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But will reporters do their jobs?
http://prospect.org/article/beware-ties
Beware Of "Ties"
Paul Waldman
April 22, 2013
When someone says the Tsarnaevs had "ties" to radical Islamists or al-Qaeda, ask them to get specific.
Something to think about as we learn more in the coming days about both Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his deceased brother Tamerlan. Everything investigators have released so far suggests that they acted alone, and you can easily find instructions to make the kind of bomb they used on the Internet. But as details get fleshed out about where they went, what they did, and whom they met in the last few years, there's a phrase we'll be hearing a lot: "ties to al-Qaeda." So before people start saying the brothers had "ties to al-Qaeda," we should make sure we know exactly what we're saying when we use that term.
We still don't know much about why the Russian government contacted the FBI regarding Tamerlan, and what he did on an extended trip to Chechnya and Dagestan in 2012. Who knows, maybe Ayman al-Zawahiri himself went to Grozny to meet with him, told him how to make the bombs, and ordered him to carry out the attack. But probably not.
It's a lot more likely that we'll find out about some far more tenuous "ties" (or perhaps "links" of the talked-to-a-guy-who-knew-a-guy-whose-cousin-knew-a-guy variety. But some conservatives aren't even waiting to find that out. Lindsey Graham argued that it was justified to hold Dzhokhar as an enemy combatant "with his radical Islamist ties and the fact that Chechens are all over the world fighting with al-Qaeda." There are those "ties" popping up.
Some people obviously see it in their interest to fit the Tsarnaev brothers neatly into their perception of the worldwide Islamic enemy, and if the only "tie" they can find is that Dzhokhar visited some Islamist web sites, that'll be good enough for them. So it wouldn't hurt if the next time Lindsey Graham or any other politician starts talking about their "ties," any reporters nearby asked to hear exactly what the "ties" consist of. Then we can judge how seriously we ought to take it.
spanone
(135,830 posts)gateley
(62,683 posts)Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)1984, so I have definite "ties" to Big Brother, or is it Emanuel Goldstein? Maybe both?
Oh gosh, I am a double agent!
mercymechap
(579 posts)ties anyway they can because they hate Muslims. Never mind that they don't mind all the money that is going into helping Iraq (Muslims) form a Democracy, as if that is ever going to happen!
Still Sensible
(2,870 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)We don't need that bunch of greedy sociopaths in charge then. The world has so many things that need to be dealt with to make a better future and save life on Earth. Stop their narrative now.
Samantha
(9,314 posts)She also reviewed the questioning at his bedside by the judge today. He indicated he and his brother got the instructions for making bombs off the internet and they were not receiving assistance from people abroad.
Sam
indivisibleman
(482 posts)Our bs meter works pretty good but every tip helps and this is a good one.
DhhD
(4,695 posts)according to the FBI. Wonder if the FBI is covering for their lack of surveillance last summer.
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)Harry Monroe
(2,935 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Al Qaeda because some of them are fighting alongside Al Qaeda. The nationality or ethnicity is a tie all by itself. So Graham has ties to terrorists because he is American and so is Timothy McVeigh. Oh, wait, it doesn't work that way in Republican-land.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)for purposes of investigation, as having connections with a terrorist organization. I haven't heard AQ, but I've heard a reference to some other group.
When the older brother went to Chechnya a while back, he stayed for months. If there is evidence he spent time with terrorists there, that would qualify as a tie. And there are a lot of terrorists where the brothers are from.
As far as the criminal charges go, I don't think "ties" with a terrorist organization is a part of the indictment, is it?
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)It was like "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon".
Any charity that supported Palestine was on the hit list right off the bat. Then anyone who gave to one of those charities. Then anyone who KNEW anyone who gave to those charities. It got so crazy that a politico had to be careful attending a wedding to make sure nobody on the guest list was someone who could even be LINKED to someone who gave to a charity that gave to a group that provided aid to children in Gaza.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)He's quite tight with a certain guy whose father watched the attacks on the Pentagon with Osama bin Laden's brother.
Fucking terrorists.