The unfolding police hunt in the Boston area is high drama that's playing out like a tv crime show -- one that focuses on the police work, sorting clues, and increasingly being dazzled by the high tech ability to gather data.
It's little short of amazing that they were able to scan through thousands of surveillance videos and pick out likely suspects -- who apparently turned out to be the prime suspects.
Taking the risk of putting the pictures out to the public and asking for help in identifying the two young men triggered their panic, further violent behavior, the death of the older one, and the other one still at large.
What is most puzzling is trying to construct a motive out of the little, and contradictory, information about them. Unlike most situations, several family members are talking freely; and so are former classmates.
An uncle in Chechnya described Tamerlan, the 26 yr older brother, as "a bad influence" on Dzhokhar, the 19 year old one who got away. One uncle here in the US described them both as "losers" -- but it isn't clear whether this is only his reaction now, knowing they planted the bombs.
People who knew them in school describes them both in positive terms. Someone said Tamerlan was "cool." He was a boxer and a jazz pianist. Dzhokhar is a wrestler, a quiet and intelligent kid, who wanted to be a doctor. Everyone who knew them seems to be completely shocked.
Outward appearances so often conceal and deceive. We just don't know enough yet to construct a coherent picture.
Meanwhile, it is completely unprecedented for a major city to be so locked down as Boston has been since early this morning. Who knew there were so many police, FBI agents, SWAT teams, and emergency responders in the area? It's hard to believe we're watching live news and not a police drama tv series.
Ralph
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ReplyDelete1. In Jan 2012, Tameran made a trip to Moscow -- and where beyond that isn't known. He returned 6 months later, and after that set up a YouTube site that had a video that has since been removed. There were some suggestive bits that might indicate he had taken up radical ideas. But nothing conclusive -- no manifesto, as is often the case.
2. Two year ago, at the request of an unnamed foreign government, Tameran was interviewed by the FBI to try to determine if he had any terrorist ties. They found none and released him.
3. Within the past year, Dzhokar became a U.S. citizen. A former classmate, who admittedly didn't know him well, says he was friendly, popular, went to social events, seemed to fit in. So the conclusion is that he became radicalized since only recently -- and perhaps under the influence of his brother.