h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just a bit of background for our British friends about what happened in Boston yesterday:

To recap: The Boston Marathon is a footrace run on Patriots' Day, which is a state holiday in Massachusetts. Patriots' Day commemorates the Battle of Lexington, which took place on 19 April 1775, and is considered the more or less official start to the US War of Independence. The race doesn't really have anything to do with Minutemen - it's just a convenient time to hold the event, which attracts more than 20,000 runners from all over the world. The East Africans usually dominate, as they did this year.

About 3 pm local time yesterday, two bombs went off at the finish line. So far, 3 people have died, and more than 170 were hospitalised, some with severe injuries. Limbs have had to be amputated. There was devastation and chaos.

The FBI, Homeland Security, the BATF, and probably just about everybody else in law enforcement is working madly on the investigation. Right now, nobody has a clue who did it. The burning question is: foreign or domestic? Al Qaeda, or those wonderful folks who brought you the Oklahoma City bombing?

Two things led me to the early thought that this was probably domestic terrorism, starting with the date.

1. Around 19 April, you worry about homegrown troublemakers. This is their favourite time to start something:

1775 - Battle of Lexington. The British try to seize an arms cache before it is stolen by rebel terrorists. The rebel terrorists collect every heavily-armed farmer in the neighbourhood - remember Paul Revere's ride? - and they chase the troops back into Boston, which is then placed under siege by the terrorists. The British garrison only get out when they're allowed to leave by boat in the direction of Quebec.
1861 - Baltimore Riot. Pro-Secessionists vs US government troops. Abraham Lincoln declares marshall law in Maryland, Francis Scott Key's grandson ends up interned in Fort McHenry, and somebody writes that awful state song to the tune of 'O Christmas Tree'.
1985 - The FBI besieges the compound of a group called 'The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord' in Arkansas. So help me, I am not making this up.
1993 - The FBI and BATF siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ends with the deaths of 81 people.
1995 - The Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is bombed. 168 dead.

2. The injuries: As it came out last night that people had been horribly injured by shrapnel, it seemed more and more that this could be a matter of DIY destruction. In Oklahoma City, people found out how deadly fertiliser and a rental truck could be. Since then, farmers have been answering a lot of annoying questions about their manure orders.

It seems that doctors were picking ball bearings out of victims last night. Today, they're suggesting that the bombs might have been made from pressure cookers. More and more, this looks like the work of the rural US survivalist types, the kind with the strange apocalyptic scenarios and a deep-seated hatred of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Domestic terrorism in the US dates back to colonial times. A couple of ancillary ancestors of mine burned down a courthouse in North Carolina in the 18th Century. I don't know what their beef was, but they messed up historical research. The Civil War and its aftermath were complicated by do-it-yourself warriors, from Champ Ferguson's irregular cavalry - very irregular, he was later hanged for being more or less a serial killer under cover of war - to the James Brothers. They haven't been ALL right-wingers: does anybody remember the Weathermen?

No matter who committed the bombing, these people belong, in the words of my late father, 'under the jail'.

But I thought it might clear up a few things for the overseas community to get a gloss on the historical context, and why we're holding off on blaming the international crowd.

The good news - if there is any - is that if Boston was caused by homegrown terrorists, you probably have nothing to worry about in London.

They don't hate the British any more. In fact, they probably couldn't even FIND you.

I have nothing to add, but it was very interesting to read (and another reason to love this site; how else would I get such a view in my tiny little white middle class patch of England?). History can be a powerful thing.

You're right, Vip, it can.

I just wish history were a more powerful force for good.

Thanks for that, Dmitri - fascinating insight, as always.

These things numb me for so many reasons. I travel on London buses and trains which have been targeted before. My daughter wants to run marathons. I have friends and family in the North East US.

I can't make sense of it because I can't inhabit the mind of someone who would do this.

And then I wonder whether they could have targeted a ball game crowd and got more corpses per stick of gelignite (or whatever they used).

The London Evening Standard had many pages on it tonight. I read about the young boy who lost his life, and his sister and mother who were badly hurt.

I really hope they pull through.

I know what you mean, Icy. This is not a tenable way to make a political point. Ever. The boy who died was eight years old. And a 2-year-old sustained head injuries. For what?

It's not clear, even, that there was a point. You know, it could be one deranged individual, for all the suffering caused. We've had that, too.

Well for once it did not require guns. It is awful that there are people capable of planning and executing mayhem on this scale without their use. That has more to do with the lack of treatment of mentally ill individuals here, I suspect.

Just in case you want to know more about the Battle of Lexington, here are the re-enactors from yesterday:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/15/battle-lexington-reenactment-draws-throngs/6LLhLcbkeAGg5ZksiNdl4I/story.html

Violence begets violence and unfortunately a lot of that stems from government sponsored violence.

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


Hatred kills not just the body, but what lives on afterwards.

Hatred kills the mind of the hater before it harms anything else

"they" can still breed, to pass on the malevolent defective DNA genes

Well hopefully the nutcase that did this is white. If coloured, alien or Moslem there will horrible political consequences and reaction. Due to an awful double-standard that exists in America ---the white nutcases are ignored and not as thoroughly investigated by homeland security. The political right insists on this.


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

Very interesting and tragic info. I do wonder if they'll find the person/s responsible ...

I think an announcement was supposed to be forthcoming. If I find it, I'll post it.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/17/uk-usa-explosions-boston-idUKBRE93G0JM20130417

of any help ?

That's about it, I think. They said they hadn't made any arrests yet.

The rumour factory has been working overtime the past few days. Even from respected news sources, I keep hearing "a suspect has been arrested..." Followed by the police saying "Huh? First *we've* heard of it..."

I think the best sign that this wasn't exactly organised terrorism is that there have been no claims of responsibility yet (well, from what I've seen in news reports, I'm not the only one who thinks that).
I remember the time when bombings and suicide bombings were common, here; and each time, as soon as the smoke cleared you'll have _at least_ one organisation clamouring at the media saying it was their work. I mean, there's certainly no reason to hide their great success in brutally ending innocent lives, is there? *sigh*

That does not mean the guy was not an Islami jihadist, though. There are a tonne of forums out there giving advice and encouragement to would-be terrorists (I do translation editing work for a company who goes over such forums and reports threats, so I've seen some of the they got there). I can definitely imagine a single enthusiast going on such forums, learning how to make bombs, and just deciding on his own that the marathon would be a busy enough spot to cause a lot of damage, and going for it. And whoever it might be that he felt he was working for, they don't know he's working for them so can't claim responsibility (and he doesn't do it on his own for whatever reason, probably the very human fear of getting caught).

All of this, of course, doesn't mean he _was_ a jihadist. There are plenty of bomb-making manuals elsewhere, too (as part of my work, I've also seen some of those).

Basically, a single person deciding to spread death and terror - for whatever reasons - does seem the most likely option.

http://thensa.hubpages.com/hub/secretNsa

I saw a program a few year ago about this computer, it also monitors EVERY mobile/cell phone on the planet.

The saying - you can run, but can't hide - comes to mind

This does not seem very founded (their sources are a National Geographic documentary - and while NatGeo have some fine publications, their list of 'documentary' shows also includes '2012: Countdown to Armageddon', for example - and 'YouTube'). I'm sure the NSA and other organisations do monitor a lot of internet traffic, but (a) hardly everything (no, you can't monitor _evey_ phone on the planet), and (b) most of the time you are talking about a computer program automatically scanning for 'dangerous' terms. It has it's own issues, but it isn't like there's some group of Big Brother operatives going over your mail.

No, I'm sure they're far too lazy.