May 5, 2013

The Boston Tragedy and Global Terrorism

By Michael Curtis
The inquiry into the Marathon Day bombings by the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston on April 15, 2013, which bombing injured more than 260 people, is seeking explanations as to the motives of the perpetrators.  What were the fundamental reasons for the deadly attack?  Why did a 26-year-old Muslim married man with a small child, with no apparent training and no declared affiliation or connection with a terrorist group and aided only by a 19-year-old younger brother, become a brutal and callous murderer? How was the older man, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who had been a boxer in the United States and had some education before dropping out of college, transformed at some point in 2009 into an Islamic extremist who gave up boxing and drinking?  Why did the younger brother, Dzhokhar, a member of the wrestling squad at school, a pre-medical student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and a lifeguard at a Harvard pool, agree to assist Tamerlan? Several explanations can be...(Read Full Article)