Month: April 2013

I just happened to be watching the news, when breaking news stated, the two suspects in the pictures distributed on line by the FBI, had been engaged in a incident in Cambridge. This morning, it was reported that one man, age 26, was dead and he was the brother of the suspect at large. The suspect at large is 19 years of age and both had ties to Islam.

I watched the agony and anger in their uncle’s face as he was interviewed by the press. My heart went out to the family. Certainly they will bear the burden of being related to the two brothers, who were his nephews. I saw the pictures of the young men and thought what a waste all of this is. It was just more wasted lives when their bomb went off at the Boston Marathon. Lives cut sort or altered in a way that can never be the same.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will learn the motive these men had for the horrific acts they most probably committed. What in the world shapes the thinking of men like this? I suspect they may have grown up in a environment of hatred and the lack of respect for human life and intolerance of others beliefs and values. Yet this doesn’t square with the religious beliefs of the Muslim faith, most southern Russians hold in that region.

When I look at the suspects clothing and the fact they were students, they seem very middle class to me. So poverty would not have much to do with their anger at the western way of living. If they were raised in their country to believe that violence and the murder of others is normal, we might be able to figure out why they poured their rage out on innocent runners and their supporters at the marathon. I know that there are volumes written on the causes of terrorist acts; but I think there is a simpler answer to why this happens.

I think one’s values and experiences in the world around us determine how we construct our world view. I think there have been times when I have wondered if I should have been more of a radical in the university. When one looks around at the injustices in this world and when one experiences them first hand, anger and revenge can become a motivating factor, Because I was raised by an American middle class family, doesn’t mean I haven’t considered more radical thinking. Fortunately I was raised to respect human life as a precious gift and believed that the answer to my problems was not to use violence; but to use anything but violence. This does not mean I would not have used it as a last resort to protect my life or the life of my children or loved ones.

However, life is not always that simple. I have found myself in situations where my life was at risk and violence would have been justified under the law. I made the decision, however, to retreat with honor. That decision may have been influenced by the fact, I am a woman and not a man. I do not have to defend my honor with violence to claim my womanhood. I do not have to buy into the myth of justifiable revenge.

Several days have pasted since I began this blog.  The oldest brother is dead and investigators are looking for reasons or motives as to why he would place a bomb in an area where women and children and innocents were watching a marathon.

The media states, the boys were radicalized into a less Christian or Islamic way of thinking through the internet. My thinking there, hogwash! Maybe the internet played a role in the shaping of their world view; but it is hard to believe they were self-radicalized. My guess is that this unknown other person Tamerlan Tsarnaev was familiar with helped shape his views. What a waste it is that this brother moved into a fundamentalist view of religion and did exactly the opposite thing a Christian or Muslim is called to do. Even worse, is the fact he dragged his little brother along, if that is the case.

I will be watching the news to find out how this whole incident unfolds. In the meantime, I will be praying the people who became his victims will be able to adjust to the huge changes in their reality because of this dangerous belief that it is justifiable to kill others no matter how innocent to right an injustice real or imagined.
“War never decides who is right or wrong…only whose left.”

Yesterday I watched in horror as the drama unfolded in Boston.  I have participated in more than one marathon and was horrified by what I saw in the tragic minutes during and after the bomb went off at the marathon’s finish line.

This morning the president declared that any act of detonating a bomb with the intent of injuring others is an “act of terror.”  To me, this was a true act of hatred. This translates to a total indifference to the suffering and injuries of others. The targets were any age group.  As a result a child as young as eight was among those that were killed. Once again, children are the targets of people who are bent on harming others.

While I am watching the news and reading everything I can about the incident, I cannot help but wonder if taking guns away from Americans will lead to the use of bombs, instead.  In fact, I wonder which of the two issues is more important, gun control or terror attack prevention. I heard on the radio that anyone can find the information on line to build a bomb with roofing nails, ball bearings and other small, body harming, material. Even though I believe in a free internet, this gives me pause.

I still believe that there must be a way to prevent disturbed individuals and groups from doing this kind of damage to American citizens. I also believe we are seeing the beginning of terror attacks that can be even worse. Or, it may be just a matter of time before these devices carry biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear materials.  I remember writing an article about this, in order to be accepted into a program of study at the doctoral level at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The only thing that has changed since then…is 9/11.

Many scholars have written that it is not what but when, something like this will happen within the borders of the United States. In an article written by Dr. Adam Lowther, Terrorism and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat to the United States, he states, “…Within the national security establishment there is a pervasive belief that the United States faces imminent attack from a terrorist network in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The question is not if, the question is when. Whether the attack will be chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear none can say, but few doubt that time is running out….”

I don’t know about you; but, this scares the you know what out of me.  We are a free society with open borders.  We could not possibly be aware of every threat of terror before it happens. Homeland Security, and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies are not God.  No matter how many “eyes in the sky” we have, we cannot stop every incident. I once had a sociology professor who stated, “…as we continue to have terrorist incidents, we will see many of the freedoms we now have disappear.” I think he was entirely right about that.

As citizens, we must be more vigilant when it comes to the freedoms we see being compromised. Our country was set up to function with the American people as the guardians of our constitution; and we were told to watch our government and question authority by our forefathers.  We are not a semi-sovereign people, if we continue to stay in touch with resources that tell us what is happening, in regard to our rights. I could go into great detail about the issue regarding rights after 9/11; but this is not the forum for airing those issues.

I am not arguing that law enforcement and federal agencies should not have what they may need to deal with attacks like this.  I am arguing that along with investigating and trying to prevent these gruesome attacks, comes the need to make laws that may take away the freedoms we have today. Scholars and citizens have an obligation to know what their government is doing and to question that activity.