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Explosions at Boston Marathon (1 Viewer)

They were bombs detonated in a major American city. As awful as the three deaths were it could have been much worse. You can't let casualty count dictate the charge IMO
If they were better bomb builders they'd have taken out a lot more. Thankfully the explosion went up instead of out. By going from the ground up they killed 3 and caused dozens to lose their legs (did any lose their arms?), but survive. Had this been built to blow out instead of up the collateral damage would have been much higher as there would have been more chest and head injuries.

 
Heres the story on CNN

Canadian police: 2 arrested after authorities stop al Qaeda-supported terror plot

(CNN) -- [breaking news update at 3:50 p.m. Monday]

The two men arrested in an alleged terror plot in the greater Toronto area will make their first court appearance on Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

[breaking news update at 3:47 p.m. Monday]

Two men arrested Monday were allegedly part of an al Qaeda-supported plot to attack a passenger train, officials with the Royal Canadian Mountain Police said.

[breaking news update at 3:45 p.m. Monday]

The two suspects in an alleged terror plot in Canada, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, are accused of conspiring to murder people on a VIA train, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. The RCMP said that while the suspects had the capacity to carry out an attack, the public was never in imminent danger.

[breaking news update at 3:39 p.m. Monday]

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday authorities have arrested two people and charged them with conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train.

[Original story posted at 3:18 p.m. Monday]

Report: Canadian authorities thwart terror plot

(CNN) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are expected to announce Monday afternoon that Canadian law enforcement officials have "thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting suspects in Ontario and Quebec," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police tells CNN that the plot intended to target "transport links," but would not provide further details. The source confirmed that there is no link between the Canadian investigation and the Boston bomb attack, and added there was no known link with the Canadians involved in the terror attack on the Algerian gas plant in January.

The CBC, which is a CNN affiliate, quoted "highly placed sources" as saying the suspects were under surveillance for more than a year.

No connection exists between the disrupted plot in Canada and the Boston Marathon bombings, U.S. government sources told CNN's Carol Cratty.

The CBC reported that the investigation was "part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged in federal court with use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.

The statutory charges authorize a penalty, upon conviction, of death or imprisonment for life or any term of years, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

Tsarnaev had his initial court appearance today from his hospital room.
I know this will be super-unpopular, but I don't think a conventional bombing should qualify as a "weapon of mass destruction." Not that there aren't a bunch of other things you could prosecute him for, of course, but when I think of a WMD, I'm thinking of nukes or maybe biological/chemical weapons, not a pressure cooker bomb.
It's pretty absurd to call it that, that shouldn't be an unpopular opinion at all. In terms of lives, Sandy Hook and Aurora shooters killed much more than this one. If we're going to start treating a pressure cooker as a WMD then we're going to have to start invading every country on the Earth.
meh. What is the actual definition of a WMD? Unlike the shootings, there was no intended target when it went off.Per wiki pedia - a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans (and other life forms) and/or cause great damage to man-made structures.

That's exactly what it was.
Same intended target as Aurora, whoever was in range. I just think classifying this as a WMD is an overreach. There's plenty enough to kill this guy hundreds of times without classifying a homemade bomb as a WMD.
 
Interesting. Some previous reports indicated that Tamerlan had been traumatized by the murders, since one of the victims was his only American friend. The reports suggested that Tamerlan began to be more and more strict about his religion after his 'friend' was killed.
That could still be true. An easy way to get some red off the board may be to pin it on the dead terrorist though.

 
Someone at the FBI is getting fired over all this.
For what? Not making all the bad guys stop? From what I understand, two terrorists have been killed/captured a mere four days after a bombing, and a major attack was thwarted in Canada. I was thinking that someone at the FBI would be getting a promotion.

 
Someone at the FBI is getting fired over all this.
I hear they're going to start going back and following up on all the old tips and leads from the past several years to double check that they haven't missed anything else. Pretty sure you'll be getting a knock on your door soon, Ote.

 
Someone at the FBI is getting fired over all this.
I hear they're going to start going back and following up on all the old tips and leads from the past several years to double check that they haven't missed anything else. Pretty sure you'll be getting a knock on your door soon, Ote.
We could probably pin some of the guilt here on Ham. Calling in false leads and distracting the feds from doing their job right.

 
On the WMD stuff, here is the statute he'll apparently be charged under. Its definition of "weapon of mass destruction" includes any destructive device as defined in this other statute, which includes an "explosive ... bomb" or any "device similar to" an explosive bomb.

