A 67-year-old Roswell man claimed he was only trying to be a “patriot” when he planted a bomb at a local park, according to a federal complaint against him.
Michael C. Sibley, 67, was arrested Saturday for allegedly leaving an explosive device at Vickory Creek Park in November, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“The defendant allegedly placed a bag containing what appeared to be pipe bombs in Vickery Creek Park,” Horn said in an emailed statement. “This arrest should reassure the community that serious crimes like this will be investigated thoroughly and all leads followed to identify the perpetrator.”
A mother and daughter walking in the park spotted the backpack Nov. 4 and called police, an FBI spokesman previously said. The Cobb County police bomb squad was called to the scene.
Inside the backpack, investigators found materials to make a bomb. The items detonated, according to police.
The backpack also contained an Atlanta Falcons schedule, a MARTA schedule and other papers, books and clothing, investigators said Monday.
On Friday, FBI agents identified Sibley as the individual who placed the device in the park and arrested him on a criminal complaint, Horn’s office said.
According to court documents, Sibley confessed to agents that he bought a backpack at a garage sale and built a bomb inside his garage. Sibley also told agents that he purchased a T-shirt at a garage sale and wrote the name “Mina Khodari” on the shirt “because it looked foreign.”
Sibley said he placed the bomb on the trail as a “patriot” because he felt that no one is paying attention to the world, and if someone found the explosive device they would understand that a bomb could be placed anywhere, according to the criminal complaint.
Sibley is charged with attempting to damage or destroy by means of fire or explosive property owned by the United States.
What does this charge mean? It is Sibley himself who is the terrorist. He is trying make a political statement using terrorism. What is the difference in Sibley and the Boston Marathon bomber other than his device was detected before it harmed someone.
This sick creep needs to be put away forever after being charged with terrorism. He has created demons where none exist. He has endangered life and limb of an endless number of people.
I don’t see any difference between this guy and the Boston Marathon bombers. It sounds like he had enough of a political motivation to qualify as a terrorist in my book.
I have no problem with locking people like this up forever, but we unfortunately don’t do that. Lots of terrorists are released from prison. Some terrorists who plant bombs, like Bill Ayers, become professors at public universities where they use taxpayer funds to spread their views.
It’s hard to understand why Timothy McVeigh, who bombed a federal building gets the death penalty, while Bill Ayers, who bombed multiple federal buildings becomes a tenured professor. (To be clear, I’m not trying to make a political point. Just pointing out that sadly too many people justify terrorism when its their cause being ‘advocated’)
While we are at it, we could include Menechem Begin in your list of terrorists. How about it?
I don’t know why Ayers wasn’t charged other than the FBI screwed up. So rule of law. If he was never charged, he wasn’t guilty.
I don’t know why you would bring him up other than the old guilty by association thing with Obama. If that Is your point, they were hardly best friends.
I am having difficulty determining how you bring in Bill Ayers, who did his dirty deeds over 40 years ago, in to compare to this fool who invented demons. Menachem Begin was almost 70 years ago. Things change. (and yet they remain the same)
Begin and Ayers both were dealing with real things. Demon inventer really was inventing.
I didn’t say a word about Obama. Why did you feel the need to bring him up?
I brought Bill Ayers up because he was a 1970s era Timothy McVeigh. Bill Ayers admits to planting bombs in multiple federal buildings (including the Capitol!) as part of the Weathermen, so there isn’t much question about his guilt. Both men bombed federal buildings for political reasons. That makes them both terrorists.
But, as you said, Ayers wasn’t charged and instead became a professor at a public university. That’s my point. Some terrorists get a pass while others get executed. I don’t know why Ayers wasn’t prosecuted, but even without a conviction, why did UI feel the need to make a confessed terrorist a professor?
The British certainly would consider Menechem Begin a terrorist. I don’t know the details of exactly what he did, but from what I know, I wouldn’t dispute adding him to the list. But I think Begin is less relevant than McVeigh or Ayers.
