Looks like there were some explosions during the Boston Marathon. Terrorism?
UPDATE: Looking at some of the video out there, the explosion doesn’t look like it was that large. But who would target the Boston Marathon? And why?
UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. Worms.
UPDATE: Lots of speculation running rampant in the media and on Twitter. I don’t plan to do play-by-play with this nonsense. We’ll have the truth soon enough. We’ll return to regularly scheduling blogging shortly.
UPDATE: The President’s initial statement.
UPDATE: Don’t jump to conclusions.
Tea party. Sarah Palin. Gun nuts. Militia members. “Abortion rights opponents”. Take your pick, that’s who’ll they’ll blame first.
That gives me flashbacks to the OKC bombing.
If you will recall, they were first seeking Muslim bombers. I said to a local newspaper editor, “While all you guys are desperately seeking semites, have you given any thought to domestic terrorism?”
When it came out that Suspects #1 and #2 were white guys, a reporter bugged me for days about how I “knew” it was domestic terrorism. All I could say was “It figured.”
The story loses something if you believe the OKC story was not as represented.
Joe Brooks â€@joebrooks 15m CNN’s Wolf Blitzer just speculated if anti-tax groups were behind the bombing WITH ZERO EVIDENCE
Retweeted by J.R. Salzman
Incredible. The blood is still flowing and these jacka$$es just can’t help themselves, can they?
Not again. On Patriot’s Day. Boston. MY God.
http://wr2a.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/patriots-day-bombing-in-boston/
I was wondering if Patriots Day was part of the terrorist angle – or if it was just a chance to kill a crowd of people.
Michael Lawrence â€@IsraelSpeaker 12m “Explosive devices reported at Boston’s Logan Airport, two hotels. NYPD deploying anti-terror vehicles to major sites” #BostonMarathonBombing
Retweeted by Sister Honey (D)
Explosions don’t have to be large when the devices are packed with shrapnel and BBs.
Plus they were set off right near the crowd most likely.
Today is Patriot’s Day, Memorial Day in Israel, the birthday of Kim Jong-IL, the anniversary. of the 1936 Arab Revolt, the start of Tianemmen Square and let’s not forget Boston’s Irish population and that staggered bombs were a favorite tactic of the IRA.
So pick yer poison: The usual suspects are there in spades.
For myself, it’s the lack of groups claiming responsibility that’s the most worrying.
I would suspect anyone, at this point, but what would you say would be the motives for the factions you’ve suggested?
Who knows?
But let’s stop for a moment and thing: Setting up at least three timed explosions isn’t a thing amateurs do successfully. The people behind this are not some fringe group: They have the resources and talent to set off these devices inside the U.S., which is not the easiest thing in the world to do, or they’re home-grown and pretty sophisticated.
Therefore, we’re looking at either really well-organized domestic terrorist cell (better than Tim McVeigh, Eric Rudolph or Bill Ayers) or a group backed by a foreign government.
Truthfully the fact that it was a Marathon throws me. Like, World Trade Center = a trade center of the world = obvious choice for terrorists who hate the world.
IRS office = government building that takes peoples money = obvious choice for crazy government hating person
Boston Marathon = thin physically fit people running = obvious choice for militant obese people? From what I’ve seen on CNN it looks like the actual bombing happened in a building behind the lines. Any idea what that building was?
Also given the small body count it’s pretty obvious that either a death toll wasn’t the objective, or these were well funded, well organized, totally incompetent terrorists, which is actually pretty likely.
They’ve apparently detained a 20 year old in the hospital. He was wounded. No idea if we have the bomber yet.
It has only been a few hours, I can’t blame him — at this point — for avoiding certain terms.
“staggered bombs were a favorite tactic of the IRA.”
These reportedly were not staggered all that much. The print report I read said the two explosions were “almost simultaneously.” And now it’s reported the third blast was not a bomb and not connected at all.
The purpose of staggered blasts is for the second to target government first responders who arrive several minutes later. Usually the second bomb will be positioned where it is anticipated that government forces will be taking cover as they first recon a potentially hostile scene. And, usually if the bombers are sophisticated, the second is detonated manually.
But, none of this is exactly rocket science. I don’t see all that many factors in this one to suggest a high level of sophistication or experience.
Boston? Must be the IRA because Irish and bombs.
I am certain a quick check of the NFA registry will reveal the maker and owner of these destructive devices.
His Tweet is also a fucking disgusting lie. The BATFE has been without a director since 2006. Dubya had his appointees to replace Truscott blocked by the Democratic majority, that same Democratic majority hasn’t gotten any of Obama’s appointees into the office either. The job of ATF director has required Senate confirmation only since 2006, but that has never happened, leaving the agency in the hands of acting directors who get to run the agency without worrying about Congress’s approval – an arraignment that the Dems loved until Sandyhook made them look bad in the press.
And isn’t the Active Director the one who Obama appointed and is being held up? So he is basically arguing that if the director didn’t have the word “active” on his business card, this would have never happened.
Byron Todd Jones is the current acting director of the BATFE, and has been acting director since 2011. He wasn’t actually nominated for the permanent job until January 16, 2013… explicitly as a result of Sandy Hook. Four of the five previous acting directors were also all Obama’s men and not a one of them was officially nominated, Bush’s last BATFE director was blocked by the Senate and served in the “acting” position.
But why let little inconveniences like facts get in the way of the Narrative?
“Plainly we need a national conversation about bombs.”
CNN speculates about right wingers….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H0Ik0wRyDLM
Nope. Looks like Saudi national.
Just heard that a Saudi National is a person of interest. His being help at hospital with severe burns.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/authorities_under_suspect_guard_y2m8cJO29uC2PDGIjYBalO
Will Obama call it terrorism?
Nope. You could hear the reporters asking if it was as he walked/half ran from the podium.
I have a unique perspective here, since I’ve run Boston (’07 and ’08). The crowd on Boylston Street is 100,000+ people. As a runner, the sound as you turn on to Boylston is deafening. The total spectator count along the course is like 250k. It’s a massive event that runs 26.2 miles. It’s one of the world major marathons. The starting area in Hopkinton become a village of 30,000 runners and another 3,000 support people, all crammed into a few acres of the school grounds.
From the point of being a target, it makes it a major target with rather lax security. How do you secure a 26.2 mile course?
We did conduct retaliatory airstrikes againist Libya on April 15, 1986. So it could be any kind of nut job.
Bombing the finish line of the Boston Marathon makes perfect sense if you want to hit people from all over the country as well as other countries. There was media coverage right there at the finish line. I saw it damned near live on TV. The who and why will come out in coming days and weeks. TS
“I don’t see all that many factors in this one to suggest a high level of sophistication or experience.”
They are now reporting that it was a blackpowder bomb, suggesting that it was not a very sophisticated operation. The radio commentary I heard said that blackpowder could be “made in your basement or bought at any sporting goods store.” That sounds like more bad news for gun owners.
The radio commentary I heard said that blackpowder could be “made in your basement or bought at any sporting goods store.†That sounds like more bad news for gun owners.
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And so it begins. Time for the State-run media to make sure gun-owners are vilified. So predictable and tedious, really.