 
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Interesting. Some previous reports indicated that Tamerlan had been traumatized by the murders, since one of the victims was his only American friend. The reports suggested that Tamerlan began to be more and more strict about his religion after his 'friend' was killed.
That could still be true. An easy way to get some red off the board may be to pin it on the dead terrorist though.
Or we could spin it that "terrorist' used it as a sign for Tamerian to come home to be trained to fulfill his duty...

 
Someone at the FBI is getting fired over all this.
Why? Do you think they released the suspect info too soon? They did a hell of a job smoking these guys out, but of course it led to the death of the MIT cop.
I think he means for potentially botching whatever investigation resulted from the Russian tip last year.
If the FBI would have detained this guy without having anything concrete except a 'keep an eye on him' from Russia, Otis would have been the first one whining about the slippery slope and constitutional rights and freedoms, blah, blah, blah. Some people just need to complain.

 
The carjack victim wasn't killed because he wasn't American. Hm
The man who says he was carjacked said the suspects told him they were sparing his life because he "wasn't American," NBC News said it learned in a police report. The man asked the network not to identify him, NBC said. He described the suspects to NBC as "brutal and cautious."
Brutal and cautious?

 
Someone had asked before about hearing from the victim that they carjacked, here's an interview:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/22/carjacking-cambridge-marathon-bombers/2104145/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567

Interesting that it was only one who did the carjacking then they went to pick up the other brother.
The suspect then removed the magazine from his gun to show a bullet and reinserted it, saying, "I am serious," the alleged victim said.
"Unfortunately, the suspect was then speaking to thin air, because as soon as he pulled the magazine out of the gun and showed it to him, the driver floored the gas..."

Sure, there's one in the chamber, but if the guy's telling you he just detonated a bomb in a crowd and he has one bullet in the gun he has on you while he's at the passenger window, you have to think that may be your only way out.

Glad the driver got out alive.

 
For the people saying there were only 3 casualties, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/casualty

3
a : a military person lost through death, wounds, injury, sickness, internment, or capture or through being missing in action
b : a person or thing injured, lost, or destroyed : victim <the ex-senator was a casualty of the last election> There were a lot more than 3.
I don't think anyone is saying that. At least in this thread.

 
The carjack victim wasn't killed because he wasn't American. Hm
I need to remember this trick if I get carjacked by terrorists.

Should work on some accent I suppose. Venezuelan? Greek? Not sure what's a good one. Maybe Australian? Everyone loves them I think

 
Someone at the FBI is getting fired over all this.
Why? Do you think they released the suspect info too soon? They did a hell of a job smoking these guys out, but of course it led to the death of the MIT cop.
I think he means for potentially botching whatever investigation resulted from the Russian tip last year.
If the FBI would have detained this guy without having anything concrete except a 'keep an eye on him' from Russia, Otis would have been the first one whining about the slippery slope and constitutional rights and freedoms, blah, blah, blah. Some people just need to complain.
Not to speak for Otis, but obviously, nobody wants to see anyone detained that isn't suspected of committing a crime.

But certainly, it's possible that there wasn't enough follow-up or investigation done.

But to exactly what Otis said, just because nobody screwed up doesn't mean nobody will lose their job over it. The FBI was warned of this guy and he later set off a bomb at the Boston Marathon with the FBI seeming to not have much clue where this dude was or what he was up to. It's possible more information comes out later.

Whether anyone really screwed up or not, it's not hard to imagine somebody might lose their job over it.

 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get. So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow. Damn.

The younger brother, what the hell is he thinking, following this nut. Is it that hard to see that this is the wrong path to be going down?

 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get. So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow. Damn.

The younger brother, what the hell is he thinking, following this nut. Is it that hard to see that this is the wrong path to be going down?
The Bigelow movie starts with Dzohkhar wounded in the boat wondering how the hell he got to that point. He pulls out a bloody picture from his pocket of his family in happier times and we flashback to a young Dzohkhar building a model plane with his older brother. So on and so on, and the movie ends with Dzohkhar on the gurney awaiting lethal injection, making eye contact with Uncle Ruslan where you see a "I get it now" look in his eyes right before he drifts away. Christoph Waltz wins best supporting #3 as the quirky, no nonsense Ruslan.

 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get. So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow. Damn.