I brought up the subject of Obama because that is the only reason anyone knows anything about Bill Ayers. Anti-Obama-ites trying to make an issue of the fact that Obama met with Ayers a time or two while both lived in Chicago. But you knew that. I mean who cares. If it weren’t for some oppositional research, no one would know Jack about Bill Ayers. People know more about Tom Hayden than they do Bill Ayers.
For some reason, McVeigh and Ayers seem different.
@Furby McPhee
Ayers was never a tenured professor.
Why wasn’t Ayers charged with any crimes?
@Pat.Herve
Re: tenure. Wikipedia says otherwise: She is married to Bill Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground, who was formerly a tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernardine_Dohrn (The former refers to the fact that Ayers is now retired..)
And honestly, if Ayers had tenure or not is a minor point. UI chose a confessed terrorist to instruct their students.
@Moon-howler
I first heard about Bill Ayers from the New York Times. They had a long article about him that was printed, oddly enough, on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The title “No Regrets for a Love of Explosives”
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/books/no-regrets-for-love-explosives-memoir-sorts-war-protester-talks-life-with.html
I don’t know about you, but I had know idea who Obama was in 2001. He was in the Illinois legislature then, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about him before 2004 when he gave the speech at the DNC convention.
“For some reason, McVeigh and Ayers seem different.”
That’s the point. You feel they are different because you oppose McVeigh’s political motivations very strongly. (To be clear: I’m not saying to ‘support’ Ayers. But you clearly hate McVeigh more than Ayers.) Take their politics out of the equation for a moment and you’d see they are equal. If the FBI had bungled the case, I’m pretty sure you’d be outraged over Professor McVeigh teaching somewhere today. Right? Explain the difference somehow. I’m sure the next of kin of the people Ayers murdered would like to know.
You can start with Waverly Brown. Robert Fogarty survived, but you’ll have to call him since he was blinded in the bombing. Judge John Murtagh was also lucky enough to survive the bombing of his home. Unfortunately Brian McDonnell did not survive. There are more, but I hope you see the point. Yes, McVeigh killed more, but this isn’t about the numbers. It’s about the motivation and if Bill Ayers isn’t a domestic terrorist, then no one is.
Probably I hate McVeigh because he blew up hundreds of innocent people. The most despicable thing he did was search out a building that had children in it. What on earth did those workers or children do to him.
I don’t hate Bill Ayers although I don’t support the Weathermen or anything about them. He didn’t commit the crimes that McVeigh did. I might hate Ayers if I knew him. Obviously whatever it was he did wasn’t definitive enough to prosecute. I almost never think of Bill Ayers and knew nothing about him at all until oppositonal research started making him a household name. I do know who the Weathermen were, just not the individuals.
I think it is about the numbers actually. You also might have a difficult time proving that ayers was involved in actually killing anyone. I am sure he would have been prosecuted if he had.
You are trying to force me to defend some toad rather than addressing the topic. I think you think I support the weathermen. I do not. I think maybe you are supporting the Georgia toad. Why won’t you address what he did? He confessed. He is faking terrorism. That in itself is dangerous.
Colorado schools hire strange people.
@ Furby re comment # 1: Do you think that the differential between McVeigh’s sentence and the way the law dealt with Ayres might have something to do with the fact that McVeigh killed a couple hundred people (forget the exact number, but order of magnitude is probably right) and Ayres didn’t kill anyone, at least as far as we or law enforcement agencies know? I sort of think that difference might explain things a bit.
@Furby McPhee
Furby – my mistake – he was denied Emeritus status. I got it confused.
Why wasn’t he charged with any crimes?
@Moon-howler
I did address the thread topic. Look at my post #1. I said I thought Sibley was a terrorist and he should be locked up forever. In other words, I agreed with you completely. How on earth can you twist my statement “It sounds like he had enough of a political motivation to qualify as a terrorist in my book. I have no problem with locking people like this up forever” into support for Sibley?
I also pointed out that unfortunately we have a very selective approach to who is a terrorist. Eeverybody should condemn domestic terrorists, no matter if they are Michael Silbey, Timothy McVeigh or Bill Ayers. I thought that was something everyone could agree on as well. But apparently not.
