So on Sunday two bombs exploded near the finish line of the famous Boston Marathon. These blasts killed three and injured about 150 more (those numbers are still rising). The local police have now turned over the investigation to the FBI, who has investigated and says the following things about this tragedy:
- The bombs were made with pressure cookers
- The bombs held nails, ball bearings, and other small metal pieces
- The bombs were placed in a position to where they could do the most damage
The President of the United States has made a statement on this event as of the morning of 16 April, 2013. While I disagree with the Presidents policies I do think he handled this very well. He made it a point in his speech to avoid the word terrorism and instead opted to call it an act of terror which varies drastically. The FBI defines terrorism as: The unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. Since we do not know who did this and why they did it, then by definition it cannot be qualified as terrorism yet. This act CAN however be qualified as an act of terror; the action did cause a considerable amount of terror.
Im going to only offer the following as response to these events
I hope this is a domestic citizen who was doing this not a foreign operative or a terrorist cell. This has the potential to spark back up the conflicts in the Middle East. With North Korea acting up now, the United States is facing the possibility of fighting two wars at once. Not only that, but if this is a terrorist cell and we surge troops again in the Middle East, the North Koreans could see this as an opportunity to step up. This is not a good situation for the US. Im a proud American, but Im not afraid to admit that despite all our big talk, we would have MAJOR problems fighting two wars in two different parts of the world. The last time anything like this happened, we had massive drafts and most men were gone from home. Of course Im referring to World War Two. At that time we were only fighting one war officially, but the war was divided into the Pacific Campaign and the Atlantic Campaign, which were almost separate wars in their own right. We do have more technology now, but it wouldnt help us when the enemy combatants are resorting to guerilla tactics (there is not much you can do when someone pops up from the side of the road and fires an RPG at your humvee or a car explodes right next to your squad). In closing I leave you with one thought Are we really prepared to fight two wars? I dont think so, so I hope this is not a foreign terrorism operation.
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