Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
Like most of us I have been watching the developments in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy throughout the week. Because I’m retired I probably logged more hours of viewing it on TV than most people who are younger. The initial bombings on Monday and their aftermath made me terribly sad at the loss of innocent lives and the maiming of so many, which will have future pain and consequences for the entire lives of the victims. As a father and grandfather how could I not feel painful tears for the death of an 8 year old and the lifelong pain of his parents? Yet beyond that sadness, I also felt a sense of anxiety in my chest as I listened to the hour upon hour of cable news coverage and the analysis of “terrorism experts” aligned with prognosticators telling us what it all means.
My anxiety did not stem from fear of terrorism, because that fear is irrational. This is so not because terrorism is a chimera, but because this type of terrorism is an all too real fact of the lives of humanity and indeed while we in America have suffered it, so has the rest of the world to an even greater degree. Great Britain, Spain, Iraq, Israel, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia etc. and so on and so forth. Life itself is always uncertain and unseen death lurks as a constant possibility for even the most protected of us. This has always been the human condition and the truth is that as the eons of human history have passed we are far safer now than our ancestors ever were. Yet it is also a human necessity to maintain the illusion of our own safety and indeed immortality. When horrors like the Boston Marathon bombings occur it tends to shake up our human illusions and engender fear. In the aftermath of these horrors though come the “explainers” whose attempts to soothe us only increase the fears. Following the “explainers” come those who would exploit the aroused fears for their personal gain or predilection. This happened in America from 9/11 and in its wake the false meme “This Changes Everything” was transformed into a reality of war, torture and the shredding of our Constitution. My anxiety was raised because as I watch this all unfold on TV I became fearful of how this new attention arousing horror would be used by those intent upon transforming this country into a Police State under the guise of saving it from terror.
Last night I watched the TV coverage from 5:00 pm until Midnight. In the aftermath of the successful capture of the second suspect and with the bows taken by the innumerable Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s), my anxiety reached a point of fruition where I saw that this whole incident does not bode well for us all and for our freedoms. The climax of that during the self-congratulatory press conference was the introduction of the vile U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who will be handling this prosecution. For those where the name Carmen Ortiz doesn’t ring a bell please follow these links to recent blogs by Jonathan Turley and me: http://jonathanturley.org/2013/01/30/the-obama-administrations-inspector-javert-federal-court-rejects-forfeiture-effort-by-the-office-of-carmen-ortiz-in-stinging-rebuke/ and: http://jonathanturley.org/2013/01/26/carmen-ortiz-prosecution-for-political-ego/ and this: http://jonathanturley.org/2013/01/18/the-obama-administrations-inspector-javert-speaks-ortiz-issues-statement-in-swartz-case/
Ms. Ortiz responded to a question by confirming the “Public Safety Exception” would be invoked in this case, which would delay informing the suspect of his Miranda rights and keep him from seeing an attorney. The use of this Court approved “exception” basically takes away the Constitutional Rights of defendants presumed to be terrorists and yes this is something that we as ordinary citizens should worry about as explained here: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/04/dzhokhar_tsarnaev_and_miranda_rights_the_public_safety_exception_and_terrorism.html
There had been speculation throughout the day that this “Exception” would be invoked, indeed the “estimable” Senator Lindsay Graham has called on the President to invoke this “exception” and now after the successful capture we get confirmation that the Administration would do just that and this information is relayed by a U.S. Attorney who has exhibited the tendency to use the power of the office to harass at least one person into suicide.
