Not politics - Pynchon (bombs)

[Mark Kohut]

[edit] Greenwich Village explosion
Main article: Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
On March 6, 1970, during preparations for the bombing of an officers' dance at the Fort Dix U.S. Army base and for Butler Library at Columbia University,[22] there was an explosion in a Greenwich Village safe house when the nail bomb being constructed prematurely detonated due to a wiring malfunction. WUO members Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, and Terry Robbins died in the explosion. Cathy Wilkerson and Kathy Boudin escaped unharmed, Boudin running naked from the apartment. It was an accident of history that the site of the Village explosion was the former residence of Merrill Lynch brokerage firm founder Charles Merrill and his son, the poet James Merrill. The younger Merrill subsequently recorded the event in his poem 18 West 11th Street, the title being the address of the house. An FBI report later stated that the group had possessed sufficient amounts of explosive to "level ... both sides of the street".[23]

The bomb preparations have been pointed out by critics of the claim that the Weatherman group did not try to take lives with its bombings. Harvey Klehr, the Andrew W. Mellon professor of politics and history at Emory University in Atlanta, said in 2003, "The only reason they were not guilty of mass murder is mere incompetence. I don't know what sort of defense that is."[22]


[edit] Underground
After the Greenwich Village incident, the group was now well underground, and began to refer to themselves as the Weather Underground Organization. At this juncture, WUO shrank considerably, becoming even fewer than they had been when first formed. The group was devastated by the loss of their friends, and in late April, 1970, members of the Weathermen met in California to discuss what had happened in New York and the future of the organization. The group decided to reevaluate their strategy, particularly in regard to their initial belief in the acceptability of human casualties, rejecting such tactics as kidnapping and assassinations.

They wanted to convince the American public that the United States was truly responsible for the calamity in Vietnam.[8] The group began striking at night, bombing empty offices, with warnings always issued in advance to ensure a safe evacuation. According to David Gilbert, "[their] goal was to not hurt any people, and a lot of work went into that. But we wanted to pick targets that showed to the public who was responsible for what was really going on."[8] After the Greenwich Village explosion, no one was killed by WUO bombs.[24]

We were very careful from the moment of the townhouse on to be sure we weren't going to hurt anybody, and we never did hurt anybody. Whenever we put a bomb in a public space, we had figured out all kinds of ways to put checks and balances on the thing and also to get people away from it, and we were remarkably successful.

—Bill Ayers[8]
 
Investigators search for clues after the May 19, 1972 Weatherman bombing of the PentagonOn May 21, 1970, a communiqué from the Weather Underground was issued promising to attack a "symbol or institution of American injustice" within two weeks.[25] The communiqué included taunts towards the FBI, daring them to try and find the group, whose members were spread throughout the United States.[26] Many leftist organizations showed curiosity in the communiqué, and waited to see if the act would in fact occur. However, two weeks would pass without any occurrence.[27] Then on June 9, 1970, their first publicly acknowledged bombing occurred at a New York City police station,[28] saying it was "in outraged response to the assassination of the Soledad Brother George Jackson,"[8] who had recently been killed by prison guards in an escape attempt. The FBI placed the Weather Underground organization on the ten most-wanted list by the end of 1970.[10] On May 19,
 1972, Ho Chi Minh’s birthday, The Weather Underground placed a bomb in the women’s bathroom in the Air Force wing of The Pentagon. The damage caused flooding that devastated classified information on computer tapes. Leftist groups worldwide applauded the bombing, illustrated by German youth protesting against American military systems in Frankfurt.[10]



--- On Wed, 10/8/08, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: Not politics - Pynchon (bombs)
> To: "Joe Allonby" <joeallonby at gmail.com>
> Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 9:01 AM
> They killed one of themslves when a bomb exploded in a
> greenwhich village
> building.
> 
> 
> --- On Wed, 10/8/08, Joe Allonby
> <joeallonby at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: Joe Allonby <joeallonby at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: Not politics - Pynchon (bombs)
> > To: "Michael Bailey"
> <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> > Cc: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> > Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 8:53 AM
> > They shot a cop in a bank robbery about two blocks
> from
> > where I'm typing
> > this.
> > 
> > On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 3:32 AM, Michael Bailey
> > <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com
> > > wrote:
> > 
> > > there are a lot of good books reviewing the
> Weather
> > Underground
> > > and a couple of videos
> > >
> > > what I came away with from looking at a few of
> them
> > was
> > >
> > > they managed to not kill a lot of people (I'm
> > thinking zero, but that
> > > could be wrong)
> > >
> > > they got some impressive targets
> > >
> > > their statements indicate they were reacting from
> > understandable
> > > outrage at the unimaginably
> > > evil bombing of Cambodia
> > >
> > > they didn't accomplish a whole heck of a lot
> > >
> > > they could easily have been provocateurs, in that
> > their actions justified
> > > draconian enforcement AND took attention away
> from
> > Amerikka's SE Asia
> > > murders
> > >
> > > oh, a-and that Mark Rudd went on to become a
> community
> > college math
> > > teacher!
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 10/7/08, Glenn Scheper
> > <glenn_scheper at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > > > From a political email...
> > > >
> > > >  During The Time Obama And Ayers Served
> Together
> > On The Woods Fund, Ayers
> > > Was
> > > >  Quoted Saying "I Don't Regret
> Setting
> > Bombs ... I Feel We Didn't Do
> > > Enough." "'I
> > > >  don't regret setting bombs,' Bill
> Ayers
> > said. 'I feel we didn't do
> > > enough.' Mr.
> > > >  Ayers, who spent the 1970's as a
> fugitive in
> > the Weather Underground,
> > > was
> > > >  sitting in the kitchen of his big
> > turn-of-the-19th-century stone house
> > > in the
> > > >  Hyde Park district of Chicago."
> (Dinitia
> > Smith, "No Regrets For A Love
> > > Of
> > > >  Explosives," The New York Times,
> 9/11/01)
> > > >   -- file://PastedText/854250
> > > >
> > > >  ==========
> > > >
> > > >  BTW, a hiatus in my help(?) on the TMoP
> read:
> > > >
> > > >  I got a local apt w/o web access yet;
> > > >  I fled work when the wife showed up.
> > > >
> > > >  I'm in a small town that is sooo cool!
> > > >
> > > >  I saw a town parade, and knew two people in
> it.
> > > >
> > > >  I dropped in at a van there to give blood
> for
> > the
> > > >  first time (although postponed due to
> > anitbiotics).
> > > >
> > > >  I'm walking around in a relaxed, loving
> > spirit,
> > > >  and people are very cordial.
> > > >
> > > >  A scary looking bulked ethnic flashed me
> > "peace".
> > > >
> > > >  I got my first real cheeseburger at a local
> > joint.
> > > >  "I've been victimized by McDonalds
> all
> > these years."
> > > >
> > > >  A local emporium--not Walmart--has
> everything.
> > > >  I even saw a pair of welding googles.
> > > >  I got a wine bottle opener, and other
> needful
> > things.
> > > >
> > > >  Some friends with a business set me up in a
> > spare office with Internet.
> > > >
> > > >  A man gave me a guava off his tree this
> morning.
> > > >
> > > >  I'm checking out Toastmasters tomorrow
> > evening.
> > > >
> > > >  Yours truly,
> > > >  Glenn Scheper
> > > >  http://home.earthlink.net/~glenn_scheper/
> > > >
> > > > glenn_scheper + at + earthlink.net
> > > >  Copyleft(!) Forward freely.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "He ain't crazy, he's a-makin'
> > pottery" - Finley Pater Dunne
> > >