The Kamikaze Attack in Austin
On Feb. 18, Joe Stack posted a rant against intrusive Big Brother government, corrupt corporate giants, irrational taxes and the "puppet" George Bush. Then, after setting fire to his house, he got into a Piper Cherokee PA-28 at about 9:40 a.m. at an airport in suburban Austin and flew the plane into a commercial building housing an IRS office, killing himself, seriously injuring two people on the ground and starting a conflagration that lasted several hours. The White House was quick to say that the incident was not a plot by overseas terrorists, and many conservatives took pains to argue that Stack was not a terrorist. But that struck many as an absurd double standard that reeked of xenophobia. Stack seemed to be as emboldened as any suicide bomber. In his 3,000-word Web note, he wrote, "I ... know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change."