The younger brother, what the hell is he thinking, following this nut. Is it that hard to see that this is the wrong path to be going down?
The Bigelow movie starts with Dzohkhar wounded in the boat wondering how the hell he got to that point. He pulls out a bloody picture from his pocket of his family in happier times and we flashback to a young Dzohkhar building a model plane with his older brother. So on and so on, and the movie ends with Dzohkhar on the gurney awaiting lethal injection, making eye contact with Uncle Ruslan where you see a "I get it now" look in his eyes right before he drifts away. Christoph Waltz wins best supporting #3 as the quirky, no nonsense Ruslan.
IN

:lmao:

 
The carjack victim wasn't killed because he wasn't American. Hm
I need to remember this trick if I get carjacked by terrorists.

Should work on some accent I suppose. Venezuelan? Greek? Not sure what's a good one. Maybe Australian? Everyone loves them I think
"g'day mate"

BANG! < first ever aboriginal terrorist>
Coming Summer 2014...

"Beds Are Burning: The Aborginals Strike Back"

 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get. So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow.
There was no evidence of any links at the time that Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI (in early 2011). He hadn't gone to Russia yet and his sparring partner/friend hadn't been murdered yet. The only blip on his record was a domestic violence charge, which was apparently dropped.And there's still no evidence that Tamerlan ever went to Chechnya and/or was trained by Chechen militants or Al Qaeda.
 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get. So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow.
There was no evidence of any links at the time that Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI (in early 2011). He hadn't gone to Russia yet and his sparring partner/friend hadn't been murdered yet. The only blip on his record was a domestic violence charge, which was apparently dropped.And there's still no evidence that Tamerlan ever went to Chechnya and/or was trained by Chechen militants or Al Qaeda.
Who was he contacting to get on Russia's radar?

 
No need to change gun laws - assault weapons, heck all guns, and clips, can now be classified as weapons of mass destruction.
He didn't read my post stating that bombs are specifically included in the statute nor your post actually linking to the law, and thinks this is just some law enforcement interpretation of what a wmd is? That's the only guess I have. How do you figure?
 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get.

So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow.
There was no evidence of any links at the time that Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI (in early 2011). He hadn't gone to Russia yet and his sparring partner/friend hadn't been murdered yet. The only blip on his record was a domestic violence charge, which was apparently dropped.And there's still no evidence that Tamerlan ever went to Chechnya and/or was trained by Chechen militants or Al Qaeda.
Who was he contacting to get on Russia's radar?
:shrug: Maybe Russia monitored his phone calls back home? Or maybe they had a spy inside his mosque? According to this timeline, he didn't start posting jihadist stuff on YouTube until AFTER he returned from Russia in 2012.
 
The more I read about these two the angrier I get.

So it seems the brother was just a full blown psychopath. The Russians warned us to look into this kid and we missed the link somehow.
There was no evidence of any links at the time that Tamerlan was interviewed by the FBI (in early 2011). He hadn't gone to Russia yet and his sparring partner/friend hadn't been murdered yet. The only blip on his record was a domestic violence charge, which was apparently dropped.And there's still no evidence that Tamerlan ever went to Chechnya and/or was trained by Chechen militants or Al Qaeda.
Who was he contacting to get on Russia's radar?
:shrug: Maybe Russia monitored his phone calls back home? Or maybe they had a spy inside his mosque? According to this timeline, he didn't start posting jihadist stuff on YouTube until AFTER he returned from Russia in 2012.
I have no knowledge and, of course, no informed opinion about whether or not the FBI did enough in this case, but saying he started posting jihadist videos AFTER he returned from Russia (after the FBI was warned of him) certainly doesn't help the case.

I'm sure they got so many tips, it's nearly impossible to keep track of them all, but it certainly doesn't sound good.

 
Heres the story on CNN

Canadian police: 2 arrested after authorities stop al Qaeda-supported terror plot

(CNN) -- [breaking news update at 3:50 p.m. Monday]

The two men arrested in an alleged terror plot in the greater Toronto area will make their first court appearance on Tuesday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

[breaking news update at 3:47 p.m. Monday]

Two men arrested Monday were allegedly part of an al Qaeda-supported plot to attack a passenger train, officials with the Royal Canadian Mountain Police said.

[breaking news update at 3:45 p.m. Monday]

The two suspects in an alleged terror plot in Canada, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, are accused of conspiring to murder people on a VIA train, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. The RCMP said that while the suspects had the capacity to carry out an attack, the public was never in imminent danger.

