Whoever built the Boston Marathon bombs is still on the loose (2018) | Hacker News Reader

Whoever built the Boston Marathon bombs is still on the loose (2018)

newsweek.com

123 pointsAndrewBissell48 comments

There was a lot of strange stuff going on with the FBI in the Tsarnaev case. Agents from the Boston FBI office traveled to Florida and shot Ibragim Todashev and then couldn’t get their story straight about whether he attacked FBI agents with a broom or a samurai sword or a table.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibragim_Todashev

Here is a CNN story from 2015 making a case that they had help with the bombs: https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/us/boston-marathon-bombing-tr...

It doesn't speculate who helped them. Some details, though. Like their claim that they used directions from the Al Queda Inspire magazine. Some details on parts like Christmas lights and RC car parts, etc.

Nope.

My father-in-law met the Tsarnaev brothers. They were out shopping for electric switches. My father-in-law worked in an electric supply store that didn't stock the right type of switch, so he directed them to a store that would have the needed part. He later recognized them, leading to the store video being seized as evidence and helping to track them down.

Feeling of guilt over helping the Tsarnaev brothers gnawed at him, worsening the bad lifestyle choices that led to his death before he could testify.

I don't think they'd go shopping for a switch if they didn't intend to build the device. There might have been a local co-conspirator such as Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife. Wikipedia says: Her web history included searches for "If your husband becomes a shahid, what are the rewards for you?" and "the rewards for the wife of Mujahedeen."

> [District Attorney] Blodgett gave no explanation

> The FBI declined to answer

It's a sad state of affairs when authorities see no reason to even bother with any kind of justification for what is obviously a much deeper issue. This is one of the very things that set democracies apart - accountability towards the people.

In the London terrorist knife attack a few days ago, the killer had a fake bomb vest on, he was already neutralised but police shot him when he showed them the fake vest. There'll be an investigation whether this shooting was justified. It probably is, because they probably thought the vest was real and he was about to trigger the detonator, but I'm glad there's still scrutiny of lethal police action.

It's awfully hard to believe an article that is dead set on sensationalizing and demonizing everyday materials:

> metallic BBs, electrical wires, batteries, cellphone parts, circuit boards

> hobby fuse and wires, batteries, dismantled cellphones, fire starters

> Thermite ... recipe for chlorine gas

> plastic zip ties like the ones used by police when they are making large-scale arrests

> knives, decorative swords, a loaded 9 mm pistol and a large, fully loaded Russian bolt action rifle, along with several hundred rounds of high-caliber ammunition.

> machete, steel wool, a Duraflame log, coffee grinders and shards of metal shavings

Who doesn't have most of these "ominous materials", for basic every day civil purposes? And if someone needs a written recipe for chlorine gas, I doubt their ability to make bread without burning down the kitchen.

Sure, the article also contains details that do indicate the making of bombs (although once again, playing with explosives can be just good clean fun), and more importantly actual connection to the crimes. It's just not good that the majority of their narrative is built on innuendo and further marginalizing their audience with ominous fear.

Having a few of these things, in isolation, would be no cause for alarm. It's all of them taken together and stashed away in a bedroom, along with the bizarre behavior of both Morley and the FBI, which makes it seem very suspicious.

Your comment is basically continuing the innuendo train. All of these things, taken together, are perfectly reasonable to have, period. It sounds like his "bedroom" was his only personal space away from his mother, so once again nothing notable. And "stashed" is yet another baseless pejorative.

I do agree there are other pertinent details that are the actual cause for concern, especially regarding the FBI. But why not stick to those rather than illustrating some scary sounding but ultimately innocuous motif around the suspect?

I'm thinking the dynamic is that the journalist has no idea what the real world is actually like (eg associating "wires" with movie bombs, rather than realizing they're in literally every electric device), but has been trained to embellish their writing with descriptive words, and so they've resorted to crafting a narrative of fear of general odds and ends. Perhaps they should have visited the witchcraft victims' memorial one town south to remind themselves what such fearmongering leads to.

I think if you have all of those things, in toto, in your basement all where they belong, it's normal. Those specific things, hidden in your bedroom, are enough to make your parents ask questions. If he was a homemade pyrotechnics enthusiast, it'd be perfectly normal. Was he?

Also, LOL at the bag of perlite. It's almost as if someone told him to go to the hardware store to buy fertilizer for a "fertilizer bomb", and this guy gets a bag of chemically inert soil amendment instead.

I'd say that many of those things, by themselves, are enough for parents to ask questions. Questions like "do I think my son is mature enough to have firearms under my roof" and "are these flammable things stored responsibly" ? But personal judgment and implied criminality are entirely different beasts.

