Terrorist attack at Boston Marathon

[jmenges]

100+ homes "completely destroyed".

[kensei]

Well, I thought "an arrest is imminent" meant it would happen yesterday, but it didn't. Apparently there is video of a man in a hoodie and backwards-facing baseball cap appearing to leave a duffel bag, then taking out a cell phone and moving out of view moments before the first explosion. The news first made it sound as if they knew who he was. May they find him soon.

The incident in Texas- wow, it's immense, sounds like hell on earth, lots of injuries but surprisingly few fatalities for such massive destruction. Let's hope it's an accident- nitrate fertilizer is unstable and highly explosive and accidents at such plants sometimes happen. It's the stuff Tim McVeigh used in Oklahoma City.

[caz]

I just heard they are treating the Waco explosion as a crime scene until they know more.

All this sends shivers down my spine when I think back to the days when the IRA were most active, and any of us living or working in British cities will remember the terror of bombs going off, and killing and maiming innocent men, women and children at random. It was awful to think of all the despicable people who thought nothing of dipping into their pockets to finance these murdering bastards.

[Archaic]

Connecting the Dots

Since I first heard of the terrible bomb attacks in Boston, I've wondered if it is Domestic rather than Foreign Terrorism.
A Timothy McVeigh type thing.

First of all, President Obama was re-elected.

In the Senate, a vote was about to come up on the subject of mandatory background checks for gun purchases.

The Boston Marathon was run on what is 'Patriot's Day' in Massachusetts - a day to commemorate the Revolutionary War. (Timothy McVeigh himself said that was a highly symbolic day to his "movement".)

It was also the day immediately before April 15th, Tax Day, when everyone has to pay their taxes to the Federal Government. Also highly symbolic to the McVeigh-type fringe.

This year's Boston Marathon was dedicated to the victims of the Newton Connecticut massacre. (Connecticut is right next door to Mass.)
Volunteers representing the Newton shooting victims were running in their memory.
And seated in the VIP boxes close to where the bombs went off were some of the families & survivors of the Newton tragedy, waiting to greet the runners honoring their lost loved ones.

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but if you google it or read the online comments on numerous U.S. or British newspapers, you will see that there are a frighteningly large number of people who believe that the Newton massacre NEVER HAPPENED, that it was an elaborate HOAX perpetrated by the Obama administration, supposedly because "They want to take away everybody's guns and impose socialism." (In their minds, health care = socialism = dictatorship, as do mandatory background checks on the purchase of firearms.)

These people make revolting comments about the families of the murdered children and claim the grieving parents are just "paid shills" and "actors" perpetrating a government hoax. They turn my stomach.

What's so scary is that the people spreading these conspiracy theories really believe them!

Then you get someone mailing Ricin to the President and others in Washington DC... Thank God, he was caught. Some guy from Tupelo, Mississippi.

Then you get a major explosion and fire at a fertilizer factory located in a little town next to Waco, Texas, made unfortunately famous by David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

What did Timothy McVeigh use to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City? A fertilizer bomb.

For all the talk about the Saudi national, this has looked to me like 'Domestic Terrorism' from the start. And it may not be over yet.

My thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims, their families, and with all the good kind people, both ordinary citizens and first responders, who risked their own lives to help strangers.

That's the real America.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Robert]

To judge from the report that the authorities told two boys to leave because the plant was about to explode, it seems that it was the fire that did it and not a bomb.

[Limehouse]

Since I first heard of the terrible bomb attacks in Boston, I've wondered if it is Domestic rather than Foreign Terrorism.
A Timothy McVeigh type thing.

First of all, President Obama was re-elected.

In the Senate, a vote was about to come up on the subject of mandatory background checks for gun purchases.

The Boston Marathon was run on what is 'Patriot's Day' in Massachusetts - a day to commemorate the Revolutionary War. (Timothy McVeigh himself said that was a highly symbolic day to his "movement".)

It was also the day immediately before April 15th, Tax Day, when everyone has to pay their taxes to the Federal Government. Also highly symbolic to the McVeigh-type fringe.

