When news broke Thursday that a small plane had crashed into an Austin, Texas, office building, some immediately feared that it was a terrorist attack, as in the 9/11 tragedies at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. As it turns out, the Texas crash was a purposeful act on the part of a man who had a beef with the U.S. government, namely, the Internal Revenue Service, over a tax dispute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/19crash.html?hpw
Andrew Joseph Stack’s kamikaze run into a 7-story building, the e workplace of almost 200 IRS workers, took not only his life but that of an innocent victim in the building. And 13 people were injured.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703315004575073401102945506.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
The 53-year-old software engineer set his own Austin home on fire and posted a six-page letter on the Internet where he vented his anger and rage against the IRS, complaining that its rules were putting him in financial ruin. “Take my pound of flesh and sleep well,” he wrote.
Like many Americans these days, Stack was unemployed and couldn’t find work, even after relocating from Los Angeles to Austin.
He felt that the IRS was accelerating his financial demise, in terms of his retirement savings and other issues. Stack hadn’t filed a tax return, since he said he had no income. Not a smart move, as any sane person knows. He was promptly audited by the IRS, that wound up costing him $10,000.
Stack took off from Georgetown Memorial Airport in Texas, flying a single engine, fixed wing Piper PA-28-236 at 9:40 a.m. Thursday. He slammed into the Austin office building at 9:56 a.m.
While authorities labeled Stack’s actions those of a criminal rather than a terrorist, the North American Aerospace Defense Command still deployed two F-16 fighters to patrol the area, as a precaution, according to The Wall Street Journal.
So how does the Tea Party spin this? Terrorism or freedom fighter? The right wing talk show hosts may have a nervous breakdown trying to decide which.