[breaking news update at 3:39 p.m. Monday]

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday authorities have arrested two people and charged them with conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train.

[Original story posted at 3:18 p.m. Monday]

Report: Canadian authorities thwart terror plot

(CNN) -- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are expected to announce Monday afternoon that Canadian law enforcement officials have "thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting suspects in Ontario and Quebec," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police tells CNN that the plot intended to target "transport links," but would not provide further details. The source confirmed that there is no link between the Canadian investigation and the Boston bomb attack, and added there was no known link with the Canadians involved in the terror attack on the Algerian gas plant in January.

The CBC, which is a CNN affiliate, quoted "highly placed sources" as saying the suspects were under surveillance for more than a year.

No connection exists between the disrupted plot in Canada and the Boston Marathon bombings, U.S. government sources told CNN's Carol Cratty.

The CBC reported that the investigation was "part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security."
Connections to Al-Qaeda in Iran. Back in 2005 or so I was talking about the Al-Qaeda that ended up in Iran and their influence going forward. At the time it was mostly a mishmash of operatives but one important one in Saif al-Adel who is essentially the only #3 we didn't kill or capture.

Last time I saw anything on him was probably in 2009 when Iran said that they had sent him back to Pakistan a year earlier, then changed their mind and said they didn't know who that was. These days many think he's the #1 guy in Al-Qaeda and certainly he is the most experienced Al-Qaeda senior operative with an impressive resume:

  • Egyptian SOF Colonel
  • Internal mastermind of Anwar Sadat assassination
  • Afghan Mujahadeen
  • Wanted for his role in planning the 1998 Embassy bombing in Kenya
  • Involved in Danial Pearl kidnapping and killing
  • Was essentially the security apparatus chief for Al-Qaeda arranging all their movements from the mid 90s on. He also is the one who likely found the property in Asadabad that they found Bin Laden. Apparently he had a lot of high level ISI friends that went back to his days as an Egyptian Colonel, he is said to be one of the most well connected Islamists in the world
  • Chief Intelligence trainer of Al-Qaeda (his intel docs have been found all over the world)
  • Architect of Saudi compound assault in 2003
  • Said to have role in Madrid train bombings
  • Said to have been a key link from Bin Laden to Al-Qaeda Iraq on a day-to-day basis
This guy is the true Islamist, he isn't in it for the rush or money like KSM or the chance to get close to Bin Laden like the other #3s. From the beginning he preached the caliphate across Northern Africa and said those countries would unify the Muslim world to oppose the west. His writings are folklore among terrorist experts, highly regarded for his passion and genius to kill and maim. He generally was always opposed to what he considered a bureaucracy within Al-Qaeda, specifically some politics created by his fellow Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawhiri. Essentially Al-Adel thought Al-Qaeda should only hit easy targets and should concentrate their efforts in Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan.

When he went to Iran it made some sense because despite him being a Wahabbi Sunni, he has always believed that the Muslim world should largely put aside their differences and condemned the bombings of Shiite religious sites in Pakistan. It was always understood that he was not far from Herat, Afghanistan, close enough to the border that he could come and go to give orders and direction. I think Iran generally let these guys stay as a big middle finger to the U.S. but also to influence Al-Qaeda to some small degree because Al-Adel was so valuable. Sure two of Bin Laden's sons were also in Iran but the real prize was Al-Adel, and I'm sure Bin Laden made it worth their while.

Perfect scenario for Al-Adel, he just sits in Iran under a very loose house arrest and plans the destruction of the west and anyone else he doesn't like. Must kill him to see the Arab Spring happen in Egypt without being involved. Or maybe he thinks he's ultimately responsible, this is a guy with a massive ego. I think Bin Laden made a huge mistake not giving him more power in the strategic vision of Al-Qaeda, it would be a much uglier world had this guy been able to carry out all his plans (FYI, he was only loosely involved in 9/11 because it is said he vehemently opposed it).

ETA: Format fix, new board sux0r

 
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Reading some reports about "white hat" telling interrogators that he and his brother had no contact with any group overseas. Would it be unreasonable to believe that the older brother may have had the only contact and the younger brother was just a "soldier". I thought I had read somewhere after the 9/11 attacks that portion of the terrorists had no contact with leaders overseas, but were told when and what to do hours before they were to attack.

This would benefit anyone that was captured alive (especially if tortured) to say that they had not contact, and know nothing about the bigger picture.

 

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