This year's Boston Marathon was dedicated to the victims of the Newton Connecticut massacre. (Connecticut is right next door to Mass.)
Volunteers representing the Newton shooting victims were running in their memory.
And seated in the VIP boxes close to where the bombs went off were some of the families & survivors of the Newton tragedy, waiting to greet the runners honoring their lost loved ones.

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but if you google it or read the online comments on numerous U.S. or British newspapers, you will see that there are a frighteningly large number of people who believe that the Newton massacre NEVER HAPPENED, that it was an elaborate HOAX perpetrated by the Obama administration, supposedly because "They want to take away everybody's guns and impose socialism." (In their minds, health care = socialism = dictatorship, as do mandatory background checks on the purchase of firearms.)

These people make revolting comments about the families of the murdered children and claim the grieving parents are just "paid shills" and "actors" perpetrating a government hoax. They turn my stomach.

What's so scary is that the people spreading these conspiracy theories really believe them!

Then you get someone mailing Ricin to the President and others in Washington DC... Thank God, he was caught. Some guy from Tupelo, Mississippi.

Then you get a major explosion and fire at a fertilizer factory located in a little town next to Waco, Texas, made unfortunately famous by David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

What did Timothy McVeigh use to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City? A fertilizer bomb.

For all the talk about the Saudi national, this has looked to me like 'Domestic Terrorism' from the start. And it may not be over yet.

My thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims, their families, and with all the good kind people, both ordinary citizens and first responders, who risked their own lives to help strangers.

That's the real America.

Best regards,
Archaic

Hi Archaic,

I must admit to wondering whether the Boston attack was domestic, purely because in terrorist attacks such as 9/11 and the bombings in London, those responsible were suicide bombers whereas this attack seems to have been carried out by someone who walked away, leaving the bomb behind. It was also a similar bomb to that used by a loan attacker in a London pub frequented by gays - a crude device full of lethal nails.

I can see your line of thinking concerning Waco, but I have heard several reports that state that there was a fire which ignited some ammonia and this caused the explosions.

In any case, my thoughts and prayers are with those killed and injured in both incidents.

[Mayerling]

I watched the last portion of the President's address to the mourners and Bostonians at the Memorial Service. Quite well done. Unfortunately, in the last few months (due to Newtown) he has had a great deal of practice.

The need for public assistance by the FBI and Boston police is a mixed blessing. Many people gave them the videos, and photos of the explosion, and it has led to the possibility of two bombers (laying down duffel bags) being captured on either. But it is a mixed blessing. Rumors of a solution have led even the New York Times to make wrong headed surmises about whom the authorities suspect.

As for the Saudi character, I am surprised that Kerry agreed to release him at all to his country. I'd have held onto him until every secret he knew about Al Quaeda was spilled out of him. But the same "special treatment" was given to members of Osama Bin Laden's family (also wealthy and prominent in Saudi Arabia not only in the U.S. but abroad after 9/11. Oil money talks louder than outrage.

Jeff

[Beowulf]

As for the Saudi character, I am surprised that Kerry agreed to release him at all to his country. I'd have held onto him until every secret he knew about Al Quaeda was spilled out of him. But the same "special treatment" was given to members of Osama Bin Laden's family (also wealthy and prominent in Saudi Arabia not only in the U.S. but abroad after 9/11. Oil money talks louder than outrage.

Jeff

I'm not surprised but I am suspicious.

Lots of thought flying around about it:

http://www.infowars.com/obama-covering-up-saudi-link-to-boston-bombing/

[Beowulf]

[QUOTE=Beowulf;258403]I'm not surprised but I am suspicious. Still.

and now this comes out...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/18/ice-official-responds-to-blaze-report-categorically-false/

[Archaic]

To judge from the report that the authorities told two boys to leave because the plant was about to explode, it seems that it was the fire that did it and not a bomb.

Hi Robert and Julie.

Have they discovered what started the fire?

