One Down, One to Go

OK, the standard version goes that Tamerlan Tsarnaev ran into a guy named Misha, who filled Tamerlan’s ears with invective and hatred, thus radicalizing him. Then, Tamerlan went off to Russia for six months, where he picked up his bomb-making skills. Then he came back, went up to New Hampshire, bought the fireworks, and came home to make the bombs. Oh, and he recruited his younger brother, as well.

This story may be true, wholly or in part. What it leaves out is the crucial question—why? Or it may be that the version stated above rests on an unstated premise: the Muslim world is inherently antagonistic to the West. Any Muslim at any moment can be radicalized.

Also implicit is the assumption: there’s nothing wrong with us. And for that to work, we then need to invent a simple theory. There is evil in the world, and those who attack us are evil.

So the two brothers have now been explained—right? Mystery all cleared up?

Don’t think so. First question—could I be radicalized? If I met the odious Misha, would I be powerless to resist his insidious, vile indoctrination? How long would it be before I—or even you—would be slinking into the housewares department of J. C. Penny, seeking half a dozen or so pressure cookers?

Well, the New York Times sees it a bit differently. Their theory goes something like this: Tamerlan, a guy who never fit in, saw his dream dissolve when the Golden Gloves of America, the organization that oversees amateur boxing, decided that only American citizens could compete.

Right—so let’s look at that. Why had Tamerlan never fit in?

Probably age—he would have gotten to the United States sometime in his high school years, and, when there, was put into an English as a Second Language program. So who were his classmates? People who, like him, were just starting the process of assimilating into and understanding a new culture.

It’s a long-simmering debate in education: do these programs help kids by giving them the extra support they need, or do they foster dependence, create a sense of inferiority, and block the process of going from outsider to insider? Tamerlan said he had no American friends; that’s not surprising if he had been studying in a program with other new immigrants.

And his dream is to box, and even in that he’s different. First of all, he boxes European style, standing upright instead of crouching. He’s also consistently overdressed, and he’s got a little work to do on the social skills.

That, actually, was what triggered the dispute… but wait—I’m getting ahead of myself.

In 2009, Tamerlan participated in the New England Golden Gloves of America, and faced a young man from Chicago, Lamar Fenner. By all accounts, Tamerlan was the better fighter and won the match; there were boos when the judges decided to give the match to Fenner.

Tamerlan came back again to compete in 2010. And this time, he completely blew it in a preliminary round of the competition by walking into his opponent’s dressing room—which is forbidden—and telling both his opponent and the opponent’s trainer, “you are nothing. I am taking you down.”

The trainer, Héctor Torres, raised a fuss—why is a non-citizen, a resident alien, allowed to compete? The Golden Gloves of America was just then changing its policy: it allowed resident aliens to compete on all years but those years when the Olympics were to be played.

So Tamerlan was out—cut off from the one thing he wanted to do. So were two or three others. And he wasn’t getting younger, and it would be another year before he could apply for citizenship.

Right—and then he got arrested for slapping his girlfriend at the time. She had called 911, he was arrested but not charged.

Apparently, the incident wouldn’t have imperiled his citizenship application, but it was one more thing to worry about.

We now have a guy who has channeled all of his not-inconsiderable aggression into an activity—boxing—which is now barred to him, professionally speaking. He is sitting at home taking care of his infant daughter while his wife is working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to scrape up the 1300 bucks they need for rent.

Easy for us to say what he should have done—gone out and gotten a job, attended community college at night, put himself together, gotten over the loss of his dream.

I came to Puerto Rico when I was about thirty-five. I spoke no Spanish, I had had little contact with Puerto Rican culture (Mr. Fernández having convinced himself if not me that he is British), and all my friends had jobs and were working all day. And, like Tamerlan, I had a dream that I saw vanish. I failed the auditions because I choked—I know that now—but there is another truth.

A cellist who has gone through the six years of the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico has developed a special and usually very close relationship to all of the members of the jury. They know him, they know his family, they have watched and nurtured him for more than a decade. I would have had to be twice as good to have defeated a prized, cherished student. And I knew—or sensed—that going in to those auditions.

