found model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets and books on homemade explosives.
They also reported finding magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI considers to be a terrorist group.
Swerlein told police he was developing fuel for model rockets.
That's the first indication I've seen that Swerlein's nitroglycerin was homemade.
Why would you make nitroglycerin?
Because it's not too difficult to make and you can't legally buy it.
How much of it would you need? Police reportedly found half a pound of it. Would that be enough for a model rocket hobby?
It would, and it would also be enough to make a good-sized car bomb!
If you want to fuel a rocket, you need a fuel stable enough not to explode on the way to the launch pad, no? Police detonated Swerlein's nitroglycerin -- half a pound of it -- in his driveway last Saturday, because it's so unstable they couldn't risk moving it! How could something this flaky serve as a rocket fuel?
It may not be all that simple!
I asked my science advisor several questions along these lines and here's what I learned:
First of all you have to understand how much difference there is between a rocket and a bomb. Think of fireworks: a rocket with a bomb on it. The rocket has to fly. It has to have a long powerful steady thrust in order to go up in the air. If the fuel burns too fast -- if it explodes -- it ruins the rocket and it doesn't fly anywhere. In effect it becomes a bomb. Heck, it already is a bomb; it becomes more dangerous because it's going to explode on the ground rather than up in the air.OOOhhh! Science! ... Seriously, though: my chemistry background is not too bad and my science advisor has a PhD so having him around helps a lot.
Meanwhile back in media-land, FOX 31 has the most detailed coverage of the three television reports that came in late last night:
Longmont Man Charged With Possessing Illegal Explosives
This is the first report I've seen that mentionedA Longmont man accused of keeping explosive chemicals and handguns in his home was charged Friday with 10 counts of possessing illegal explosives and one count of drug possession.
Ronald Swerlein, 50, a retired electrical engineer, was arrested June 17 after local and federal agencies spent the weekend searching his home. Neighbors had reported hearing three explosions at the house three days earlier.
Authorities said they found more than 400 chemicals in Swerlein's house, including homemade nitroglycerin and MEKP, a volatile chemical that had been stabilized and hidden in the basement.
Officers said they also found model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets, books on homemade explosives, expensive chemistry glassware, a handwritten "to-do" list and warning note, flare guns, a Taser weapon and three metal grenade shells.
They also reported finding magazines from the Animal Liberation Front, which the FBI considers to be a terrorist group.
Swerlein told police he was developing fuel for model rockets. He and his lawyer, Jeffrey Larson, declined to comment when they walked into a Boulder County courtroom Friday.
Larson has said he believes Swerlein's neighborhood is safe.
model rockets, rocket kits and engines, a launching pad for model rockets... and it's not surprising when little bits of evidence dribble out here and there; in fact it's interesting to watch.
Speaking of interesting, most of the detail so far has come from Pierrette J. Shields of The Daily Times-Call who filed this report prior to Swerlein's court appearance:
‘I am not sure I feel all that safe’: Explosives arrest rattles neighbors
Longmont detectives are trying to make sense of evidence seized from the home, Lewis told residents. None of it so far indicates Swerlein had any plans to use the explosives outside of his own yard, he said.I'm anxious to see what Pierrette Shields will have next. I'm especially hoping for an answer to the question lingering in my mind at the moment:
“Truly, we have that he was doing this as one of his hobbies and his projects,” Lewis said.
Police have cleared the house and Swerlein and his wife may move back in and begin cleaning the mess left behind by searches and tear gas if they choose. That left some neighbors uneasy.
“What if he wants to get revenge on the neighbors who turned him in?” neighborhood resident Dennis Bruns asked.
Butler said he empathizes with neighbors, but said the police do not have the authority to keep him out the the neighborhood or his home.
“We do not believe he will be able to do what he has been doing in the past,” Butler said. “We will be doing extra patrols in the area.”
