Two of the nation's most prominent newspapers are debating whether to give in to the Unabomber's demand that one of them publish his lengthy manifesto, and three follow-ups, to keep him from killing again.
In accompanying letters, the mail terrorist attempts to justify his actions and sums up the motivation for his 17-year bombing campaign: "Anger."The New York Times and The Washington Post reported today that they had received the promised tract on Wednesday.
The Times described the 35,000-word essay, which would fill seven full pages of the broadsheet newspaper, as "touching on politics, history, sociology and science as it posits a cataclysmic struggle between freedom and technology."
The bomber apparently was giving the newspapers three months to decide what to do, Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement. "There seems to be an implicit promise that bombs will not be sent while we're considering the document," he said.
Even if the essay is published, the bomber reserved the right to attack property.
His latest communications - authenticated by the FBI - came after he said he would blow up an airliner at Los Angeles International Airport by the end of the Independence Day weekend, then called the threat a prank.
Airport security nonetheless remained extremely tight Thursday and air mail sent from most of California was halted. In Los Angeles, air travelers were forced to show identification at every turn, from the curbside baggage check-in to the ticket lines, while dogs sniffed bags for bombs.
The U.S. Postal Service instituted new weight restrictions and delayed about 400,000 parcels. In Los Angeles County, about 326,000 welfare checks will be delayed. The private United Parcel Service was requiring customers to unwrap their packages at the counter.
"Once your suspicions have been raised it's hard to put yourself back in that peaceful state of mind," said John Smith, who prepared to send his 7- and 6-year-old daughters to North Carolina.
The FBI believes the bomber is a man living in or near Sacramento, Calif., and acting alone, though he claims to represent a terrorist group called "FC." He is called the Unabomber because many of his targets have had connections to universities.
Through 16 bombs that killed three people and injured 23, the bomber offered no clues to his motives.
But in April, on the same day that he sent his latest deadly bomb, he mailed a letter to the Times describing himself as an anarchist disgusted with the effects of industrialization and technology.