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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

NPR Speculating About Right-Winger Behind Boston Marathon Bomb

My wife called to tell me that NPR is busily speculating that this was done by right-wing extremists, not al-Qaeda.  At this point, there is not enough to know, other than the initial reports (and somewhat contradicted by other reports) that a Saudi student was being held.

Default assumptions should be based on likelihoods, derived from recent history.  If most recent terrorist attacks were domestic extremist groups, there might be a basis for such speculation, but multiple explosions, a short time apart?  Not aimed at a government building or abortion clinic?  If there is an appropriate default assumption, it is al-Qaeda or other Islamist groups -- not a domestic right-wing group.

But that's why it is called National Palestinian Radio.

UPDATE: Hardly conclusive, but this April 16, 2013 Telegraph report indicates that pressure cooker bombs (now believed to be what was used in Boston) were described in the first issue of al-Qaeda's English-language publication for aspiring jihadis:
The recipe – along with a rationale for post-9/11 terror – was printed three years ago in al-Qaeda’s English-language promotional online magazine, Inspire.
In an article, it instructed readers on how, as its headline writers put it, to “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom”.
It gave the types of explosive, timers and other ingredients needed – along with, it said, a pressure cooker.
at

8 comments:

  1. SigivaldApril 16, 2013 at 10:35 AM

    I'd be tempted to say that the best "default assumption", in the absence of an immediate al Quaeda press release claiming responsibility, is "lone nut".

    That alQ hasn't trumpeted up the attack as a victory against the Great Satan suggests that it wasn't them; the entire point of an attack, from their point of view, is to be seen to be the ones doing it, after all.

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  2. Rob CrawfordApril 16, 2013 at 1:48 PM

    Doesn't matter who did it; the important thing to the left will be to get the idea that it was a "right-wing extremist" out there.

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  3. J. MadisonApril 16, 2013 at 4:19 PM

    I too was listening to NPR when the news first hit and was simply amazed at a commentator, who claim to be an "expert" on terrorism (having written books on the subject) immediately chimed in and blamed "right-wing extremists" before any evidence was disclosed and the fact that the attack was not against government institutions as such (The hallmark of most right-wing attacks).

    Rather than being legitimate commentary, her comments were simply political diatribe. Unfortunately for us, particularly after the Susan Rice incident, this is the mindset of our government officials who are supposed to be protecting us.

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  4. wApril 16, 2013 at 9:46 PM

    What about the poison letter sent today to a Republican Congressman. Surely that was from a left-winger! ;-)

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  5. KarlApril 17, 2013 at 1:04 PM

    Pressure cooker bomb? I blame Martha Stewart!

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  6. MauserApril 17, 2013 at 2:25 PM

    Salon has published a similarly reprehensible article dragging "White Privilege" into the mix.

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  7. asdfApril 18, 2013 at 7:02 AM

    Mauser is pointing to this article:

    http://www.salon.com/2013/04/16/lets_hope_the_boston_marathon_bomber_is_a_white_american/

    I love this quote:

    " ... if he’s an Italian-American Catholic we won’t bomb the Vatican."

    If he were catholic, the pope would condemn him and his violence.

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  8. AlanKHApril 18, 2013 at 8:57 AM

    I'm still trying to figure out how the once-obscure Aryan Brotherhood became chief suspects in the Kaufman County shootings. It's as if people think DA's and assistant DA's don't have a lot of enemies.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kaufman-county-da-20130418,0,6911192.story

    ReplyDelete