One small victory in war on terrorism

Who knows what would make a young man put pipe bombs in rural mailboxes across five states?

Surely Luke Helder's family and friends in Minnesota never thought he could be responsible for such potentially deadly activity. Fortunately, the string of pipe bombs didn't kill anyone but caused several serious injuries.

From the start, the FBI described the pipe bombings as acts of domestic terrorism. Indeed, a letter apparently sent by Helder to a college newspaper in Wisconsin contained a macabre reference to dying in the end and going to paradise as a result. This sounds like the promises of martyrdom given to suicide bombers in the Middle East.

Terrorism takes many forms. In this case, it doesn't matter whether or not the pipe bombs have a link to any of the other terrorist acts Americans have experienced since Sept. 11. Terrorism inflicts its damage no matter what the cause or reason.

In this case, the terrorist -- a college student from Minnesota -- has been caught. Let's be thankful for that.