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Boston's Self-Radicalized Bombing Conspiracy
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
May 1, 2013
All Rights Reserved.
When President Barack Obama told the press in the
White House Briefing Room April 30 that he was satisfied with the FBI’s handling
of the April 15 Boston bombing case, he made the distinction between
self-radicalized terrorists and those connected to transnational terror groups
like al-Qaeda. While it’s tempting
to give his Homeland Security Director James Clapper and FBI Director Robert
Mueller a pass, it’s also absurd talking about what the Russians failed to give
the FBI after they were notified about 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radical
views. Suggesting that the FBI
needed more documents from the Russians to figure out whether or not Tamerlan
was a potential terrorist defies all logic.
U.S. officials need no documents from anyone to properly investigate
potential terrorists just like they’ve proceeded to investigate Tamerlan and
Dzhokhar’s co-conspirators.
Arresting Dzhokhar’s 19-year-old Kazakhstan classmates at UMass,
Dartmouth, Azamat Tazhaykov and Dias Kadybayez, and another buddy Robel
Phillipos, didn’t require the Russians or any other government to supply
dossiers. While facing the White
House press, Obama suggested that if the FBI got more from the Russians on
Tameralan, things might turned out differently.
That’s an admission that Mueller dropped the ball because had they known
about Tamerlan’s radical proclivities they would have followed up. But now that the FBI vigorously pursued Dzhokhar’s co-conspirators, it’s clear that the
FBI didn’t need any docs from foreign governments. Charging Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev
with “conspiracy to obstruct justice,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston found the tip-of-the-iceberg that
the two dumped Dzhokhar’s laptop and bomb-making materials in a local trash
dumpster.
While the dates remain unknown, the FBI interviewed Tamerlan on a tip
from the Russian Foreign Service sometime in 2011, before he left on a six-month
trip for terrorist training in Dagestan and Chechnya. When returned to Cambridge in 2012,
the FBI failed to monitor or investigate him further. Had the FBI followed-up with
Tamerlan in 2012 with a covert investigation, the Boston Marathon bombings would
have been prevented. Supporting the
FBI and Homeland Security doesn’t change the fact that the FBI failed to
investigate Tamerlan after his trip to terrorist-infested North Caucasus region. Obama wanted to make the distinction
between self-radicalized or network-radicalized terrorists, suggesting that the
former was more difficult to detect.
Whether that’s true or not, the FBI didn’t follow up on an active lead. Blaming the Russians for not
coughing up more docs on Tamerlan totally pass the buck.
On April 18, Phillipos texted Kadyrbayev to say that one of the bombers
pictures released by the FBI on TV looked a lot like Dzhokhar. Replying back “LOL,” Tsarnaev invited his friends to “come to my room and take whatever
your want.” When Tazhayakov,
Dadyrbayev and Phillipos went to Tsarnaev’s dorm room April 18, realizing at
that point that Dzhokhar was on the run, watching all night live Boston Marathon
bombing coverage of the police manhunt.
Where their story goes haywire, they told the FBI that they removed the
Dzhokhar’s backpack containing bomb-making material and his personal laptop. All three admitted to dumping the
backpack and laptop into a local dumpster.
When the FBI first questioned Phillipos, he told them he didn’t remember
going to Dzhokhar’s dorm room or removing any evidence. Phillipos has now signed a
confession about meeting Dzhokhar and removing evidence.
Tazhayhavo, Dadyrbayev and Pillipios have not yet admitted to
co-conspiring with the Tsarnaev brothers in acquiring, constructing and plotting
to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Instead of Mirandizing all three, the FBI should operate under the
“public safety option” and thoroughly interrogate the teenagers to know fully
the extent of their involvement in the April 15 twin-blasts that killed three
and injured more than 250. Signing
confessions on entering Dzhokhar’s dorm room, removing evidence and failing to
notify police doesn’t begin to answer the extent to which Dzhokhar’s friends
helped plan and pull-off the worse terrorist act since Sept. 11. Whether the Tsarnaev brothers were
self-radicalized or not, the FBI had plenty of information to have prevented the
attacks. Boston’s April 15 bombings speak volumes about how Islamic students from
terrorist-infested regions view the U.S.
Regardless of the political fallout, Obama must take a hard look at how
the FBI and Homeland Security failed to prevent the Boston Marathon bombings. Whether the Tsarnaev brothers were
funded by a transnational terror group or not, the bombings could have been
stopped by continuing to monitory Tamerlan’s movements. Had they watched the Tsarnaev
brothers more closely, they would have found it highly suspicious buying
pressure cookers and large fireworks for the gunpowder used in the bombings. Letting the FBI or Homeland Security
off the hook because there’s no evidence of funding by al-Qaeda or some other
“transnational” terrorist group makes no sense.
After getting tipped off by the Russians in 2011, whether
self-radicalized or not, the FBI and Homeland Security had plenty of probable
cause to thoroughly investigate the brothers Tsarnaev before it was too late.
John M. Curtis a>
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved. |
