The Bombings
It’s been over a week since the fatal bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and in the following nine days we’ve seen a number of developments which have led to the death of accused Tamerlan Tsarnaev and capture of younger brother Dzhokhar, two young Americans of Chechen heritage said to have fallen into the hands of Islamic extremism.
But, from the moment of the announcement that these two men were the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings, something just didn’t seem right to me. In fact, something screamed out to me that these men were not solely involved in these attacks. Sensational media coverage followed the hunt for the two men culminating in the death of older brother, Tamerlan, and apprehension of younger brother, Dzhokhar, now in custody.
But questions arise, that to my judgement do not fit well into the ‘official’ line:
- If the Tsarnaev brothers were solely behind the Bombing Marathon attacks, why did they stay in Boston and go about their business in the days following, staying at their residences, and according to reports, even going to a party, in the case of Dzhokhar, the night before their shootout and two days after the bombing? Does not make sense.
Critics would argue that they were merely acting nonchalantly and covering their tracks but surely as a precaution, given the nature and magnitude of the attacks and subsequent investigation and manhunt, you’d lie low and get the hell outta Dodge? - Was Tamerlan apprehended alive and killed afterwards? This video displays a naked man, who had been strip searched, being taken away by authorities. The man bares a striking resemblance to the now deceased older Tsarnaev brother. How does this, go to this?
- How could a manhunt of this magnitude and intensity, miss the vital clues leading to a resident finding Dzhokhar in his boat after seeing blood on the side of it?
- And, how did he make his way out of the boat of his own accord and then mysteriously suffer a life-threatening injury to his throat – convenient, that way he can’t speak! – moments after he is arrested?
- Now, the police shootout before Tamerlan’s death and Dzhokhar’s apprehension. Listen to the voices, “Chill out, chill out, it wasn’t us!”, the gunfight in this ‘shootout’ sounds quite one-sided as well. These men to me don’t seem to be resisting arrest.
- The mysterious men at the Boston Marathon? They have been revealed as Massachusetts chapter members of the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (CST). But, their presence seems to indicate that there were security concerns, and if there were concerns why was not more attention paid to searching people’s bags and personal belongings? You can’t get into a football match or concert these days without security searching your items for contraband or weapons, why given the extensive security presence were basic security precautions pertaining to a large, well-known public event adhered to?
My present leaning is that indeed the Tsarnaev brothers did have some involvement in the Boston Marathon Bombings but were led to believe that they would be aided, abetted and supported planning and conducting the attacks and in their aftermath, hence their nonchalance in the days following, only to discover three days later, ‘Holy shit, we’re Public Enemy No. 1′ now!, as they discover they are now the lone suspects. Mass confusion, conflicting reports, uncertainty reported as facts are only natural given an incident and aftermath of this scope and nature, but I find this situation to be riddled with misinformation, consistencies and conflicting reports days later, leading to my skepticism.
People may find it abhorrent that an individual such as myself may question events following a tragedy such as the Boston Marathon Bombings. Whilst, I understand their sentiment, I alternatively find it abhorrent when I believe that mass media, the authorities and US Government provide inconsistent, incoherent information and pass it off as undeniable fact under the motto of ‘You’re either with us, or you’re against us?’. Sorry, but I just am after the truth and have a tendency to smell bullshit when it’s presented as fact, and this time the shit is rancid.
As for Dzhokhar ‘confessing’ to the bombings, shit the kid’s seen what’s happened to his brother, was denied the Miranda rights initially and knows his future is fucked whether it’s a life of deprivation and torture at Guantanamo, on the end of a hangman’s noose, or a fix-up somewhere else down the line. The kid is gone, and he knows it. Innocence, whether he possesses it or not, is futile.
Often dismissed as a right-wing nut job and conspiracy theorist with grand delusions of Government cover-ups, Alex Jones and his team have shown up as one of the few media outlets to make any genuine sense following the bombings. He’s had a range of interesting guests who’ve presented their understanding and motives behind the attacks, and a lot of it sounds plausible.
What if anything does the US have to gain if this was indeed a false flag or cover-up?
Good question. My gut instinct is that a nation locked in fear with a common enemy is a relatively united and cohesive one. We saw this in the 3-4 years following 9/11 when patriotism was high, the desire to right wrongs (since justified or not) and invade Afghanistan and Iraq was almost unanimous, and with support for the US Government, mainstream media and military near record highs.
Fast forward 10 years and look at the US now, more divided that has been for decades – be it politically, economically, spirituality. The last 5 years have been disastrous for the nation with the Global Financial Crisis, lingering unemployment, rising divide between rich and poor, increasing mistrust of the Government and mainstream media, and increasing divide between left and right. Shit, if you were in power wouldn’t you dream of reliving the ‘good ole days’!