I’m not forcing you to defend Bill Ayers. In fact the opposite, I want you to condemn him. But instead you think that somehow a simple statement like “I opposed the war but setting off bombs and killing cops was wrong” amounts to criticism of Obama (which again, I never brought up.)
Instead you try to minimize Bill Ayers’ terrorism by making it about the body count. Here’s the problem with that: Bill Ayers body count is the same as Eric Rudolph. Are you going to claim that you don’t hate Eric Rudolph more than Bill Ayers? Or are you OK with Professor Eric Rudolph too? Explain why other than their political motivations?
(And yes, I condemn Eric Rudolph as a terrorist and he should be locked up for life with Bill Ayers, and Timothy McVeigh if McVeigh was still alive)
Apparently, Ayers wasn’t prosecuted because the FBI bungled collecting evidence against the Weathermen and many of the charges against them were dropped. That is unfortunate. But it also doesn’t mean that Ayers is innocent. Again, he freely admits to these bombings. Read the NYT article I linked to.
You also don’t seem to follow this point which I thought was pretty obvious as well. Bill Ayers should be in prison. Unfortunately, the FBI bungled his case so he is not behind bars. However, Ayers is still a terrorist. And just because he was never convicted of anything doesn’t mean he should be hired as a professor at a public university.
To use a modern example, most of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are never going to be convicted of any crimes. But they shouldn’t be given a publicly funded platform to spread their views.
Again, why is it so hard to agree that everyone should condemn political terrorists regardless of their political side?
That opposition research was created by none other than Hillary Clinton’s team in 2008.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2008/04/clinton-bashes-obamas-weathermen-connection-what-about-her-own
However, that may come back to bite Clinton this time around. Just before he left office ‘sacred cow #1’ pardoned two convicted Weatherman terrorist. Linda Evans who was convicted of a string of bombings and Susan Rosenberg who participated in a bank robbery which left a security guard and two police officers dead. When she was apprehended she had over 750 pounds of explosives in her possession.
Well, Hillary didnt pardon them and that’s all she has to say.
I maintain that the weathermen aren’t hot news. They werent that hot of news at the time. No one paid much attention to them.
Don’t forget about Weather Underground co-founder Ronald Fliegelman. Not only was he a founding member of the organization but he was also their chief bomb maker. He ended up teaching in NYC public schools for 25 years until he retired with a nice pension.
Why are you dwelling on the past. If they werent convicted then they aren’t technically terrorists. You are quick to throw out that presumption of innocence. The nefarious deeds were 50 years ago. How long are you both going to blubber over it?
There are far more important dangers out there.
I am impressed that someone can retire after 25 years with a nice pension. If whoever taught for 25 years, they have more than served their time in hell.
@Moon-howler
Moon-howler :
If they werent convicted then they aren’t technically terrorists. You are quick to throw out that presumption of innocence.
Funny, in the thread starter you said the Boston Marathon bombers were terrorists, but one is dead and the other hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. Same with Sibley. You said he is a terrorist but he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet either. So it’s OK for you to “throw out that presumption of innocence” but not us?
Oh wait, that’s right. You think there’s “something different” about Ayers. And you “don’t hate” him.
Why is it so difficult for you to condemn Bill Ayers?
Honestly, I thought at first it was just because you didn’t want to cede anything that could potentially make Obama look bad. Now I’m really starting to believe that you are actually OK with the odd bomb here or there as long as it’s for a cause you support.
As for “blubbering” on about Ayers. The New York Times thought it was worthy of coverage 30 years after the Ayer’s stopped murdering people and the facts of the case haven’t changed. At least for some of us, the injustice of seeing an unrepentant terrorist live free on the taxpayer’s dime doesn’t get better with age. We’re still “blubbering” on about Ayers because YOU can’t seem to stop trying to defend him.
I think Bill Ayers is irrelevant. You don’t seem to grasp that fact. Any hating I did of the weathermen was when I was a kid. I don’t hate Angela Davis either. She is also irrelevant.
I have not defended him at all. Nor have I condemned him. Read my lips: I don’t give a rats ass about him.
