Get Over It
McClatchy reports that a senior law enforcement official said the bombs show some expertise and Tamerlan must have attended a training camp in Russia.
The bombs demonstrate the ability to follow written instructions and nothing more. Tsar Vladimir does not tolerate terrorist training camps on Russian soil. They didn’t have to etch circuit boards and construct receivers, they bought them at a hobby shop. With printed instructions anyone who can read can build that type of bomb easily. If they had had any expertise they could have built more powerful versions of that bomb for a hell of a lot less money and no paper trail.
Then we have MSNBC telling us about the complaints of Mike Rogers [R MI-8], the Chairperson of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, that Jokhar Tsarnaev was ‘Mirandized’ before being thoroughly ‘Cheneyed’. Of course, you have to listen to Mr Rogers because every introduction of him includes the fact that he is a former FBI agent. The introduction doesn’t mention that it was only for 5 years in Chicago working on public corruption cases.
If public safety was really a concern they could have offered not to use anything Jokhar told them against him in the trial. They had him rock solid on charges that carry the death penalty, so they didn’t need any more evidence.
Digby found another grievance that Tamerlan had with the US. His boxing career was cut short by a rule change that disqualified resident aliens like him from competing in important tournaments. He couldn’t become a citizen because of a domestic violence charge that was dropped before trial, and he couldn’t box competitively because he wasn’t a citizen. That is a lot for some people to deal with, and it may have been enough if he couldn’t see a new path forward.
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Tsar Vladimir predictively ridiculed the U.S. rhetoric. E.g., “Some people there are saying now (not the US Administration but they are politicians) that the surviving terrorist suspect should be declared a prisoner of war. They have completely lost their marbles. A prisoner of which war? Has the civil war between the North and the South started again? What complete nonsense. They are talking gibberish.”
Why, yes, dear Tsar! And they’re proud of it!
– Badtux the Easily Amused Penguin
Looking at the public information I’m trying to figure out what would be worth asking Jokhar after you determined that all of the explosives were in the two cars. He didn’t know anything. He was such an obvious follower that wasting time and money talking to him couldn’t be justified for anything other than political reasons.
The statement of the guy who was hijacked was all the information needed to figure out these guys didn’t have a plan other than the bombing at the finish line. There was no next step after the bombs went off.
Killing the MIT officer makes no logical sense. It is possible, as some have suggested, that they wanted his weapon, but that’s a stupid way of getting a gun. They hijacked the SUV and robbed the driver because they had no money. If there was any planning, they would have had money and they would have been gone from Boston.
The FBI was pursuing unicorns – there was nothing more to see beyond what had already happened. They weren’t even smart enough to dump the SUV after the driver escaped.