Dorner’s manifesto has been dismissed as “rambling†and “incoherent†by most major news outlets, who ignore the fact that it’s actually an articulate and thorough denunciation of police brutality, written by a whistle blower with a demand for stricter gun laws. As Rania Khalek observes, “He points out that his rampage wouldn’t have been possible had there been a “well regulated AWB [assault weapons ban]â€. He asks why anyone would need a “30 round magazine for hunting†or an AR15 rifle, which he compares to the M-4 and M-16 military rifles used against ‘Al-Qaeda, Taliban and every combatant since the Vietnam war.â€
“I am a man who has lost complete faith in the system, when the system betrayed, slandered and libeled me,†Dorner writes, who identifies throughout his manifesto as a patriot whose core beliefs have been shattered. He realizes that he has, as we might say, ‘lost the plot’. He’s happy to tell you why that is, and why he believes he has to divert his killing skills away from the people they were intended for, and against those who trained him. His manifesto or letter, titled simply, ‘Last Resort’. is addressed to America, in a final plea, perhaps, that they address the heart of darkness that lies at its core. The heart of darkness which turned Christopher Dorner from a man who believed that he could best serve his country by working as a navy reservist and LAPD officer, to a man who believed he could best serve his country by destroying the LAPD entirely using the skills he learned in the navy.
I have always been the top shot, highest score, an expert in rifle qualifications in every unit I’ve been in. I will utilize every bit of small arms training, demolition, ordnance, and survival training I’ve been given.
Do you know why we are unsuccessful in asymmetrical and guerrilla warfare in CENTCOM theatre of operations? I’ll tell you. It’s not the inefficiency of our combatant commanders, planning, readiness or training of troops. Much like the Vietnam war, ACM, AAF, foreign fighters, Jihadist, and JAM have nothing to lose. They embrace death as it is a way of life. I simply don’t fear it. I am the walking exigent circumstance you created.
Leaked documents and newspaper articles detailing Dorner’s obvious intelligence, hard work and humanity paint an intriguing picture of the man. Dorner was known as a man who could and would report bad behavior within the department, and made several complaints to the department alleging violent or unprofessional conduct of his colleagues. An apparent article from 2002 relates a younger Dorner finding eight thousand dollars in a bag on the street, and returning it to the owner, an elderly woman. A picture shows him huge, muscular and smiling as he shakes Former Chief Bratton’s hand. He comes across as an intelligent, moralistic, patriot:
I am an American by choice, I am a son, I am a brother, I am a military service member, I am a man who has lost complete faith in the system, when the system betrayed, slandered, and libeled me. I lived a good life and though not a religious man I always stuck to my own personal code of ethics, ethos and always stuck to my shoreline and true North. I didn’t need the US Navy to instill Honor, Courage, and Commitment in me but I thank them for re-enforcing it. It’s in my DNA…
He is a man who has stared into the dark heart of corruption, and is now taking vengeance upon it, trying to turn the LAPD into the victims they have persecuted: people like Kendrec McDade, Alisia Thomas and Kelly Thomas.