I am very much worried about some gnarly old man who sets up fake terrorist attacks. That is living in the present. Do you not think that kid will be convicted? I do. Its easier to apologize if I am wrong than to think him innocent.
Just out of curiosity, I notice that you think teaching at a university is “living on the taxpayers’ dime.” I call that earning a living. Once you pay your taxes, it is no longer your money. This puffed up “I am a tax payer” is so absurd anyway…like that makes anyone special. Everyone pays taxes in one form or another.
@Furby McPhee
I agree, I’m having a hard time seeing how these statements:
“It is Sibley himself who is the terrorist. He is trying make a political statement using terrorism.
This sick creep needs to be put away forever after being charged with terrorism. He has created demons where none exist. He has endangered life and limb of an endless number of people.”
…match up with these statements:
“If they werent convicted then they aren’t technically terrorists. You are quick to throw out that presumption of innocence. The nefarious deeds were 50 years ago. How long are you both going to blubber over it?”
sibly did his bad stuff in November. Surely he has gone to trial?
Is Sibly your new hero?
Lol! Really?
If your asking my opinion on Sibly I’ll just say this… we agree 100%. The difference is I can call a spade a spade. I’m not SOOOO wrapped up in partisan politics that I defy my own logic.
The perfect example is comment #1 mentioning Ayers (which is a good comparison because both committed acts of terrorism in the name of politics).
Comment #2 by you automatically went into Obama defense mode when there was no hint or even mention what so ever of President Obama.
To recap:
Michael Silby: Confessed to planting a bomb, but not convicted of anything (at least so far). No one killed or injured. His political motivations appear to be from the right. Jackson, Furby & Moon-howler all condemn him as a terrorist.
Bill Ayers: Confessed to planting multiple bombs, but not convicted of anything. Several people killed, including cops and a judge. His political motivations are from the left. Jackson & Furby condemn as a terrorist. Moon-howler “doesn’t give a rat’s ass” about Ayers and “doesn’t hate” him.
And we wonder why Bill Ayers “seems different”? Hmmm. What could be different about those to very similar cases.
Didn’t you read your own post? Silbey was arrested on March 21, 2015. That was ten days ago, as of this morning. Considering it usually takes about a month to get a court date for a speeding ticket, it takes more than ten days to arrange a trial for a terrorism case.
I’m not even going to try to reconcile your post #14 “You are quick to throw out that presumption of innocence. ” with your post #16 “Do you not think that kid will be convicted? I do. Its easier to apologize if I am wrong than to think him innocent.”
And since I know you’ll counter with this: Yes, I think Silbey is guilty. The man confessed, just like Bill Ayers, so I think he is guilty. Maybe not yet proven guilty in the officially convicted in a court of law sense, but clearly guilty in the “he did the crime” sense. Again, just like Bill Ayers.
I just can’t convince you that I don’t care about the Weathermen. I did when I was in college but now….not so much. Other fish to fry, other idiots to worry about. I think this has to be a generational thing or something. Rats ass here. Not giving one.
As for reading my own post, probably I forgot. Lots going on. Or…maybe not. Maybe my tech help wrote it. Can’t recall.
Listen, after 50 years If someone isn’t convicted, then it isn’t going to happen. Obsess on but please don’t bother me about him. He is, in my world, at this point, just another old retired teacher.
No, you convinced me several posts ago that you don’t care about Ayers’ terrorist past. I just think it’s morally bankrupt of you to think that he’s “just another old retired teacher”
If I were an old retired teacher, I’d be offended to be lumped in with a murderer and terrorist like Bill Ayers. But as you say, you don’t care.
I think that says a lot more about you than you realize. And sadly, not in a good way.
Furby, go F yourself.
You are actually being a bully and you aren’t going to bully me. No, I don’t care about Bill Ayers one way or the other. Whatever he did 50 years ago is over and done with. He doesn’t interest me and I am not going to waste my time “learning” about him.
You need to worry about your tendencies…attempting to bully people into submitting to your point of view. Furthermore, I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think about me. You have pushed be beyond my civility.