Monday, April 15, 2013

Terrorism Strikes Boston Marathon

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The Boston Red Sox were playing baseball a half mile away.  It was Boston's 238th annual Patriot's Day, commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  The Boston Marathon was being run.  People were in the street, cheering, unsuspecting.  Homeland Security with their trucks operating near the scene, was unsuspecting.  Police nearby, also were unsuspecting.  Nearly 25,000 people, including runners from around the world, were competing in Boston's celebrated 26.2-mile race, attracting huge throngs of onlookers, especially near the finish line, and all of them were unsuspecting.

America has been attacked by terrorism again.  President Obama called it a tragedy, and he is wrong.  This is a terrorist attack by cowardly, sick individuals.  The fear is, the administration will do nothing, and perhaps even seek appeasement.  There is no doubt that this was a coordinated event, and it was designed, because of the presence of kind of shrapnel involved, to maim civilians, children, and whoever else got in the way.  The timing, also, reveals a lot.  The elite runners had already finished a couple hours earlier.  The ones yet to cross the finish line were moms and dads and charity runners, so many children were in the line of fire.

As Boston Marathon runners completed the marathon, with a crowd of people on both sides of the street, two bombs went off.  The explosions at Copley Square just before 3 p.m. killed two (one of which it is reported to have been a child), and injured over 100 people.  A third incendiary device ignited at the John F. Kennedy Library.  Two other devices were disarmed by authorities.

Among the injured were four with traumatic amputations (and some reports say possible up to ten).  One person claimed that during the explosion a leg flew by his head.  Another reported seeing a teenage girl missing a leg being carried away.

The FBI is investigating, and officials state that the bureau had no advance warning.  They are treating the bombing as a terrorist investigation, and are analyzing video from surveillance cameras.

Federal authorities care stating they believe the incident to be an act of terrorism, but when President Obama delivered his statement to the nation he did not use the word "terror" or "terrorism."  Involvement by a group like al-Qaeda has been suggested, but it could very well have been the actions of a lone-wolf group, as well.

According to the New York Post, authorities have identified a suspect, a Saudi national.  He is currently beng guarded in a Boston hospital with shrapnel wounds.  According to CBS, the suspect is reportedly cooperative and denies involvement in the attack.

It is believed the devices were set off by a cell phone, and officials shut down cellular service throughout the Boston area to prevent any more remote detonations of explosives.

The goal of terrorists is to disrupt America, to strike fear in us, and to force us to change our behavior.

Benghazi was a terrorist attack against Americans during Obama's watch.  So is this.  We were safe under George W. Bush's "peace through strength" policies.  Obama's policies of appeasement and trying to be friends with the enemy has emboldened the enemy.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary




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