We learn this morning that the Russians gave "multiple" warnings to the FBI about Tamarlan Tsarnaev before he took his six month trip to the Russian area around Chechnya about a year ago. So the FBI gets multiple warnings from another country's intelligence service that a US resident is a possible terrorist, then the guy goes for six months to an area which is a hotbed of terrorism, and the FBI does nothing. As a result, good people die and scores more are wounded when the terrorist sets off a bomb at the Marathon in Boston.
Until today, I was willing to let the episode pass as one of those inevitable items that slip through the net. We cannot stop every terrorist, no matter what we do. Now, it seems clear that this was far from inevitable. This was a failure by the feds to follow through.
I have read the stories that describe how the FBI "interviewed" Tamalan Tsarnaev following the Russian warning. I doubt very much that they are true. The reason is simple. If the FBI really had investigated Tamalan, then they would have been able to identify him from the photos of him taken at the bombing. His face would have been in their records so that they could have used facial recognition software to get his name. The FBI agents who supposedly had interviewed him in detail a year earlier also are still in the Boston office. They should have recognized him. I doubt that the interview ever happened.
When the embassy in Benghazi was attacked, the State Department did what it could to cover up its failures to provide for the defense of that facility. Now, it seems, that the FBI is trying to cover itself with regard to the Boston bombers. Coverups may seem smart from a bureacratic or political standpoint. BUT PEOPLE DIED. And more folks will die if the federal concern is focused on a coverup rather than on making changes to assure that it does not happen again.
The dedication of the George Bush Presidential Center is tomorrow in Texas. Bush was reviled when he left office. Nevertheless, he was not one who spent time covering up mistakes. Instead, he worked tirelessly to protect America. After the surprise of 9-11, there was not another terror attack in the USA while Bush was in office. Since Obama came in, we have seen quite a number. In each instance, however, the focus has been to change reality. For example, when major Hassan killed thirteen at Fort Hood while screaming Allahu Akhbar, the Obamacrats said it was "workplace violence" rather than terrorism. They ignored Hassan's correspondence with terrorists in the Middle East. They ignored his invocation of jihadist slogans. It was just a problem among co-workers.
We have the current government for another four years. If they do not wake up and focus on the terrorists, there will likely be many more attacks. What will they blame then? Space aliens?
Until today, I was willing to let the episode pass as one of those inevitable items that slip through the net. We cannot stop every terrorist, no matter what we do. Now, it seems clear that this was far from inevitable. This was a failure by the feds to follow through.
I have read the stories that describe how the FBI "interviewed" Tamalan Tsarnaev following the Russian warning. I doubt very much that they are true. The reason is simple. If the FBI really had investigated Tamalan, then they would have been able to identify him from the photos of him taken at the bombing. His face would have been in their records so that they could have used facial recognition software to get his name. The FBI agents who supposedly had interviewed him in detail a year earlier also are still in the Boston office. They should have recognized him. I doubt that the interview ever happened.
When the embassy in Benghazi was attacked, the State Department did what it could to cover up its failures to provide for the defense of that facility. Now, it seems, that the FBI is trying to cover itself with regard to the Boston bombers. Coverups may seem smart from a bureacratic or political standpoint. BUT PEOPLE DIED. And more folks will die if the federal concern is focused on a coverup rather than on making changes to assure that it does not happen again.
The dedication of the George Bush Presidential Center is tomorrow in Texas. Bush was reviled when he left office. Nevertheless, he was not one who spent time covering up mistakes. Instead, he worked tirelessly to protect America. After the surprise of 9-11, there was not another terror attack in the USA while Bush was in office. Since Obama came in, we have seen quite a number. In each instance, however, the focus has been to change reality. For example, when major Hassan killed thirteen at Fort Hood while screaming Allahu Akhbar, the Obamacrats said it was "workplace violence" rather than terrorism. They ignored Hassan's correspondence with terrorists in the Middle East. They ignored his invocation of jihadist slogans. It was just a problem among co-workers.
We have the current government for another four years. If they do not wake up and focus on the terrorists, there will likely be many more attacks. What will they blame then? Space aliens?
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