Brothers in Arms?
For two brothers to become accomplices in this astonishing crime requires enormous bonds of trust, loyalty, and shared values. Yet friends of the brothers indicate no great closeness between the two. The younger one was apparently not influenced by his brother, and had virtually no interest in Islam or Chechen nationalism. Friends of the older brother barely knew his sibling. And when the older brother was in Russia being "radicalized," the younger brother was back here, doing normal kid stuff. How did Tamerlan bring Dzhokhar into this dastardly plot?
Burial
The whole story of Tamerlan's burial is odd. First, police announced that the body was being entombed in an undisclosed location thanks to a "courageous and compassionate individual" who had come forward to cover the costs. What was courageous about that? Courageous to buck public sentiment? Why was it even necessary for a private individual to do this?
Another thing: We later learned that it was the Tsarnaev's "Uncle Ruslan" who had claimed the body.
This was surprising because of the uncle's poor relationship with his nephews, and his crucial early role in incriminating them. Within days of the bombing, the uncle had declared Tamerlan "a loser," implying that he found it totally believable that his flesh and blood would commit this astonishing atrocity. We later learned that he hadn't had contact with them for years. We also later learned (although not from mainstream news sources) that Uncle Ruslan worked in the oil and gas business and had intriguing connections -- and that his ex-father-in-law was a high CIA official with ties to Chechen operations.
Will the burial of Tsarnaev near Richmond, Virginia, 550 miles from the scene of the crime, hinder any potential efforts to exhume his body and learn more about how he died?
Dead (and Almost Dead) Men Tell No Tales
We have a case where one of the suspects was killed, and the other was nearly killed and literally silenced up to this point. Obviously, the key to this case would be to get Dzhokhar into a place where he could speak freely and without fear or coercion. What is happening on that front? There's been a near blackout of information.
Anonymous Sourcing
This story has seen constant leaks by "sources close to the investigation." Assuming those leaks are authorized, what is the purpose? Assuming everyone is entitled to a fair trial, these leaks make it harder for Dzhokhar to get one -- and consistently advance a hostile narrative.
Kids with Cars
There's an awful lot of money and fancy cars around this story. Tamerlan had a Mercedes; Dzhokhar's foreign friends had expensive cars. And the unnamed "carjacking victim"? A 26-year-old engineer who had recently gotten his Masters, he had a brand new $50,000 Mercedes SUV and was "out for a spin" at the time of the alleged carjacking. Remember the classic journalistic advice: "Follow the money?" Maybe it should be Follow the Mercedes.
Qui Bono?
What motivations could anyone have to manipulate this tragedy in which three innocents were killed and hundreds were injured and maimed? What role does international jockeying for access to the tremendous mineral wealth in the republics on Russia's southern flank play in the actions of terrorists at an iconic American sporting event? As we are reminded time and again, with Iraq (see this and this) with Libya, with Afghanistan, with just about any deep and complex story with global ramifications, you probe a little and pretty soon you've struck oil -- or some other precious resource. Find a big story that doesn't have money at its root, and it will be an unusual story, to say the least.
Also, in a time when our civil liberties are eroded and the security state expanded every time terrorists strike, we'd do well to always take a closer look.
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