Terrorism in Boston: Which story is true?

Since last Monday, the day when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I have been monitoring the mainstream media in the U.S. (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, NYT). Abundant information available on their websites about the bombing, suspects and investigation indicates that Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are probably the ones who committed the attack.

Yet there are plenty of other sources (Infowars, Earth-Chronicles, This Can't Be Happening) that offer an alternative perspective on the terrifying Boston story. The bottom line there is that the two brothers are innocent and were probably set up.

Emotions and feelings

We don’t know the whole story, we do not have all the answers and, of course, many conclusions in both major stories based on guesswork. It is quite interesting to think about what makes one choose which story to believe. Obviously, personal connections play a huge role here. Most parents may have a hard time believing that his or her son could turn into a ruthless killer.  In this respect, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfjPG2PMy8">parents of the suspects would rather believe in the “set up” scenario and blame not their kids, but the United States. Well, denial in such cases is very understandable.

Nevertheless, there are some very disturbing facts about this family that made me doubt if they really knew their kids all that well or even if the mother of the suspects is a very trustworthy source of information.  As last year she was arrested for shoplifting of the women's clothing valued at $1,624. (I could understand if it was food, but designer clothing?!)  Zubeidat Tsarnaeva fled to Russia after this incident, and if she returns to the U.S. she may be arrested for failing to appear at a court hearing  in October 2012. Her claims that she knew her kids and they would tell her everything, do not seem credible.  

Suspect’s father also claims that his children saw guns only on television. If the video showing bombing suspect shooting at the officers is real, then this alone would prove that the father probably was out of touch with the reality about his kids.  

Logic?

On the other hand, an uncle of the suspects does not reject the possibility that his nephews could have been involved in the Boston horror. He remembered that Tamerlan was becoming more and more radicalized, called him an “infidel” and told that he was not concerned about work or studies because God had a plan for him. 

Apparently, one of the friends of the younger suspect organized a  facebook campaign “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent” that attracted about 4,000 people worldwide.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to note, that there is no campaign about the elder brother – Tamerlan. And if most people who knew Dzhokhar described the younger suspect as a friendly teenager that helped handicapped kids after school, joked with peers and smoked pot, then there was barely anyone, except for his relatives, who spoke positively about the elder brother.

Tamerlan hit his ex-girlfriend, was apparently rude with his wife. Katherine Russell was the bread-winner in the family, working 70-80 hours a week, when her husband was taking care of the baby. Maybe there is something here that we do not know, but shouldn’t it be all the way around? Also, where did he get money from to buy expensive clothes and drive an expensive car?  According to some sources, suspects were barely scraping by financially.

Hatred of America?

Tamerlan Tsarnaev reportedly hated America, the country that accepted his immigrant family and paid them welfare benefits, the country where his wife and his child were born. He posted radical videos on YouTube and disrupted services at the mosque. The facts are only some of the signs that he was indeed radicalizing.

In retrospect, Dzhohar’s tweets also seem alarming. On April 7, he wrote: “If you have the knowledge and the inspiration all that's left is to take action.” On the day of the attack he twitted:  “Ain't no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people”. It looks terrifying today, but if he is proven to be innocent, then we will probably see a different light in this tweets.

Questions

I am not a fan of the conspiracy theories, yet I do believe that there are lots of things yet to be proved and understood, and a lot of gaps to be filled in this story.

Just a few questions:

1)      Did Dzhokhar leave the marathon with or without the backpack? It is not clear whether the photo of Dzhokhar leaving the scene of bombing without the backpack is authentic or it was skillfully concealed using Adobe photoshop, as some suggest. 

2)     Why did it take so long to find him? Authorities claimed that there was a blood in the car he abandoned. Most likely, his leg was injured.  Shouldn’t the blood be dripping then as he was escaping before he hid inside a boat? Did the police even send a dog to trace him? How carefully did they check the neighborhood if they missed that huge boat in the backyard?

3)     Who is that man in a video? Naked man was reportedly  stripped, questioned, clothed, questioned some more, and let go. Police said that the man in that video was not Tamerlan. Though suspect’s aunt and people, who believe in the “set up”, are sure that it is Tamerlan.  Anyway, the face is very blurry and Tamerlan seems to have a longer neck than the man in the video. If it is Tamerlan, then video raises many questions, if not then who is he?

And there are so many other questions in this complicated story. If we just imagine that the brothers  are innocent, then why did they run and hide? who killed MIT officer, who robbed the 7/11 store, who carjacked the car and  captured a Chinese man, and then  withdrew money  from his credit card at the ATM? There are surveillance camera images from the robbed store and by the ATM and the suspect is in those images? Was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time again? Can you really set up that much? Which story is true? I am not entirely convinced by the arguments of both stories, but I would like to believe that those who are guilty and claimed the lives of innocent people will be punished.