Those years of assimilating, of going from outside to in, were some of the most difficult years of my life. Like a 1950’s housewife, I waited for Raf to come home; he, of course, had been dealing with the world all day, and just wanted to eat in peace. I was starved for human contact.

There the similarity ends between Tamerlan and me. I did not come from a part of the world torn by senseless violence. I did not believe that the West was at war with my religion. And I did not come from one hyper-religious country to another hyper-religious country—if materialism can be considered a religion.

Tamerlan was a box of very dry kindling; Misha was the match.

The real question, I think, is Dzhokhar. 

Question Time Redux

Well, the cop speaking to the media at the funeral of the slain MIT officer had the answer: “my coworker was shot at point-blank range for no reason—the two brothers are just plain evil.”

I’d probably feel the same way if I were in his shoes. But being that I’m not, I’m prepared to have questions.

Well, let’s start with a woman who also has the answer: “my two boys DID NOT do this, they are innocent. I know. I am mother,” she stated fiercely. Right—I get denial, I appreciate a mother’s love. But her credibility is just a bit dented by the fact that she skipped out the country in order to avoid a little court appearance on a charge of stealing 1600$ worth of clothing from a Lord and Taylor store in Natick. Was she set up on that, as she alleges that the two brothers were set up? Seems a bit of a stretch.

OK, so the media is trying to put it into our heads—the youngest brother was “brainwashed” by the elder, who in turn was “radicalized” by a 30-year old heavyset red-bearded Armenian named Mischa.

Um?

I’m trying to remember what being 19 was like—would I have put a bomb in front of an 8-year old child if my brother John had told me to? I have the feeling that I wouldn’t—I’ll call Johnny and get back to you on this. And do I believe that a person can be “radicalized?” What is it, exactly? Where is the line between intense devotion to Islam and “radicalized?” When you go into the kitchen and take the pressure cooker out of the cabinet?

OK—I don’t know how else to say it. Nothing justifies putting a bomb at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, but would the brothers have acted as they did if they hadn’t been watching the United States doing much the same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The whole story is screwy. What’s the deal with the fireworks shop in New Hampshire, who two months ago sold four hundred bucks worth of fireworks to one of the brothers? “We don’t get a lot of Russians up here in New Hampshire,” stated the clerk, explaining why she remembered the guy. Right—but how many people buy 400 dollars of fireworks? And if the FBI—whose star is glowing rather dimly lately—is checking out people purchasing large amounts of fertilizers, shouldn’t they also be checking fireworks stores?

Now then, move back to—perhaps—the tenth anniversary of September 11, or about 18 months ago. In the town of Waltham, quite close to Cambridge, MA, a friend of Tamerlan’s and two other young men were brutally slain (their heads were pulled back, and their necks were slit ear to ear…). Authorities are now wondering whether Tamerlan was in any way responsible for the murders.

And may I ask—how are these kids getting the money they apparently had? The auto repair guy across the street from where the two brothers lived reports that Dzhokhar was wearing a pair of shoes that cost 900$. It hurts me to drop 70$ for a pair of crocs—how are these guys doing it?

Oh, and Tamerlan’s wife—the girl who works seven days a week to support the family, while Tamerlan stays at home as Mr. Mom? This “radicalized” fundamentalist Muslim is sending his wife out to bring home the bacon?

Right, so as usual I have more questions than answers. I am, however, delighted to report that there is absolutely no question in my mind about the commentary piece on CNN titled “History’s Jury Still Out on George W. Bush.”

Not with this blogger…..  

Monday Morning Workout

Well, it’s Monday morning and let me get right down to work. The question of the day is whether or not the FBI possibly dropped the ball in not following up a request from the Russian government to check out why Tamerlan Tsarnaev wanted to spend six months in Russia.

For those of you who have just emerged from spending last week at a Buddhist retreat—in which case you definitely had a better week than the rest of us—Tsarnaev, the elder of the two brothers who put a bang into the Boston Marathon, wasn’t working, wasn’t going to school, and had a wife and infant. So the FBI looked into the matter, and went to the house to ask, presumably, “hey, you’re not a terrorist, are you, Buddy?” And he said, “Nah, who, me?” 