There was more though about the whole way this case played out that disturbed me further and it is something that I have written about recently: http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/09/swat-is-america-coming-under-martial-law/
After the death of the older brother in the shootout in the middle of night and the escape of the younger brother initiating the massed manhunt, the entire City of Boston was in effect shut down. Maybe I’m too blasé in attitude but this seemed to be an extraordinary measure. Even in the direct aftermath of 9/11 only Lower Manhattan below 42nd Street was shut down and that was due to the chaos and disruption in the aftermath of the collapse of the World Trade Center disrupting the subways and other New York City services. In this case the citizens of an entire large City were ordered to remain indoors indefinitely. Now I can understand this precaution taken in the Watertown area alone, but all of Boston seems excessive. It essentially held an entire City hostage to the whims of one admittedly dangerous 19 year old, where all the evidence would lead one to presume was on foot, since LEO’s quickly discovered the abandoned, hijacked Mercedes he drove through a police barricade to escape. I found this troubling.
It was ironic in the end, that the suspect was eventually located as a direct result of the “shutdown” being lifted, by a man who came out of his house, noticed blood on the tarp of his boat and peeked in to see the suspect covered in blood. Also troubling to me was that once the suspect had been located it seemed like every sort of LEO from the area drove down congesting the streets with an abundance of vehicles, armored cars, ambulances and trucks of various kinds. Actually an hour into the siege I saw three Federal Government, Black SUV’s pull up into the crowd of vehicles and LEO’s and these were presumably the FBI arriving on the scene. Actually, the Agencies represented there were beyond count. There were at least the Watertown PD, the Boston PD, the FBI, and the DEA (why?), the ATF, the Massachusetts State Troopers, the National Guard (why?) and who knows who else. The show of force to capture one cornered and bloody young man was extraordinary and I think far out of proportion to the mission at hand. Indeed it seemed that many officers came down to feel like they had gotten into the action, rather than out of need. That this terrorist was captured alive is indeed salutary, but the show of force seemed out of place and will no doubt serve as a model for future situations. This indeed seemed to be the “Martial Law” that I discussed in my blog linked above.
Please understand I’m not implying that the capture of the suspect and the solving of this act of terror, at least of the immediate perpetrators wasn’t a good bit of work by law enforcement, because it was. Yet if you think about it, as with most stupidly committed crimes a good deal of the work done was not trailblazing a new path, but actually using long established law enforcement methods updated by our digital age. The cameras that captured the original pictures belonged to Lord and Taylor, not the City of Boston. The video of the two men that was played over and over was a direct analogy to something that we’ve used in this country for hundreds of years, the wanted poster. While it might come out that the video of the perpetrators initiated leads as to the men’s identities from friends and acquaintances, it was the killing of the MIT policeman that focused the attention of the area where the bombers were confronted. Finally, even though a supposed perimeter had been established that cornered the younger brother, he was as admitted by the police holed up in a boat one block outside that perimeter and only discovered by a private citizen. This was good police work, but not astounding police work and yet the hagiography has already begun about this case and precedent will be established based upon it. I am glad for the capture, interested in discovering the reasons for this terrible act, but depressed that it may represent a further step towards a police state in America, under possibly martial law. What do you think?
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/09/swat-is-america-coming-under-martial-law/
The police state must justify the cost of its increasingly large presence. They all needed to show up to have their departments shown as being necessary to a favorable outcome. It’s no different from the military or education industrial complexes; they need more and more to better do thier jobs, regardless of the true societal cost of those rights crushing and tax burdensome complexes.
Thanks Mike. 🙂
RWL,
** Anyway, I did fine a conflicting story with the FBI’s video cameras: the explosions came from inside the gate/barricades that were preventing the crowd from interfering with the Boston Runners. However, the FBI’s video cameras. show the ‘package/bomb’ being outside **
I remember seeing what you’re speaking of.
Earlier this week there was one or more pictures showing the (Craft/Navy Seal?) guy with what looked like an outline of a possible pressure cooker in his backpack.
Going back looking for that picture/pictures I don’t see it now but it was in this group of pictures below.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/boston-bombing-culprits-identified.html
nick spinelli 1, April 20, 2013 at 12:07 pm
They had bombs and were suicidal, that makes them quite different than other killers.
=======================================
So are rogue officials operating criminally under the cover of law.
