Boston #3

Dzhokar Tzarbaev was taken into custody tonight after hiding out in a boat in the back yard of a home in Watertown.

All of the police forces, FBI, SWAT teams, emergency responders, support groups deserve not only the greatest thanks but our highest respect for the extraordinary level of professionalism with which they carried out this operation.  That goes for all the officials from top to local levels, too.

After an initial false step on CNN and Fox, where a premature report was given about the suspects -- I would also say that the news channels I have watched, MSNBC and CNN, have also done a great job.

The people of Boston stand tall and proud.   They have cooperated and endured an incredibly stressful week.

Now we will try to understand how two sons of an intelligent family who came to this country as refugees could have turned against the country that took them in.    It's easier to understand how the older brother, Tameran, might have become radicalized.   He went back to Russia last year and stayed, somewhere, for six months.    There have been some comments to suggest his alienation.  He married and has a small child;  but his wife lives in Rhode Island with her parents.   But they released a statement tonight expressing their grief, saying this is not the Tameran they knew, and asking for privacy.

But nothing we have heard about Dzhokar fits any pattern except a fairly normal, bright kid who spoke without an accent and dressed as a typical American teenager.  Tonight three guys from his high school wrestling team spoke about their memories of him.  He is invariably described as friendly, happy, a good athlete, intelligent, and a nice guy.  Neighbors, who lived in the same building when they were younger and living with their parents in Cambridge, spoke of what a nice family and how helpful the boys were to them.  Not one single person has mentioned anything that suggests a dark side.

So it will be interesting as they interrogate him what we learn.   If they had done this in Russia, to avenge the mistreatment of their father, it would be easier to grasp.  But why the United States?

Ralph