Thanks for mentioning the perlite, I missed had that. I love how it's presented uncritically - sounds like thermite! I wonder if he had some deadly diatomaceous earth as well? Maybe I'm just taking it too seriously and the whole article is actually meant to be a comic.

While not in one place, I, and many people posess most of those completely legal things.

Gotta wonder about those guys with 'Decorative Swords' tho... /s

The Boston Bombings and the CIA Connection. Graham Fuller and Uncle Ruslan Tsarnaev - https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-boston-bombings-and-the-ci...

the above article on globalresearch.ca was posted a couple of times here and it appears to veer off into batshit conspiratorial nonsense about fake blood and injuries towards the end. pinch of salt required whilst reading.

True, but I think that the uncle's connections in Washington enabled the brother's and their family's entry to the US. After that it is simply another case of maladaptation to their new situation, conversion to extremism, the deed, and then clean-up of a potentially embarrassing situation. It's basically "blowback" from the covert operations to use Islamic extremism against the USSR and Russia.

> uncle's connections in Washington

The uncle, then still Tsarnaev, lived by his father in law in Maryland and while living there incorporated there "the Congress of Chechen International Organizations".

See my other post here.

> It's basically "blowback" from the covert operations to use Islamic extremism against the USSR and Russia.

That's how one part of the whole story can be interpreted.

One of the most interesting titles from The Washington Post I've read was: "The Taliban indoctrinates kids with jihadist textbooks paid for by the U.S." (2014)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/12/08...

"As The Washington Post reported in 2002, the United States had spent millions of dollars beginning in the 1980s to produce and disseminate anti-Soviet textbooks for Afghan schoolchildren. The books encouraged a jihadist outlook, which was useful propaganda at the time for a Washington driven by the imperatives of the Cold War."

I've also posted the link to that article here, but I never claimed I agree with all its claims. It should be used not differently than any other source on the internet, with enough grains of salt: I simply remember the "uncle" connection and I remember reading about the connection, and I've searched for any article mentioning it, finding the article you criticize.

There are, however, still other ways to read about the same "uncle connection", especially about the uncle's father in law, searching a little more. E.g. Wikipedia article, the current state:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_E._Fuller

"After the Boston Marathon bombing, it was revealed that Fuller's daughter Samantha Ankara Fuller (married name Tsarnaev) was married in the 1990s to Ruslan Tsarni (born Tsarnaev), the uncle of the perpetrators Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.[16] They divorced on 26 April 1999, in Orange County, North Carolina.[17] Ruslan Tsarni worked for companies connected to Halliburton. He was also a consultant for a company contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan.[18]"

Fuller is somehow still relevant internationally (as of 2018)(!), enough that he's a topic for "BBC in Turkish" news:

https://t24.com.tr/haber/eski-cia-yetkilisi-graham-fuller-ha...

Translated by Google Translate:

"BBC in Turkish

Former CIA official Graham Fuller on the arrest warrant

As part of the investigation into the July 15 coup attempt, former CIA National Intelligence Council Vice President Graham Fuller was issued with a warrant for the arrest"

It's about arrest warrant in Turkey if I understand correctly. Here's an English version:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42198399

and Newsweek 2017:

https://www.newsweek.com/cia-graham-fuller-arrest-turkey-erd...

Anyway, back to Tsarnaev case, there is a proof that while living in Fuller's Maryland house, the uncle of the brothers, at that time also still with the family name Tsarnaev (he changed it later to Tsarni) in 1995 incorporated there in that very house "the Congress of Chechen International Organizations":

https://www.madcowprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/maryla...

https://www.madcowprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/DC-rea...

Fuller didn't deny these facts, even if he claimed in 2013 that it was somehow accidental:

http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2013/04/5090/for...

"“Samantha was married to Ruslan Tsarnaev (Tsarni) for 3-4 years, and they lived in Bishkek for one year where Samantha was working for Price Waterhouse on privatization projects,” Fulller, a former CIA officer in Turkey and vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, told Al-Monitor by email Saturday. “They also lived in our house in [Maryland] for a year or so and they were divorced in 1999, I believe.”"

He also commented on Turkish story here:

https://stockholmcf.org/graham-fuller-i-am-lucky-not-to-be-l...

"Fuller added that “Not content with absurd accusations of coup plotting by myself and a few Americans, the Erdoğan government has also stoked the fires with ‘fake facts’ and crude propaganda fabrications about my own views and writings."

So yes, not everything that is written somewhere is true.

Still, an interesting person. A lot can be found using a search machine.

Not that it's even close to relevant to the story, but wow, suddenly my childhood wish that my first name, Morley, was more well known has come true.

Be careful what you wish for...