Lewis noted that Swerlein’s bond conditions require that he not possess chemicals or weapons. Swerlein has not been charged or tried and has a right to be presumed innocent, Lewis noted. He will not be under police surveillance and control.
Nobody so far who has reported anything about Swerlein having been remanded or anything to that effect; presumably he is still out on $50,000 bail and still free to clean up the damage from the tear gas and resume his normal peaceful life as it was ... or as it would have been without any chemicals or weapons or magazines ... is Ronald Swerlein still free on $50,000 bond?
In the Rocky Mountain News, Vanessa Miller reports:
Longmont man in court today in explosives raid
Longmont police Sgt. Tim Lewis said he expects Swerlein will be charged with more than two counts of possession and use of explosives — felony charges carrying a prison sentence of two to 12 years.Swerlein was in fact charged with ten counts of explosives violations and one count of drug possession.
Swerlein paid the required 10 percent of his $50,000 bond to leave the Boulder County Jail on Tuesday.Is that right? Did he really pay only 10% of the $50,000 bond the judge set? If I'm reading this right, that's $5000 bail, and remember that even after being charged he may still be free on until his next court appearance, as far as we know ...
Now my poor frozen brain comes screeching to a halt and says:
Now just hang on a minute!! Let's speculate just this once, shall we?How can I ever recover? Oooh. Perhaps I can't!! ;-( Because Vanessa Miller also says:
What if -- instead of Ronald Swerlein -- this man's name was Abdul Muhammed?
How long do you suppose it would take before he was living on a tropical island, enjoying some lemon chicken sweetened by a choice of two desserts?
Among the chemical brews found in the tri-level house, police reported, were nitroglycerin, the main ingredient in dynamite, and M.E.K.P., the explosive linked to the liquid ban on air travel.Ahem. If I may...
Not to blow my own nose or anything like that, but I happen to have written a sixteen-part series on the so-called "liquid bombers", whose alleged plot was reportedly foiled in August, 2006 and which led to the current so-called 3-1-1 carry-on restrictions.
The alleged plot was supposedly foiled after the arrest of Rashid Rauf, the so-called "ringleader" or "mastermind" or "messenger" but certainly a "key person" and almost always fingered as "the al-Q'aeda connection" to the alleged plot.
Rashid Rauf is currently in a Pakistani prison charged with possession of 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide for the purposes of terrorism. One of the questions that repeatedly surfaces in my mind with respect to this case runs: How could 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide in Pakistan blow up 10 or 12 airplanes headed to the USA from Britain?
So it's a great big mystery and a fascinating (though sickening) one, and to make a long story shorter, I have read and squirreled away hundreds of articles about Rashid Rauf and the so-called "Liquid Bombers" and this is the first time I have ever seen MEKP mentioned in connection with this alleged plot ... so just before my chilled and tiny brain went completely hypothermic, I asked The Google:
"Did I miss a connection somewhere? Do you know anything about Rashid Rauf and MEKP?"And The Google said:
"Yes! those names appear together on two pages!"I was shocked!! Shocked, I tell you!!
"Two whole pages?"I exclaimed!
"What on Earth do they say?"The Google replied:
One says "If it was a peroxide based liquid explosive I would have thought they would have been using MEKP" ...Well as you must have guessed I could go on and on, but that's my story for today -- a story of Ronald Swerlein, who would surely be looking at the world through a narrow slot if he were fortunate enough to be born under a different name, or in a different skin ... and a story of a nearly frozen blogger and The Google. working together to catapult the propaganda -- right back over the fence.
and the other says "Liquid Bomber exposed as ISI agent / plot was used to renew fledging support for WOT"
And now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get colder...
~~~
[ related posts ]
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Police Seize Huge Cache Of Explosives From Colorado Home, But Say It's Not Enough For An Act Of Terrorism
Friday, June 22, 2007
Ronald Swerlein's Out On Bail And Going Home But The Neighborhood Is Safe Because The Cops Have All His Explosives, Weapons, Glassware, Magazines ...