What the heck is going on at the Boston Marathon??

[Sheherezade]

It's awful. T&S, I'm thinking of your family and friends.

[Sheherezade]

T&S, do you recognize the area in the Twitter pictures? #Watertown has a ton of info flowing-- could be bogus, of course. Seems to be at a particular building that they think he's in. They are saying Quimby Street?

[GrayMatterWife]

The terrorists are from Chechnya. Not a good sign. Does anyone remember the school hostage situation from about ten years ago? Over 300 kids died. Very radicalized part of the world. Let's hope it is not what it seems.

[v-girl]

So scary!

[Sheherezade]

Did they just say that the dead suspect was a second year medical student??????

[GrayMatterWife]

Did they just say that the dead suspect was a second year medical student??????

The AP Wire is reporting that his father in Russia stated that the son was a second-year medical student. Of course, he also stated that his son was a good person and that he expected to see him on the next school break.

So, maybe the older one was a med student...assuming that the dad had any clue what his terrorist sons were up to. Sounds like he didn't know his sons at all, since he apparently had no idea that they were planning on casually murdering people.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

The terrorists are from Chechnya. Not a good sign. Does anyone remember the school hostage situation from about ten years ago? Over 300 kids died. Very radicalized part of the world. Let's hope it is not what it seems.

From CNN.com: "The source added that it should not be assumed that either brother was radicalized because of their Chechen origins." Hmmm...maybe because that's what people are assuming??? I do remember the hostage situation - although I never would have if you hadn't mentioned it - I was a self-involved college student at the time!

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Also from CNN: "Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older brother, had studied at Bunker Hill Community College and wanted to become an engineer, the source said. He then took a year off to train as a boxer."

So, I'm assuming he's not a med student. Maybe he was pre-pre med at BHCC??

[Sheherezade]

I think GMW is right -- the father in Russia has no idea what the kids are doing in Boston. I'm still shocked that they were 9 and 16 when they moved to Boston in 2002/3, though with their family seeking asylum after the Chechen theater attack in 2002 -- before the school attack in 2004. Wondering if the family isn't radicalized more so than the kids at that point. Saying the father was a "government official" of some sort?

[Sheherezade]

They've shut down the scanners in the area (as per Twitter). Suspect is following on Twitter. Now requests for no more Twitter traffic are starting to be honored by some of the news-tweeters. Feeling is they are very close. It's nerve wracking that one of the last tweets with real info stated that the apartment building that is the target has 20 people in it and that explosives were involved.

[GrayMatterWife]

From CNN.com: "The source added that it should not be assumed that either brother was radicalized because of their Chechen origins." Hmmm...maybe because that's what people are assuming??? I do remember the hostage situation - although I never would have if you hadn't mentioned it - I was a self-involved college student at the time!

Yes, it's quite true: these guys could be utterly unrelated to any radicalized Islamist movement in Chechnya. They could be a couple of nuts. They could be apolitical anarchists. They could be deeply political anarchists. They could be political terrorists with zero ties to any religious terrorist group. We should NOT start assuming that they are radicalized Islamists. If we do, we do so to our own detriment, and risk missing the real situation.

But certainly we can acknowledge, without be racists, religionists, or flat-out ignorant, that Chechnya is a hotbed of radicalized Islamist activity...so it is not COMPLETELY out of left field to just consider the terrorists from Chechnya might...just might...be radicalized Islamic terrorists. Surely we are allowed to consider that they may be radicalized Islamists from Chechnya. It is worth investigating, at least. They sure as hell aren't white supremicists from Idaho or violent anti-abortion fruitcakes or Timothy McVeigh-type anti-government sorts...the type of terrorists that CNN would be much happier to acknowledge.

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Oh, I totally agree with you, GMW - I just find it odd that they included that line for exactly the reasons you stated!

[moonlight]

The guys father release a short statement and he had no idea and it sounded like he was totally broken to know his sons had anything to do with this.

Like GMW said the expert on tv says its very common to keep a normal life totally separate from what they were really planning to do.

Its unreal.

[HouseofWool]

In listening to NPR this morning, one reporter said that it was unlikely that the suspect will be taken alive. It just makes me sick. All of it. I am heartsick for the people who were injured or killed in the initial attack and for the poor people who where just doing what they were supposed to be doing an are woken by swat teams in the middle of the night.

[Sheherezade]

Looking at the younger brother's Twitter feed (ends in Dec 2012) it's mostly about soccer teams and sports. Also stupid pictures and one repost about gun control. Older brother has youtube videos of terrorism. They are now saying a third suspect was thought to be on a train they stopped in East Norwalk, CT?