(Sorry, been a while since I’ve written any dialogue—wanted to see if I still could….)

Well, that was absolutely the right answer, so the FBI went home, turned on the TV, and forgot the whole thing. Now, some of our good senators—that loveable bunch of nearly all white guys who squelched background checks last week—are raising the question. Did the FBI blow it?

Gentlemen, skip the investigation, save yourselves the dough (or better, send it to me…). Here is your answer:

Duhhhhhhh….

It’s right up there with the 20 or so Saudi Arabians who were so interested in flight school, in flying the plane but had not interest in getting it down. Or the immigration people, who months after 9/11 authorized one of the terrorists to continue to stay in the US.

OK, let me proceed to the next issue (wow, working at this pace, I’ll have the deficit whittled down by the weekend….). Should we hold the younger brother as an “enemy combatant?”

Well, you know who’s coming down where on this issue. The Republicans say yes; the Democrats say no. Now then, what’s my answer? Well, let’s rephrase the question: is it justified, in this case, to suspend the 800-year old right of habeas corpus?

The New York Times has already quoted an official who says he’s not going to “Mirandize”—and I’m surprised the Times let that get by—Dzhokhar, something that is, apparently, now constitutional. But calling him an enemy combatant puts him in the same status as all those prisoners in Guantanamo, with presumably the same stuff directed at him as at the prisoners in Cuba.

“Hey,” you say, “this kid KILLED four people, maimed over 150, and spread terror over the entire city of Boston. Of course he’s an enemy combatant!”

OK—but be careful, driving down that road; I give you the case of José Padilla, our very own Puerto Rican Taliban.

Or not—just a guy of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in Brooklyn but was arrested in Chicago and charged with some serious stuff—traveling to Afghanistan to work with al-Qaeda, planning to stage attacks in the US, and finally plotting to build and detonate a “dirty bomb,” an explosive containing radioactive material. So for three years, Padilla was held as an enemy combatant, where, in his version, this was done to him:

Padilla alleged that he was subjected to prolonged isolation; deprivation of light; exposure to prolonged periods of light and darkness, including being “periodically subjected to absolute light or darkness for periods in excess of twenty- four hours”; extreme variations in temperature; sleep adjustment; threats of severe physical abuse; death threats; administration of psychotropic drugs; shackling and manacling for hours at a time; use of “stress” positions; noxious fumes that caused pain to eyes and nose; loud noises; withholding of any mattress, pillow, sheet, or blanket; forced grooming; suspensions of showers; removal of religious items; constant surveillance; incommunicado detention, including denial of all contact with family and legal counsel for a 21-month period; interference with religious observance; and denial of medical care for “serious and potentially life-threatening ailments, including chest pain and difficulty breathing, as well as for treatment of the chronic, extreme pain caused by being forced to endure stress positions.”

–      United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, May 2012.[1]

Nice, hunh? Well, for three years lawyers wrangled about the whole thing, and finally it was decided: Padilla had to be tried as a civilian. And then the government finally had to charge him, and guess what? Well, let Democracy Now tell you the story:

There is no mention in the indictment of Padilla's alleged plot to use a dirty bomb in the United States. There is also no mention that Padilla ever planned to stage any attacks inside the country. And there is no direct mention of Al-Qaeda. Instead the indictment lays out a case involving five men who helped raise money and recruit volunteers in the 1990s to go overseas to countries including Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia and Kosovo. Padilla, in fact, appears to play a minor role in the conspiracy. He is accused of going to a jihad training camp in Afghanistan but his lawyers said the indictment offers no evidence he ever engaged in terrorist activity."[26]

Oh, so I guess they were wrong. So sorry! Here’s what a guy named Andy Worthington had to say:

[Seventeen] years and four months seems to me to be an extraordinarily long sentence for little more than a thought crime, but when the issue of Padilla's three and half years of suppressed torture is raised, it's difficult not to conclude that justice has just been horribly twisted, that the president and his advisers have just got away with torturing an American citizen with impunity, and that no American citizen can be sure that what happened to Padilla will not happen to him or her. Today, it was a Muslim; tomorrow, unless the government's powers are taken away from them, it could be any number of categories of 'enemy combatants' who have not yet been identified.