For example, here is an FBI Management Level Agent, in charge of 700 other agents, telling us in a video interview that rogue elements of the FBI in New York engineered the 1993 bombing of the WTC:
http://archive.org/details/TheRealMeaningOfTheOriginalWorldTradeCenterAttack
Oky1,
Just to let you know WordPress puts a comment in moderation automatically if you use more than two links. Repost it with two links and if you have more links put them in a following comment.
RWL,
My last post is awaiting moderation, but below is the guts of it.
I wouldn’t put anything past some in DC to cover up the facts of the story below.
And instead of the Facts of the story below being the major news cycle of the week most eyes are diverted to the 2nd Amd & Boston.
**
The report is an indictment not only of President Bush who is responsible for the torture program but President Obama who promised CIA officials that they would not be investigated or prosecuted for torture.
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/04/17/report-u-s-government-ran-torture-program-after-9-11/
**
I also meant to say that we have the power to change this country. I also meant to say find not fine.
I meant to say the ‘package’ was outside the gates/barricades.
Oky1,
‘We are preparing for Massive Civil War…..’
I have been stating this sense I have been on this blog. I told people that ‘international terrorism’ doesn’t exist due to the fact that we sell weapons to every country in the world (I thought that it was odd that we were at an undeclared war or conflict with certain countries while at the same time competing against those countries in the olympic games…dating back during Hitler’s reign in Germany).
I will state this again: the greatest fear the Elites have is the ‘bewildred masses’ (us). We have the power to change country if we united. The Elites have been prevented us from uniting. So divided, we remain conqurered.
Anyway, I did fine a conflicting story with the FBI’s video cameras: the explosions came from inside the gate/barricades that were preventing the crowd from interfering with the Boston Runners. However, the FBI’s video cameras. show the ‘package/bomb’ being outside
Mike, another great article. My sentiments exactly.
The right to an attorney shouldn’t be dependent on being given the Miranda warning. I hope the suspect just keeps asking for one and says nothing else. I understand the desire to know everything about the suspect, his motives, etc. but I’m more concerned about his (and my) rights being protected.
I’m still absorbing the man hunt. As I contemplated the house to house search and the thoroughness of same I thought about people I know locally who have things in their homes they would not want the government to see. Things like exoctic plants for personal use in their basement or guns not on any approved list in their collection, etc. I also contemplated how all this recent discussion about government tyranny and the need to have firearms to protect against over-reach by the government was so easily circumvented by the manhunt.
I’m still absorbing the ease in which the hunt was organized and conducted. If you didn’t answer your door when the police knocked and announced their presence, they entered by “other means”. Fully armed and armored men at your door backed up by armored vehicles and troops outside … chilling.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/military-boston/
“The Pentagon’s bomb squad formally predicted the threat last year: improvised explosive devices of the sort seen in Iraq and Afghanistan would come to American cities. “In the event of an IED-related domestic incident,” the squad, known as JIEDDO, further anticipated in its five-year strategic plan, “the lead federal agency will require DoD [Department of Defense] support.”
As it turns out, not really. Assuming investigators are correct that the Boston Marathon bombs were jury-rigged together, the Marathon attack on Monday represents the first major domestic homemade bomb attack of the post-9/11 era. But first responders, cops and federal law enforcement didn’t call on any significant Defense Department aid. It’s an encouraging sign amidst a depressing week.
Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman, provides the tally of U.S. military support for the aftermath of the bombing. The one unambiguous Defense Department element? A team of three Navy explosive-ordnance disposal technicians who drove from Naval Station Newport to assist on Monday night with clearing suspicious packages. Turned out the packages weren’t bombs, so the Navy team wasn’t needed the next day.
Approximately 1000 Massachusetts National Guardsmen were on hand in Boston, including two teams designed to detect unconventional weapons, called Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams. Most of them were deployed before the bombs went off, to secure the Marathon site. But at no point were the Guardsmen federalized: they were always under the control of Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts. According to Crosson, as of this morning, about 850 Guardsmen remain on-hand in Boston.
