Father Of Suspect At Large: ‘My Son Is A True Angel’

[ProSense]

Father Of Suspect At Large: ‘My Son Is A True Angel’

The father of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, is in the Russian city of Makhachkala, according to the Associated Press.

Speaking with the AP over the telephone, Anzor Tsarnaev spoke glowingly of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect who is still at large who is in the U.S. studying medicine. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a firefight with police early Friday.

"My son is a true angel," the elder Tsarnaev said. "Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy. We expected him to come on holidays here."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/father-of-suspect-at-large-my-son-is

Bombing Suspects’ Uncle: ‘If He Did This, I’m Sorry’

An uncle of the Boston marathon bombing suspects said Friday that he was stunned to learn that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving man who is still at large, was involved in the incident. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old brother, was killed in a firefight with police early Friday.

"It's crazy," Ruslan Tsarni said in an interview with CBS affiliate WBZ. "It's not possible. I can't believe it."

"I'm sorry, too," he added. "If he did this, I'm sorry, too."

Tsami, who lives in Montgomery Village, Md., told the Associated Press that the men lived together near Boston and have been in the United States for about a decade. They came from the Russian region near Chechnya, which has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency stemming from separatist wars.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/bombing-suspects-uncle-if-he-did-this-im

They've been here since 2002-2003.

Why would two people who have been in this country for a little over a decade, coming here as young as 9 and 16, carry out a terrorist attack?

[Xipe Totec]

1. Alienation is a powerful polarizing force nt

[cali]

2. Very very unlikely he was a 2nd year med student

He just graduated from hs a year or two ago.

[bullwinkle428]

6. My guess is 2nd year PRE-med, and his dad isn't all that nuanced

when it comes to using the English language.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Perhaps they are confusing "pre-med"?

[stevenleser]

12. That was my thought too. nt

[Fantastic Anarchist]

3. That's what I want to know.

When I was that young, my "cause" was about getting drunk, getting laid, and getting high (still my cause). I just can't wrap my head around this. I hope they take him alive so we can find out the rationale, if any, behind this.

[joeglow3]

16. That tends to happen when you are radicalized

Now, I had the same "cause" as you (my wife would say getting laid is still my cause) and I am glad I was never radicalized.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

20. I was radical about my cause.

Still am.

[dballance]

4. I Feel for the Uncle. I Also Feel Fear for the Uncle and Family

People here in the US can be crazy. Now that the name and location of the uncle and family are known they are in danger. I hope they have police protection now.

[Zax2me]

5. They were radicalized Muslims

That's how.
Had no American friends - and been here that long?

[stevenleser]

11. They apparently had American friends as recently as a year ago. I think the radicalization alienates

in as many cases as vice-versa (the alienation radicalizes).

[FarCenter]

13. A high school friend was interviewed on CNN

Normal US high school student in a very diverse high school. No expressions of particular religious fervor.

[cbdo2007]

19. Many people join cults and stuff after graduating High School for whatever reason

I knew people like that in High School and many people you ask say similar things, like the freedom of finally being an adult leads them to make their own choices but they really aren't ready to make their own choices yet so they get sucked in by authority type figures who brain wash them. Not saying that's what happened here, just relating a similar experience in response to your post.

[FarCenter]

21. The older brother is more interesting -- he would have been in his late teens when he came to the US

29 now, he would have been around 19 or 20 in 2002 or 2003 when they came. So high school alienation is not likely an issue. He may be the radicalized one, and the younger brother is a follower. They were in that order in the sidewalk video.

[cbdo2007]

22. That's what I'm guessing.....

yeah I was referring my anecdote to the younger one and implying the "authority" figure in his life that brainwashed him was the older brother. Just speculation.

[FarCenter]

24. If the AP is right, and they talked to the right person in Russia, the brother may be the leader

With the father returned to Russia, the brother may be the oldest male.

[SoCalDem]

7. Who knows why people do things like that? It could be many small things

or one polarizing event.. Look at Adolph.. Had he been lauded as an artist, instead of being ridiculed, who knows what might have happened..

[BanzaiBonnie]

17. But he was a really terrible artist...

from what I've heard.

He had trouble with the abstract. I've wondered if he's like a lot of those stuck in some sort of fundamentalist beliefs, if they don't see it or experience it themselves, it's not real. They have trouble with moving between real and abstract.

[Chan790]

25. Here they are so you can judge for yourself.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-hitlers-paintings?image=0

As someone who likes and buys art, I wouldn't say they're bad per-say...his technique is skillful...the content of them runs painfully boring. They feel like ennui, there is no action, nothing to draw the eye or make you wonder...I'd summarize them as what you might see looking out a boring window onto an empty street on a very boring day.

It's the sort of art I might pay $25 to hang in an anteroom or over the public toilet. They're so devoid of life that they could not offend anybody until they read the signature line. If he'd been born 50 years later, he'd have been a millionaire creating bland masterpieces for companies that decorate corporate offices.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. I don't know. Why would two American-born, white teenagers shoot up

a school? Wasn't that a terrorist attack too?

[seabeyond]

10. "Why would two people who"... cause no one liked him, had no friends, life not fair,

convince brother to make a stand.

[BootinUp]

14. So the rest of the family loves our freedom. I kind of doubt it.

[Chan790]

26. I don't.

Sometimes kids fall so far from the tree that the kid and the tree end up diametrically-opposed.

I could not be more different from the rest of my wealthy conservative religiously-strict buttoned-down family. Judging by the reaction when I became an anti-poverty activist, I'm pretty sure my mother would have preferred I joined Al Qaeda; it would have been less-shameful at the country club.

[AnalystInParadise]

15. If someone is already alienated

It is not difficult to radicalize them.....And Chechen Fundamentalists have two weapons in their toolbox. An appeal to religion and an appeal to Nationalism, Chechens are VERY nationalistic. Also given that Chechens are fighting American military personnel in Afghanistan, Patriots Day seems to me an apropos target. Speculation yes, but with a relative high degree of certainty

[Johonny]

18. Do the whys of these people ever make sense

We know why the unibomber did what he did but it doesn't really help. We know a lot about the motives of many mass killers, but it never really helps. We will likely know the why? eventually but so far it looks a lot like the Oklahoma city bombing. A group of people drawn together within their group and social network. The power of the cult mentality is pretty strong and likely they see justification in their acts but to the vast majority of society outside their collective thinking, it makes no sense and the motive will seem nonsensical.

[WinkyDink]

23. Their mother was arrested in Boston last year for shoplifting. Revenge?