Terrorist attacks work to bring the people back together and united against the one ‘enemy’ whoever or whomever that may be. A war on terror is a perfect war for a Government to be completely cynical as you’re fighting against an oft nameless, faceless, mobile foe, who is not easily identifiable.
If the Government. were behind this or allowed it to occur there could have any number of motives, which frankly I have no absolute knowledge of. But, if this was known and allowed to continue forth regardless, there must have substantial benefits in allowing it to go ahead. And, in the process give the State and authorities further powers to continue to chip away at liberties and personal freedom. Hello, Martial Law Boston 2013! – Scores of police, military and intelligence officers and their equipment descending on innocent people’s houses and conducting aggressive and unwarranted searches all in the name of security. Yeah, security’s pointing a gun at my kid’s head and yelling “Keep your hand’s up!”. This wasn’t a slum infested with a hive of insurgents in Sadr City or Mazar-e-Sharif, this was Boston, mainland US 2013, but the same methods of rampant aggression and all brawns and no brains were the same.
One armed gunman, reportedly with grenades. One man. Meanwhile, Chicago continues to experience a drug war with over 500 people taken out in the past year. Where’s the saturated police presence there? Surely they care about civilian lives enough to do everything in their power to stop those killings? Meanwhile, there’s over 30,000 homicides a year.
But, let’s go over the top, scare, intimidate & bully the whole neighbourhood and in doing so miss the bloody individual you’re after – it was the homeowner who alerted them afterwards by discovering blood on the boat. Their methods of policing they honed overseas now being exercised at home – I wonder if they’ll be as ‘successful’, or just create greater mistrust and dissension. Perhaps after Iraq and Afghanistan, the next battlefield will be closer to home and this was just a mock trial? Sure, there was collateral damage but shit happens.
Now, people are probably getting convinced that I’m a conspiracy theorist nut bag. I tell you what, I really, truly hope I am and that I am imagining this or unwittingly being taken in by other dreamers as the truth would be a hell of a lot scarier.
Doug Stuber wrote a thought provoking and informative article following the bombings at Social Discourse of Disquiet several days back before the bombers were found/killed. In the article, he listed the comprehensive list compiled by William Blum of Foreign Policy Watch of US foreign interventions from 1945 to 1999, many of which ousting democratically elected leaders replacing them with often corrupt, dictator puppets to the US. The list can be found here, but be warned you might need a cup of coffee and something to eat whilst reading as it is a long list!
Australians tend not to see or believe this side of US foreign policy as our ideas, values, interests and aspirations have largely mirrored that of our ally for the past 60 years. Ask a Panamanian, a Colombian, a Libyan, a Cambodian, a Pakistani, they may well have different values based on experience.
The Project for a New American Century, was a neo-conservative think-think established in 1997 consisting of a committee including hawks and prominent members of the (Younger) Bush administration – former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and former Governor of Florida and younger brother of former President George W Bush, Jeb Bush. Let’s have a look at the Statement of Principles fleshed out from the think-tank:
Our aim is to remind Americans of these lessons and to draw their consequences for today. Here are four consequences:
• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global
responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad;
• we need to accept responsibility for America’s unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles
Seemingly innocuous at first inspection but look behind the surface with an eye for what’s occurred in the last 16 years since this was drafted. Successive US administrations have significantly increased their military budget to ‘carry out their global responsibilities’ at the expense of little things, just you know, health, education, welfare; they have strengthened their ties with allies whilst well and truly ‘challenged’ regimes hostile to their ‘interests and values’; they’ve promoted the cause of ‘political and economic freedom’ abroad under their broad definition of the term; and accepted responsibility for America’s ‘unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles’ – this is key, notice the terms ‘our security, prosperity, and principles’, not global security, prosperity and principles but their global security, prosperity and principles.
Noam Chomsky analyses just how many war crimes the US have committed in their ’unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles’. If a nation can forcibly apply such destructive self-interest to foreign nations and their citizens and get away with it, what’s to stop them believing they can now apply the same at home?
We’ve seen Iraq and the non existent weapons of mass destruction as a pretext to war, we’ve seen opium crops sprout back right up to record highs following the invasion of Afghanistan, we’ve heard of Operation Northwoods, an exposed false flag as a pretext to war, shot down before implementation by then President JFK who himself was subsequently shot down in public view a year later. Don’t even get me started on the lingering inconsistencies and unanswered questions following 9/11.
Why is it still so hard for people to believe that the US Government and Military may use under-handed tactics which are subsequently supported and backed up by mainstream media?
Ben
