We got him.
This was what we heard as NBC aired communications on police scanners last night; it’s how we knew the manhunt was over.
Like most people I sat riveted in front of my TV last night as an army of law-enforcement officials closed-in on the terrorist who got away. They were alerted by a Watertown resident who told them an obviously wounded man (presumably from the shootout the night before) was cowering beneath a tarp covering a boat in his backyard. But why it took hours after receiving that tip to end this manhunt is beyond me.
I watched and listened as SWAT teams unloaded fusillades of gunfire on that boat – no doubt to make sure he was dead. So imagine my shock when I heard their self-congratulatory boasts about finally having their prey in custody… alive.
Again, how can the best marksmen in law enforcement open fire with hundreds of rounds on a sitting target and not kill … it? Clearly there needs to be less high-fiving and more target practicing. Not to mention the surreal spectacle of millions of Bostonians – who some misguided kid with pressure-cookers bombs forced to cower in terror in their homes for days – celebrating in the streets as if the United States had just won World War III.
Of course, now we’re going to be treated to shootouts in the courts as federal prosecutors put this terrorist on trial. These will make those we saw in the streets, as law-enforcement officials tried to capture him, actually seem, well, quite targeted.
So let the spectacle – complete with second-guessing and fingerpointing – begin….
NOTE: As part of their “If you see something, say something” campaign, law-enforcement officials are encouraging people at all public events to be on the lookout for anyone leaving a bag behind or for any unattended bag. I am mindful, however, that such vigilance will do little to detect the kinds of suicide bombers who have been terrorizing places like Iraq and Afghanistan for years and who, I fear, will be doing the same in the United States in due course.
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