Right—we have or we think we have a video of Tsarnaev putting a backpack with a bomb right in front of an eight-year old boy. That’s pretty hard to defend.

Which may be my point—does anyone think that Tsarnaev is not going to prison? Of course not. My question is should we throw out our constitutional rights to get information through torture, information which most experts say is unreliable?

Answer: no.

Well, quite a morning’s work!

Update from Boston

I might just as well be honest—I have wasted an hour and a half looking at police, ATF agents, FBI agents, drug agents with dogs, and other assorted law enforcement personnel, all of whom…are looking at a grey house at the corner of….

…oh wait, the media has been asked not to reveal precise locations.

So, if Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers suspected in the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, is reading this…HAH! You won’t get it from me!

I tell myself, ‘hey, if nobody is working in Boston, why should you? Who needs to read Iguanas every day?’ And at any moment, the cops could move in, there could be a gun fight, and maybe even an explosion, since authorities—I know this fact because I’ve heard it thirty times—at a Boston-area hospital have reported that Dzhokhar's brother, who is now dead, came in with gunshot wounds AND shrapnel. This means that he had an IED—please notice how casually I’m using the term—strapped on him. (For those who don’t know, I can now smugly tell you that it’s an “improvised explosive device.” (¿Bíjte?)

There is a nineteen-year old kid (the media reports him as armed and extremely dangerous—“we know,” said one broadcaster darkly, “just what he is capable of…”) who last night robbed a convenience store, shot dead an MIT policeman, wounded critically an MBTA agent, and hijacked a black Mercedes Benz. As well, he kidnapped the owner of the vehicle before releasing him unharmed half an hour later.

And now, the entire Boston metropolitan area is under lockdown. Stay in your homes, we are warned. Do not open your door to anyone but a duly identified policeman.

Well, let me take a break here to show you this photo:

Readers—attention! The individual on the right with his arm place over the torso of the other individual and in front of the glasses containing an orange fluid that might be orange juice is the highly dangerous suspect, Dzhokhar. If you see this individual you should NOT try to apprehend him, but rather seek shelter immediately and then proceed to notify your local law enforcement agencies by calling this number: 1-800-494-TIPS.

OK—so I’ve done my duty here both to my readers and to society at large. I can also inform you—since I went to the bathroom and then just thought I’d update myself on this emerging situation—that the president was briefed overnight on the developments and has activated the situation room at the White House. Great—we got Barry on it, and if he can bring down bin Laden, a 19 year-old should be child’s play. 

I myself am thinking of contacting—no, not official enough—of communicating or putting myself into communication with local, state, or federal law enforcement personnel to notify them that the individuals in question seem to be in a kitchen with two stoves. This appears to me to be a fact of extreme importance, though at this point in time and in the investigation process it may be premature—or even dangerous—to speculate or make hasty conclusions. More important is the fact that both stoves appear to be functional—at least one of them there appears to be a pot that may be connected with the recent activity of food preparation, as evidenced by the presence of apparent food items on the table. There is a steam kettle on the other stove. This could be significant if the brothers are, as media reports them to be, of Russian origin. The Russians love their tea!

This just in—the grey Honda with the license plate CRV-E58 has been located, so we can all cross that off the list of things to monitor in this fluid and emerging situation. Oh, and no fear, Canadian readers—the border patrol is monitoring the border and working in close communication with United States officials. So you’re safe up there.

I break to report—with shame—that ABC news has made a horrible gaffe and is very wrongly reporting the name of a Watertown street which is being evacuated. Guys! Get a little professionalism here, hunh?

Well, I’ve done my duty, I do think, down here in sunny Puerto Rico, of keeping my readership abreast of the troubling developments taking place even as we speak in the city and neighboring communities of Boston, Massachusetts. I’d like to urge you, as so many others have done, that your personal safety and the personal safety of those you love is the number priority for you at this point in time.

Lastly, all indications are that, yet again, the two suspects were quiet, good students, fine athletes, courteous, and even played the piano! So, if you or anyone you know should happen to know an individual with some or all of those characteristics, I urge you immediately to contact local authorities and report any suspicious behavior or activity.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.