Did you know that you own a chain of famous chicken shops in South London?

You even have merchandise!

https://www.morleyslondon.com/collections/all

Also the name of the fictional cigarettes used frequently by CSM on the X-Files

Yeah, that one came as a surprise when I was walking around in Wandsworth and found one.

Most Canadians would probably be familiar your name from Stuart McLean's popular stories about Dave and Morley on the radio show The Vinyl Cafe. So it's not all bad.

Interesting story, but why would the FBI protect Morley? What would be their motive?

[redacted]

Really?

I don’t know about Morley but the background of the uncle of the brothers is worth reading about:

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-boston-bombings-and-the-ci...

“Ruslan Tsarnaev, the outspoken uncle of the brothers was married to Samantha A. Fuller until 2004. Samantha’s father is Graham Fuller, the senior CIA person who was the architect the Afghan Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen war against the Soviets.”

No idea, but based on the way they returned the evidence to local authorities and claiming they couldn't find anything makes me wonder if they committed a serious breach of protocol at some point (i.e. an FBI agent or informant gave the suspect live bomb-making materials constituting entrapment, etc.)

Yes, this sounds like the most likely explanation - they were already involved in some way, and admitting it would be far worse than merely not catching the bomber. Wasn't there something like this with Mexican gunrunning? And isn't there already a record of the FBI effectively creating suspects by "recruiting" them as terrorists?

Yep, here’s a case of the FBI recruiting a “terrorist” for the publicity of stopping an attack on a holiday:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Portland_car_bomb_plot

Wasn't there something like this with Mexican gunrunning?

You're likely referring to the ATF gunwalking scandal[0], the best known piece of which was "Operation Fast and Furious"[1]:

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/world/americas/operation-fast...

>Mexican gunrunning

You are thinking of Operation Fast and Furious I believe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mosharref_Hossain

Giving the suspect live bomb making materials would be a bad thing to do... but it probably wouldn't be entrapment.

Entrapment _generally_ requires more than that law enforcement facilitated the crime: it (broadly) requires that they somehow induced someone to commit a crime they would otherwise be unwilling to.

Most people aren't 'gifted bomb making materials and plans' while being coached by law enforcement. The implied facts paint a hazy picture at best.

The FBI has a long history of masterminding terror plots, recruiting foolish people (some who are mentally impaired) to carry them out, providing them with the means to do so, and then arresting them just before they carry out the plot and declaring that the FBI has protected America by thwarting another terror plot.

Given the facts in the article that Morley is the likely bombmaker, knew the brothers, and the feds particularly the FBI are protecting him, it now appears that the Marathon bombing was yet another terror plot thought up by the FBI, Morley was working under their direction and was their handler, and the FBI lost control of the situation in this case and failed to execute the arrest before the bomb was actually deployed.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11882047

Lead-paint, tobacco, and anti-personnel mine manufacturing executives live out their lives and retire peacefully with no danger of arrest or prosecution.

I get your drift on mines, and tobacco after 1960 is pretty clear even if users were mostly aware, but lead was the best additive for oil base paints out there, and few issues exist if you don't actively eat it. It is still used in much paint worldwide, and in mast art paints. Even abspestos is still being produced, and to a small extent, sold in the usa. Both are still only illegal to use in certain circumstances, although nearly defacto banned thanks to very successful civil mesotheiloma and lead exposure litigation.

Lead dust gets into the air. It is directly responsible for thousands upon thousands of murders. The decline in violent crime is a direct result of decreasing childhood exposure.

Maybe that’s why so many murders happen in Michigan? The lead in their Flint River contaminated their water supply and this type of poisoning gives people trouble with their brain.

The lead was not in the source water or the main water supply. The chemistry of the water supply was not properly maintained and the water dissolved lead from the pipes supplying the homes.

The main source of the lead was the supply lines between the water mains and the homes.

I would guess the FBI has sophisticated means of tracking purchases and probably had their eyes on him for that reason. It’s possible he really did have a mental breakdown and bought all that after reading too much redpill post-attacks. Who knows.

This is from 2018. Since then have there been any substantial new developments?

Couldn't find much, but looks like the author is releasing a second book in April: https://twitter.com/MicheleMcPhee/status/1201618338746519552...

I think we found the next popular crime podcast. :)

Random fact -

The FBI put out a version of Inspire which had the 'How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom' which had some sort of malware or corruption when it came out.

From memory when viewing it became corrupt specifically during the 'How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom'. I assumed in a unpatched system it'd overflow or something.

Never seen the sandy hook crew try and link this, but there could be a fair argument the FBI supplied the instructions of 'How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom' to a lot of people, and perhaps even the bombers doing this honey pot.

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