
By: Rod Swift
Re: Atlanta Bombings

From Reuters News Wire....


"Army of God" threatens``total war'' against the federal government and
promises further attacks on homosexuals, their organizations and supporters

     By David Morgan

    ATLANTA (Reuter) - An anonymous letter purported to be from a militant
Christian group called the Army of God claimed responsibility on Monday for
the recent bombings of an abortion clinic and a gay and lesbian nightclub in
Atlanta.

    The FBI could not say immediately whether the letter, posted to an
international news agency within hours of last Friday night's explosion at a
lesbian bar, was a genuine claim of responsibility or sent by a crank.

    But investigators said they were aware of a shadowy radical group called
the Army of God, which had been known to circulate bomb-making manuals as a
means of advocating violence against abortion clinics.

    The letter purported to contain details about the makeup of bombs used in
both attacks and sought to set up a system by which claims of responsibility
could be confirmed after future bombings.

    The letter also threatened ``total war'' against the federal government
and promised further attacks on homosexuals, their organizations and
supporters.

    In a reference to abortion, it lashed out at what it called the annual
``murder'' of 3.5 million children, saying the practice would not be
tolerated.

    The letter, postmarked Saturday from an Atlanta branch post office, ended
with a promise of death to the ``new world order''.

    In the latest bombing, an explosive device packed with nails went off
Friday in the rear patio section of the Otherside Lounge in northeast Atlanta
shortly before 10 p.m. EST, injuring five people and sending a young woman to
the hospital with a nail in her arm.

    In mid-January, a bomb described by FBI agents as being of similar makeup
shattered the offices of the Atlanta Family Planning Services center in the
suburb of Sandy Springs.

    A second explosive device was left in an outside parking lot in both
attacks, as if intended for law enforcement officers and rescue workers
responding to the initial emergency call.

    At least half a dozen people were injured outside the Sandy Springs
abortion clinic when the second bomb went off.

    Federal officials, who say the bombings and the deadly Centennial Olympic
Park bombings bear similarities, have speculated that a serial bomber may be
at large in Atlanta.

    All three bombings remain unsolved.


ECHO MAGAZINE  (g/l/b/t of Phoenix)
Atlanta Bombing Investigative Lead
by Jeff Ofstedahl for Echo Magazine
(Jeff4echo@aol.com)

Phoenix, AZ-An investigative lead to the Feb. 22 bombing of The Other Side
lesbian bar in Atlanta developed in Phoenix, Feb. 24. When the business
manager for the Gay Community Yellow Pages (GCYP) opened the office Monday
morning, he found a caller left a message claiming responsibility for the
bomb attack.

"The Sons of Confederate Klan, a new neo-Nazi , KKK organization from Los
Angeles, California, take responsibility for the bombing."

The caller sounded like a woman's voice, although it could have been a man
trying to disguise himself. There was a distinct southern accent.
"I don't know why they would call us," GCYP owner Marci Alt said. As soon as
she found the message, she said she called the Phoenix Police Department.

"They didn't know what to do," she reported. She then contacted the Atlanta
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the agency handling the
bombing investigation. The ATF sent three Phoenix-based agents to interview
Alt and her staff. They left with a recording of the message.

"We're definitely treating this as a serious investigative lead," ATF
Supervisory Special Agent Steve Ott told Echo Magazine. Ott said he forwarded
the information and the tape from Phoenix to Atlanta.

Echo Magazine later learned that an identical message was left Sunday morning
on the message machine at the Washington, DC-based National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force.

The Phoenix message baffled investigators until they learned that GCYP used
to be based in Atlanta. The company still has an inactive office there, with
a phone which automatically directs calls to its Phoenix office.

Tawanda Shaw of Klan Watch, a group associated with the Southern Poverty Law
Center in Montgomery, Alabama, said her group has no previous record of any
organization calling itself the "Sons of Confederate Klan." She said she was
starting a new file based on that name and the attack on the woman's bar.

