Boston Marathon Bombing

Black Swan

Early news reports are coming in regarding two bombs that were set off seconds apart near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Early investigations have not identified the persons responsible or the reasons why. The Boston Marathon occurred on Patriot's Day in Boston, as well as 15 April which is IRS tax day, but there were no confirmed linkages to these two events.

At this early time readers should be cautioned about early speculative news media reports, as they may be unreliable.

President Obama spoke to the nation shortly after 6:00 PM EST, but as the investigation had just been initiated, didn't have any specific details.

There is a general discussion thread in AH about the bombing. This thread is intended to follow the US Politics implications.

Manic Moran

I can't think that there are any right now.

I've seen anything from Muslim terrorists through anti-gun-control nuts being blamed. Any political implications right now are going to be purely on the matter of security measures conducted at events in the future, and since this isn't the US's first sporting event bombing, I'm not expecting many changes.

Fr Tod Umptious

Can I make one point not related to the politics of this but related to the reporting of it on RTE

Why the hell can Richard Short on RTE not get the most basic facts right.

While setting the scene he said on the news that the baseball season was starting with a game in Fenway park, just down the street from the scene, later that evening and that whether the game would go ahead or not was in doubt.

The baseball season started two weeks ago, the game in Fenway was on at 11am local time, and was over by the time of the bombing and most of the crowd from the game usually line the route of the marathon when the leave the stadium.
It's the only game in all of MLB that starts at 11am all year and everyone in America knows this.
If he is going to mention baseball he should have had the basic facts about it correct.

Kevin Cullen of the Globe clarified it a few mins later, also on RTE.

Fr Tod Umptious

It will all depend on who is responsible and how big their plan was.

If this was an Eric Rudolph or Timothy McVeigh type terrorist then there will be very little ramifications and it will be seen as more of the criminal justice matter than a political one.

But if it is an Islamic terrorist behind it it will bring up all sort of questions about how the Obaman administration has allowed a terrorist bombing on US soil

Manic Moran

Meh. Only from rabid anti-Obamaists. Most people, I think, should understand that one cannot stop all terrorist attacks in a free country.

Fr Tod Umptious

Manic Moran wrote: »

Meh. Only from rabid anti-Obamaists. Most people, I think, should understand that one cannot stop all terrorist attacks in a free country.

Oh I totally agree, but once the dust settles in the coming weeks and months it will be brought up, that is if it's a foreign terrorist not a local one.

Black Swan

FBI is crowdsourcing on major TV networks with pics of 2 suspects asking for cam and mobile phone pics, as well as leads and potential IDs.

Fr Tod Umptious

Well it seems that these guys where home-grown to a certain extent but the older brother became quiet radical over the past few years, and was no shrinking violet either, becoming quiet public within the Cambridge Muslim community .

The big question is why the FBI were not on top of this earlier, he had been interviewed a few years ago, he was known to them.

walshb

Pure evil people. No other explanation. Born bad!

Black Swan

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The big question is why the FBI were not on top of this earlier, he had been interviewed a few years ago, he was known to them.

Several Congressional lawmakers from both Republican and Democratic parties have been critical of the FBI regarding the status of the older brother suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services "suspended" Tamerlan's application for citizenship due to background concerns. If Tamerlan's background was suspect enough to deny citizenship by Immigration, why wasn't the FBI continuing to investigate him? Citizenship denial should have been a red flag for FBI.

The Executive (Obama Administration) is responsible for both the FBI and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services, but there appears to be poor coordination between agencies. Furthermore, Homeland Security had been created to coordinate between agencies in regard to potential and real security issues, and also failed in this regard.

Criticism of the Obama Administration regarding this tragic incident is well deserved. What actions will the Executive now take to ensure that such coordination gaps do not occur in the future?

vetinari

Blaming Obama for this is a little nuts tbh.
I've lived in Boston now for 7 years and the various agencies haven't co-operated fully with each other for decades!
That's not really on any one particular president at this stage.

