At the time the photos were taken, Tamerlan's life did not seem all bad: Hirn writes that he was competing as a boxer, enrolled in Bunker Hill Community College, and pursuing a career as an engineer, and had a half-Portuguese, half-Italian girlfriend who converted to Islam for him. "She's beautiful, man!" he said.

At some point, though, it all went wrong. In 2009, Tamerlan was arrested for domestic assault and battery after assaulting his girlfriend. The reasons for his descent into terrorism after that will no doubt be clear soon. - Foreign Policy

Report abuse

According to her description, the family gradually became more devout practitioners of Islam over time:

She told me that she and her husband had been lawyers and political activists in Russia. They had fled the country after “something that her husband did.” Her daughter had recently been divorced at this time, and her daughter’s ex-husband had taken their child to Russia, refusing to return him. Finally the child was returned. When my mom asked Zubeidat how they had gotten the child back, she told her that “her [Zubeidat’s] husband was crazy” and everyone knew it. When he threatened the daughter’s ex-husband’s family, they returned the child.
---
When I read online that she had left for Russia a few months ago, my first reaction was to think that she might have known about the attacks her sons were planning. Articles online suggest that she is in Russia because of her husband’s poor health. I know that her husband often went to Russia without her, and for extended periods of time. She was also very close with her sons and showed many signs of strong political leanings herself. I have since heard that three people have been arrested at 410 Norfolk Street, and a bomb found there.

Report abuse

FBI was scared of my eldest son. They always told me that he is a leader. He talks about Islam a lot. They were talking to my son. They called me officially and they told me that my son is an excellent boy and they have no problem with him. At the same time, they were telling that he is getting information in really extreme... sites, so they were very, very afraid of him.

Report abuse

Time - Five months ago he appears to have created a channel on YouTube called “Terrorists.” The channel features videos from the one of the leaders of the insurgency in Dagestan who goes by the name Amir Abu Dudzhan. YouTube appears to have removed two of the videos but in a third features Dudzhan calling for jihad. Holding a Kalashnikov rifle, he says, “Jihad is the duty of every able-bodied Muslim.” Among the other videos on his channel is one of Timur Mutsuraev, the bard of the Chechen resistance in the 1990s; it features his song, “We will devote our lives to jihad.”
---
One of his acquaintances recalled a conversation Tsarnaev had with a classmate during which Tsarnaev allegedly said, “in relation to acts of terrorism, he said it was not a serious issue if you come from a place where I come from,” the acquaintance, Eric Machado, told CNN. “Those comments raised a red flag in my head.”

Report abuse

Liberal hopes were dashed with the revelation that the Boston Marathon bombers were a couple of Chechen Muslim immigrants. The Left was so sure they had finally bagged the elusive Tea Party murderer! The bombings occurred in Boston on Tax Day. Surely, at long last, the opportunity to smear libertarians, small-government conservatives, anti-tax crusaders, and the whole hellish tri-corner hat crowd was at hand! ”Two plus two equals…?” Michael Moore burbled happily...
---
Substitute the Tea Party for Islam, and liberals would be hitting the floor in a swoon of ecstasy today, their every fantasy about the adversaries of Big Government joyously fulfilled. The Internet would groan beneath the weight of their blog posts and op-eds. And it’s not hard to imagine various officials of the Obama Administration egging them on, linking the bombers to everything from the defeat of gun-control legislation to sequestration.

Every Republican would become an accessory to the bombings. They would be expected to offer ritual denunciation of Boston Marathon attacks every day, for months to come. Then they would be presented with lively figures from the outer edges of non-violent conservatism, and expected to denounce them, too. Anything less would be tacit acceptance of the “climate of hate” that could lead to more murders. Voodoo dolls from closer and closer to the mainstream of conservative thought would then be chosen for these denunciation rituals, presenting Republican political leaders with an increasingly difficult choice between meeting the expectations of the liberal media, and alienating their voters. We saw a dry run of all this when liberals invented their “climate of hate” out of then air to link the Tucson shooter to their political enemies. Back then, two plus two was supposed to equal Sarah Palin and her bullseye-festooned electoral map.

The embarrassing failure of their “climate of hate” Tucson hysteria didn’t stop the Left from doing exactly the same thing last week, and last week’s narrative implosion won’t stop them from trying it again next time. Sooner or later, one of these maniacs will turn out to be someone who doesn’t like ObamaCare! There’s no practical reason for liberals to stop running this game; they pay no real price for getting it wrong. Dzhokar Tsarnaev celebrated Barack Obama’s re-election online, but he could easily restart the entire liberal Climate of Hate greenhouse-gas system by casually remarking to his interrogators that he’s thought it over, and now really wishes Mitt Romney had won. Do not for one moment doubt how quickly that would unleash a tidal wave of triumphant “aha, we knew it!” blog posts from the same people who got the “Tax Day bombing” smear wrong.

Sick and evil people also tend to have some more “normal” interests. They can fixate on anything as the “inspiration” for a mad rampage. They can sign themselves up for fan clubs that would rather not have them. Look at the manifesto left behind by L.A. spree killer Chris Dorner. He named a lot of people and organizations in that rambling screed, speaking very highly of some. Those people are not responsible for his foul deeds. Lunatics and murders should not be allowed to define the boundaries of acceptable discourse and association.

Along those lines, decent Muslims are not responsible for the atrocity perpetrated by the Tsarnaev brothers. However, it is hopelessly naive at this point to speak of a “tiny minority of extremists” hijacking the religion of a billion people. The radical elements of Islam are larger and more powerful than that. They enjoy financial and cultural support from malevolent political factions who find Islam a comfortable fit with their ideology. The same media that never stops trying to weave an intellectual web between mainstream conservatism and bloodthirsty murderers is willing to discreetly avert its gaze from the radicalization of Islam overseas, and the tentacles these radicals are working patiently to extend into the United States. Islam has a problem, and only good, outspoken Muslims can solve it. We’re not doing them any favors by soft-pedaling the magnitude of the challenge they face, or setting a low bar of expectations for their achievements.

We might have gotten a good look at one of those outspoken good Muslims last week. (It seems patronizing to refer to them as “moderate Muslims.” Moderating between what – support for terrorism and good citizenship? We shouldn’t be looking for the “moderate” region between those “extremes.”) The Tsarnaev brothers’ Uncle Ruslan – a man who must have been going through a private hell few of us can imagine, as word of his nephews’ responsibility for the Boston Marathon bombings spread – thundered that these despicable acts of murder were an insult to the honor of his family, the Chechen people, and Islam. He denounced the terrorists in no uncertain terms, calling them “losers” who sought to ruin the lives of hard-working people making an honorable place for themselves in the great “mini-world” of America. Instead of hunting for the mythical snipe and wumpus of Tea Party murderers, the Left should take a lesson from Uncle Ruslan on calling out the real extremists in our midst.

Report abuse