In this same vein, the issue of stricter monitoring and screening of immigrants has been heating up even though the accused bombers came here when the lone survivor of the two was a mere, six years old. Some have mentioned the older, Tsarnaev had left the country for sometime and returned "radicalized" so the Homeland Security should have been monitoring his actions since he was from an area known for terrorist actions. So, if we are to understand this mentality, if you are an immigrant from an area known as terrorist insurgency, you should be scrutinized and monitored? Sounds like a back door attempt to get Americans to approve cultural, religious and, yes, racial profiling.
Also arising in this flurry of paranoid reactions, there has been the suggestion to improve and increase police, CIA and FBI surveillance of our public streets and the internet. The help of cameras both civilian and governmental to identify the brothers Tsarnaev has spurred discussions about more surveillance on our streets to bring criminals to 'justice' sooner and many are pointing out that the internet activities of the brothers and other would be 'terrorists' could be the key to avoid another Boston bombing. Seems we have been down this road already and most Americans objected this initiative but now, with the media's help, we are creeping closer to Orwell's nightmare.
Many seem to think surveillance is a good idea. After all, if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry. The jury is still out though, on whether increased surveillance would be helpful in most instances. As pointed out by Heather Kelly of CNN:
"Boston's camera network is smaller than those in London and New York, though that is likely to change soon. In 2007, Boston law enforcement had an estimated 55 CCTV cameras set up around the city. Since then, the city has expanded its surveillance system, though authorities there are not commenting on the exact scope of the current camera setup."
"Boston's example has shown the power of these systems to help solve crimes, causing many to call for even more cameras. But it's still not clear whether they are effective at preventing crimes. According to the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University in Ontario, urban surveillance systems have not been proven to have any effect on deterring criminals."
In fact, Ms. Kelly goes on to point out that "as reported in 2008, only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras in London, according to the city's police". Given this information, why would there be such a push for more cameras on American streets if it has been shown not to decrease crime? It would be nice if Mr. Obama could answer that question in one of his charismatic, staged press conferences.
What is interesting about the Boston bombings is how the CIA reportedly knew that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two suspects, was a possible terrorist threat.
The Obama administration did nothing to add him to the watch list. This 'oversight' rings of horrific familiarity. Much like 9/11, what with the Bush administration's lack of action against those attackers prior to that event (even with actionable intelligence at hand), in this, the Boston 4/15/13 bombing attack, some now suggest the Marathon bombing may have been stopped IF the current administration had listened to Russian authorities and acted to watch these two young men.
Like Bush's use of 9/11 to start a twelve year, two trillion dollar and counting conflict, not to mention the cost to our national security and our Liberty, the Obama administration, along with Senate Republicans, has begun to use the Boston bombing and the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy to institute a heightened surveillance state, to propel the specter of indefinite detention, to support drone deployment domestically and abroad, to take away from our 2nd Amendment rights and, to open the flood gates allowing a litany of anti-American efforts to pry into our lives in a transparent effort to watch not just would be terrorists but, each and every one of us.
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