The US feels as though its been in the wars this week with three bombs in Boston, and with the arrest of a man, allegedly with mental health issues, in connection to the two poisoned letter attacks on a prominent US politician and the US President (literally, as the letters were coated in the toxin Ricin), but as of this morning UK time, there have been no arrests for the Boston Marathon Bombings.
This is perhaps no surprise as it was only four days ago (although reports do suggest that a potential suspect has been identified from surveillance camera footage). However in the main, the police and FBI have remained tight lipped about who or what the motives may have been.
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| TV Pictures Showed The Second Boston Bomb Go Off |
This is perhaps no surprise as it was only four days ago (although reports do suggest that a potential suspect has been identified from surveillance camera footage). However in the main, the police and FBI have remained tight lipped about who or what the motives may have been.
This is because although the temptation is to link the attack too some Taliban / Al-Qaeda group in Pakistan or the Middle East (mainly through the bomb making technique - a pressure cooker is a favoured IED technique in Iraq and Afghanistan), in fact there is at least a 40 - 50% chance that its an internal US group who performed the attack.
The Oklahoma bomber (Timothy McVeigh) was a far right, anti government supporter, and if nothing else an attack on national tax day in Boston, would be laced with symbolism for these sort of groups.
So for the moment we will have to wait to see if its a home grown or Islamic inspired attack ..... I can't explain why, but this just feels like its a home grown to me. I think an Islamic inspired attack would be something like the 'Statue of Liberty' or another such target, something with symbolism for an audience outside the US, not something that has more resonance with US audiences than a Muslim one ....
.... I guess we will all just have to wait and see.
Update: As two commentators have pointed out below, in fact its turned out that while the bombers are Islamists they are kinda home grown as well .... Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are 19 and 26 respectively and have lived in the US for over ten years. However they have not accepted the 'American dream', and it seems that the older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev had turned to Islam for his philosophy and apparently had convinced his younger brother of the cause.
Now one is dead, and the other is likely to die in the next few hours unless he surrenders. Between them they have killed four people and maimed hundreds more. I don't understand any religion that says they will go to paradise for this.
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| Timothy McVeigh - Home Grown Bomber |
The Oklahoma bomber (Timothy McVeigh) was a far right, anti government supporter, and if nothing else an attack on national tax day in Boston, would be laced with symbolism for these sort of groups.
So for the moment we will have to wait to see if its a home grown or Islamic inspired attack ..... I can't explain why, but this just feels like its a home grown to me. I think an Islamic inspired attack would be something like the 'Statue of Liberty' or another such target, something with symbolism for an audience outside the US, not something that has more resonance with US audiences than a Muslim one ....
.... I guess we will all just have to wait and see.
Update: As two commentators have pointed out below, in fact its turned out that while the bombers are Islamists they are kinda home grown as well .... Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are 19 and 26 respectively and have lived in the US for over ten years. However they have not accepted the 'American dream', and it seems that the older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev had turned to Islam for his philosophy and apparently had convinced his younger brother of the cause.
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| Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev - Islamic Terrorists |
Now one is dead, and the other is likely to die in the next few hours unless he surrenders. Between them they have killed four people and maimed hundreds more. I don't understand any religion that says they will go to paradise for this.
The suspects have now been pictured, and although you can't be sure yet, they do look like Arabs or Iranians.
ReplyDeleteDearborn, Michigan, may feature in investigations in the coming days.
The two being chased (one is dead already), are Muslim Chechens - so not so far from Iran. Chechnya is in the Caucasuses and responsible for some terrible crimes including the murder of all those school kids in Russia.
DeleteWe are cursed to live in a time that this religion is so violent and intolerant of others.