That’s it. No combat air patrols over Massachusetts airspace. No specialized bomb-detection gear. No overhead drone surveillance. ” Spencer Ackerman
They had bombs and were suicidal, that makes them quite different than other killers.
Just a quirk…and perhaps a quibble…precisely why are military camouflage
outfits an advantage in urban environments?
One note: Uniformed soldiers were present in the “embedded” media coverage along with patrols that noted “military police” on their bullet proof vests. One can only speculate that this is the initial steps to placing soldiers as normative “security” forces to patrol streets in the future. The soldiers in the media coverage were unarmed…so it must be the sight of uniforms that was being “strategically” acclimatized into the public view. The sense that these things are so carefully plotted is as real as anything else that speaks to a discriminatory attitude and intentionality against the constitutional securities in favor of force and general militarization becoming the overriding norm.
Directly what worried me about this case; just because something went “boom” does not mean a whole city should cower behind locked doors while every LEO within range goes through the streets as if it is downtown Beirut. I worry about the terror label being able to invoke this response to any crime.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2010/12/06/unified-quest-2011-pentagon-war-games-u-s-economic-meltdown/
US
‘Unified Quest 2011′: Pentagon ‘War Games’ U.S. Economic Meltdown
Dec. 6, 2010 10:04am Scott Baker
with 114 comments from the world of 2010…ages ago!
[and] http://www.theblaze.com/stories/pentagon-has-been-war-gaming-for-economic-disaster-since-early-09/ ; where “Army officials met outside Washington…. for a thought experiment about the implications of a large-scale economic breakdown that would force the Army to absorb significant funding cuts and prepare the service for an increased role in keeping domestic order amid civil unrest,”
I agree with Mike. There are already killers wandering the streets of Boston. Why isnt’ the city locked down 24/7? Why aren’t all cities?
The self-congratulation was sickening as they then rubbed their hands together with unconcealed triumphant, unable wait for the goon squad to come in between now and Miranda, however long that is.
Because arrest and prosecution is no longer enough in America. We must have the armed-forces televised spectacle on one end, and the kangaroo court on the t’other.
Mike S,
Some inside the govt have been attacking “We the People”s peaceful govt/us for some time now.
Those False flag Aholes are being exposed/de-cloated to the wider population.
The Wallst/London Commie/Fascist police state isn’t coming, it’s here right now.
**
An amazing interview of FBI Ted Gunderson (see PDF below for Wikipedia info), which may change everything you think you know about terrorism and the war on terrorism.
http://archive.org/details/TheRealMeaningOfTheOriginalWorldTradeCenterAttack
**
We are Preparing for Massive Civil War, Says DHS Informant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXg2WsNCrW4
**
Robert McNamara admits Gulf of Tonkin attack did not happen
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gulf+of+tonkin+false+flag&oq=gulf+of&gs_l=youtube.1.7.0l10.220095.227457.0.234050.39.24.0.0.0.15.357.2187.19j3j0j1.23.0…0.0…1ac.1.VaPy48d7uD0
**
Also Ck infowars.com They have the pictures up of the other Boston patsies/black opts or who ever they are.
Of course the powerful in government don’t like the fact that he has the right to remain silent. Yet (the “exception” notwithstanding) he is an American citizen in the United States and has that right.
The “exception” reminds me of Ben Frankin. “He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither.”
He who gives up rights in the name of safety indeed deserves neither.
Mike,
I don’t have a problem with the shut down of the city. This was a dangerous guy and the public was at risk while he was on the loose. That being said, when I saw and heard Ms. Ortiz’ name, the hair on the back of my neck went up. If she is involved, I am nervous. The public safety exception is an abomination. First of all, this young man is a US citizen. That used to mean something, but somehow the DOJ thinks they can take away his rights by waving the magic public safety exception. Crazy.