A MAILBOX BOMB with a note reading “free Palestine” and mentioning Al Qaeda blew up yesterday as it was being defused.

If the palestinians want us to enter this war, well, they’d better be ready for the consequences.

UPDATE: Reader Patrick Campbell offers these thoughts:

I don’t know if you’re interested in a crackpot theory about this, but here goes anyway: I think it’s the same guy as the anthrax guy.

I have actual reasons for thinking this, so hear me out.

The anthrax attacks were through the mail. The anthrax attacks occurred or originated along the US Route 1 corridor between Philadelphia and New York. Yesterday’s bomb was also deposited in a mailbox. Yesterday’s bomb was deposited just off of Route 1 in a quiet residential neighborhood in Philadelphia. The diction of the note left in yesterday’s bomb is very similar (OK, it’s sketchy) to that in the letters; from the Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘The message attached to the package urged, “Open this now,” and demanded, “Free Palestine now. Al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda.”‘ Note the same usage of imperative sentences ending with the word “now” (i.e. the anthrax letters’ “you die now”).

I really wouldn’t be surprised to find out it’s the same guy.

Interesting. The geographic angle had occurred to me. The others hadn’t. Meanwhile Rand Simberg emails: “I think that there’s an excellent chance that this has nothing to do with the Middle East, but is simply an opportunistic bomber, who sees it as a way of deflecting attention from himself with spurious leads.” Maybe, though that would be out of character for an “opportunistic bomber,” wouldn’t it?