Besides in this case Black Swan, if you read the link you posted, immigration didn't know anything extra about him
They only suspended the application because he was questioned by the FBI!

Black Swan

vetinari wrote: »

I've lived in Boston now for 7 years and the various agencies haven't co-operated fully with each other for decades! That's not really on any one particular president at this stage.

So where does the buck stop? Just because one or more prior administrations have been incompetent with regards to the coordination between agencies, that gives the current administration an excuse going into the second 4 year term?

vetinari wrote: »

They only suspended the application because he was questioned by the FBI!

Regardless of what was thrown together and reported in the article cited, the main point was that there appeared to be a lack of coordination (and consistency) between agencies of the Executive branch. Something appears very inconsistent with the actions of the FBI, Immigration, and Homeland Security. For example:

• FBI investigates suspect years ago, finds nothing of security interest, and drops investigation
• Years later (recently), Immigration "suspends" (denies) citizenship based upon an old FBI investigation that found nothing of interest
• FBI acts as if there were no security problems before the Boston marathon regarding this suspect, while Immigration does act as if there may be a problem significant enough to deny (aka "suspend") citizenship.
• There is no coordination by Homeland Security evident at this stage regarding this inconsistency of actions by FBI and Immigration.

What am I missing? I am open to clarification, especially at this early date of the investigation where there are conflicting reports by the news media.

vetinari

I'm currently in the last stages of applying for my green card.
Immigration have the discretion to ask for further information.
If something like being previously questioned by the FBI showed up on ANY applicant's application, they'd be delayed.
Tbh, that story is a bit sensationalist. Immigration had no new information when they suspended his application.
Coordination with the FBI in this scenario would have achieved nothing.

Regards agency coordination in general, I would blame Congress and Obama together on something of that size.
It's the nature of washington unfortunately, inertia rules.

rockonollie

The huge oddity I've found in this whole story is the reasons for the older brother not being "pinged" when he came back from Russia.

The explanation from the feds is that the system alerted them when he left the country, but not when he returned, because by the time he returned the investigation into his activities had been closed.

What I can't believe about that story........if the FBI are investigating someone because of suggested ties to terrorists in Russia, and he travels to Russia, surely that would be a situation where you would step up your investigations, not close them.

rockonollie

Today's big news is that the surviving brother was apparently sharing a lot of info with the FBI until a judge showed up and read him his miranda rights, after which he refused to share any other info.

G Power

walshb wrote: »

Pure evil people. No other explanation. Born bad!

Obama, the CIA, the FBI and all connected to them? I couldn't agree more

rockonollie

I don't know if the irish media has given any coverage to the ramblings of the alleged bombers' mother. Her interview broadcast yesterday and the key points were;

1. Her sons would never do anything like this, despite records showing that she sent messages to other family members about how Tamerlan was "ready to die for Islam"

2. Her sons were never at the scene of the bombings, all photos released by the FBI were doctored

3.The police captured the older brother alive and then killed him.

4. There never was any bombing, the whole thing was staged and the government used red paint on the pavement to frame her sons.

Bear in mind, she most likely won't be able to come to america because she has a warrant out for her arrest stemming from a $1600 shoplifting spree before they left the country.

theUbiq

Looks like the terrorists are succeeding in spreading terror in yank land... a whole city closed down to catch one kid.. how much would that cost them? they consistently play into the terrorists hands.. bloody clowns. Sorry, paranoid bullying clowns!

rockonollie

theUbiq wrote: »

Looks like the terrorists are succeeding in spreading terror in yank land... a whole city closed down to catch one kid.. how much would that cost them? they consistently play into the terrorists hands.. bloody clowns. Sorry, paranoid bullying clowns!

No figure on the law enforcement cost (between FBI, cops and military, there were about 6000 on the ground working) but the loss of business revenue for that one day is estimated at $337 million.