One would think there would be very stringent fire codes and protections in place to prevent such a horrible explosion. High-tech automatic sprinkler systems, blast containment doors, a wide exclusion zone around the factory's perimeter, etc.

It may just be a sad coincident, but with Waco so close and it being fertilizer that exploded, I'll be interested to hear what the fire investigators will have to say later.

For God's sake, if fertilizer plants are such blast dangers, why was it located in such proximity to neighborhoods, houses, even a nursing home?
I've driven through that part of Texas. Most parts of Texas for that matter. Believe me, there is plenty of empty Texas prairie as far as the eye can see in the vicinity of Waco - it's not like there isn't enough space to put a dangerous fertilizer plant farther away from the townspeople.

What a sad week for America.

And you just know that somewhere, there are sick individuals "celebrating" all this suffering.

I think the world could use some Instant Karma.

Best regards,
Archaic

[kensei]

Furious action tonight in the Boston suburbs. A campus police officer was shot dead at M.I.T., leading to scores of officers converging in a chase of two suspects in the marathon bombing. Witnesses report dozens of police vehicles with blaring sirens and flashing lights, up to 50 gunshots being heard as well as a couple of EXPLOSIONS, and residents in the town of Watertown being warned not to open their doors to anyone. It is still ongoing as I write this, but the latest word is that these suspects are the two people earlier shown in photos/video frames captured in crowd footage at the marathon, and that they are college age men named Mike Mulugeta and Sunil Tripathi. Tripathi is a Brown University student who went missing a month or so ago, asked for time off from school but then just vanished. He is the one pictured wearing a white baseball cap worn backwards. Word is that one of them first reported as captured is actually now dead, and that the other is still on the run. I've seen/heard conflicting reports as to which is which. Whichever of them is still running, I hope they take him alive because I can't wait to hear why he says they did this.

Of course, I've also already heard conspiracy theory (which, let me contend, is a term NOT always synonimous with crazy and untrue) that the bombing was actually a black ops false flag operation and that these two guys are just patsies. It is so hard to know what to believe anymore. I just hope that justice is being done right now because more lives were lost tonight.

[Limehouse]

Hi Robert and Julie.

Have they discovered what started the fire?

One would think there would be very stringent fire codes and protections in place to prevent such a horrible explosion. High-tech automatic sprinkler systems, blast containment doors, a wide exclusion zone around the factory's perimeter, etc.

It may just be a sad coincident, but with Waco so close and it being fertilizer that exploded, I'll be interested to hear what the fire investigators will have to say later.

For God's sake, if fertilizer plants are such blast dangers, why was it located in such proximity to neighborhoods, houses, even a nursing home?
I've driven through that part of Texas. Most parts of Texas for that matter. Believe me, there is plenty of empty Texas prairie as far as the eye can see in the vicinity of Waco - it's not like there isn't enough space to put a dangerous fertilizer plant farther away from the townspeople.

What a sad week for America.

And you just know that somewhere, there are sick individuals "celebrating" all this suffering.

I think the world could use some Instant Karma.

Best regards,
Archaic

I think those are very good points, and, with the intensity of the fire/explosions and the damage done, it makes you wonder whether they will ever establish the cause.

Looks from Kensei's post above that there are very troubled times right now and I truly hope everything calms down soon.

[caz]

According to the LBC radio website, the fire at the fertilizer plant remains 'unexplained'. In addition:

The explosion comes on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege - a deadly confrontation between federal authorities and heavily armed locals.

The Dallas Morning News said that the fertiliser company previously reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency and local public safety officials that there was no risk of fire or explosion at the plant.

All rather worrying.

Love,

Caz
X

[caz]

Then you get a major explosion and fire at a fertilizer factory located in a little town next to Waco, Texas, made unfortunately famous by David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

What did Timothy McVeigh use to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City? A fertilizer bomb.

Not only that, Archaic, but McVeigh chose the second anniversary of Waco for his own atrocity.

It does begin to look like more than a just tragic coincidence, coming pretty much on the twentieth anniversary of Waco.

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert]

I wish I had the time to keep up with this story. Things are moving pretty fast.