No doubt you know by now that those responsible for terrorizing the Boston Marathon on Monday are two brothers, aged 19 and 26, who hail from the former Soviet republic of Chechnya.
Incidentally, it’s an ironic indication (and indictment) of how wrong CNN was to describe its speculative suspect as a “dark-skinned male” that the real suspects are from an area in Northern Europe called the Caucasus. After all, this is the place from which White people derive their ethnic name, Caucasian.
Reports indicate that they immigrated to this country with their parents at a relatively young age and were somehow “radicalized” by anti-American propaganda on Islamist websites and religious opposition to U.S. foreign policies throughout the Muslim world.
The FBI set off a sleuthing frenzy yesterday afternoon when they published most-wanted pictures of the two as they were prowling among spectators during the race … before planting their bombs.
Therefore, it came as no surprise when news broke late last night that the police had them cornered in Watertown, a small town outside Boston. What was truly shocking, however, was that, after killing one of them in a blazing shootout, the police let the other one get away. What kind of keystone screw-up was that?! I mean, how could the police unload over 200 rounds against two kids dodging behind cars on the street and not kill them…?
Their bungling is why America woke up this morning to the truly unprecedented news that not just Watertown but the entire city of Boston was in complete lockdown: all public transportation suspended, government offices, businesses, schools, etc., closed, and all residents ordered to stay indoors.
As a result, incredulous reporters on the scene began describing the otherwise teeming metropolis of Boston as a “Ghost town.”
In fact, as I channel surfed the wall-to-wall coverage of the manhunt for the one who got away, the only things I saw moving were thousands of policemen looking like an invading army of Robocops as they went about the seemingly impossible task of searching house-to-house to find their man.
Twelve hours later and they’re still searching, which begs the question: will Boston remain in lockdown for as long as it takes to find this one lunatic…? I think not; hence the absurdity of it all. Not to mention the billions in opportunity costs it’s exacting….
But am I the only one who thinks it’s so absurd to lockdown an entire city to chase one 19-year-old kid that it’s positively insane? All of which makes a mockery of Obama’s words in praise of Bostonian courage and resilience. Hell, given the way people are being quarantined in their homes, you’d think Boston were being invaded by aliens breathing a virus so deadly it makes the bird flu seem like the common cold.
Meanwhile, am I the only one who remembers that we regularly watch – for entertainment (i.e., with nary a tinge of terror) – as the police chase far more deadly criminals through the streets of Los Angeles?
For example, just two months ago we were treated to wall-to-wall coverage of a similar manhunt for the former LAPD officer who went rogue and killed four people, including two police officers. But I’m sure it never occurred to anyone to lockdown Los Angeles. (Granted, if it had, it might have spared the two women whose truck was riddled with bullets when the police mistook them for the rogue cop. Remarkably, they survived.)
Frankly, the only reason for the grossly disproportionate reaction in this case seems to be that bogeyman term: terrorism.
Therefore, God help us if al-Qaeda ever decided to emulate this feat by coordinating 10 similar bombings, at 10 football stadiums, in the 10 biggest cities in America, all on a typical Saturday in the fall when they’re packed with over 100,000 people watching college football games. Not only would the carnage be 1000 times more devastating, but based on the reaction to this terrorist attack, law-enforcement authorities would have to lockdown not just the airports as they did on 9/11, but the entire friggin’ country, no? This gives new meaning to the War of the Worlds prank, “The Martians are Coming!”
This reaction sets an untenable precedent folks; and it will only encourage/embolden wannabe terrorists to try to bring the mighty United States to its knees in similar fashion.
Apropos of which:
I’m constrained to wonder why the media always reward these psychotic people by giving them the fame they covet; that is, by plastering their pathetic mugs all over television and reporting pop psychology about why and how they did their dastardly deeds?… And it’s not as if delving into their past or trying to discern their motives will help law enforcement deter or prevent the next attack.
You’d think that – given the record of these psychotic and vainglorious episodes since Columbine – we would have figured out by now that the best way to discourage them is by focusing our attention on the victims and limiting what we say about the shooters [terrorists] to: May God have mercy on your soul as you burn in Hell!
(“Massacre in Omaha,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 7, 2007)
In this case, I certainly understand why the FBI published their pictures yesterday. And it clearly had the desired result. But do we need to know their names and entire background? It seems to me “terror suspect one” and “terror suspect two” would have sufficed.
Instead, the media are now doing their damnedest to make them every bit as relevant and infamous as Osama bin Laden himself. Insane!
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Massacre in Omaha