One week in America can seem like a long time, can it not? First and foremost, it should be noted that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said he was not concerned with any other imminent threat to the area, which he wouldn't have said if it weren't the case. A relief to say the least. Mr. Patrick has been steady throughout the crisis and knew when to get out of the way, commending the agencies and letting them do their work, "building the case from the facts up," he said. His checked ego is the kind of leadership that was needed and which the city of Boston received. The governor also mentioned how well the various agencies worked together and if you watched the coverage, you would certainly get that impression. It really indicated that we have in fact learned our lessons from past experience.
Past experience has also shown us that we need to be patient in getting all the answers to the infinite amount of questions as to why these two young men, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarvaev, allegedly (with 99% certainty) did this. The reason we phrase it that way is because David Gregory asked the question of the public officials on today's program, getting them on record, as to whether they believed that Dzhokhar Tsarvaev should be tried as a civilian in a municipal court or as an enemy combatant through a military tribunal. This is an important decision on how we get those answers.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), along with Liz Cheney for example, are now calling for the military tribunal, which we'll go on record as saying is completely misguided. Their judgement needs to be questioned anyhow for reasons we'll obviously get to later. One the other hand, maybe Governor Patrick deferred a little too much when he answered the question by saying that he'd let the Attorney General, Eric Holder, make that call though pointing out the man's American citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) stated he was for a civilian trial - for the record. All the ugly details of the 'why' need to be vetted in the open and the American people will not get that with a military tribunal where much of the testimony could be deemed classified. If we tried this individual in a military tribunal, it would go against who we are as Americans. And are these tribunal advocates afraid that the civilian courts may trip up and let him go free on some technicality? Please. We can not understate the importance of representatives of the community, his peers, looking him in the face as the facts come out. That's Americanism.
Tragically, these killers rejected that concept and the actual freedom that this country provided for them, which leads us to the discussion of the 'radicalization' of these young men. We'll learn more about this in the coming months, but we do have a little bit of back story to share from today's program. First, Governor Patrick described the video tape of the younger brother calmly watching the first bombing then dropping his backpack as chilling. But then he told us Tsarnaev was seen at the UMass-Dartmouth campus the next day - simply frightening. NBC's Pete Williams, the consensus sole best source for accurate information on the Boston bombing, reported that the father said that the now-deceased son, Tamerlan, was visiting him in Russia. (From what we've read and heard about the father, he would be considered what you'd call an uncooperative or hostile witness.)
However, we also know that the FBI, on what Congressman Rogers called information about this individual's radicalization from a 'foreign service,' interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev prior to this visit. The news that Mr. Rogers made for us was that the FBI could not follow up after the initial interview because said 'foreign service' stopped cooperating with us so the case was close. One can only deduce that this 'foreign service' was Russia. So when Congressman Rogers, who was an FBI agent, defends the agency, ultimately it's legitimate because the FBI as an agency can only go so far investigating an American citizen as former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff pointed out. With that said, it sounds as though from that point, frankly, the FBI would have (should have) handed it over to the N.S.A. Mr. Chernoff also explained that the security strategies that were put in place after September 11, 2001 have worked prior to and during this event and would not need to be majorly adjusted, which is reassuring to an extent. He also said that they have been prepared for something like this for some time as numerous past attempts have illustrated.
We'll all have to be prepared from now on. We can no longer afford to have the 'not until it happens to me' mentality to understand and hopefully prevent such events going forward.
It's easy to point fingers of course or take passive aggressive pot shots like the one from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who said that our security efforts had become complacent. However, that kind of finger pointing is going in the wrong direction and the only way it should be toward is the perpetrators.
Mr. Gregory properly steered today's discussion away from too much speculation as to the motivations of these individuals. Only time will tell and we have to 'respect the process,' as Governor Patrick phrased it. However, in considering the evident radicalization of Tamerlan Tsarnaev given his documented trip to Russia, it is important to note the causes of ongoing Islamic rage toward the United States as NBC's Tom Brokaw did. And if that rage is focused through the lens at the end of a smart bomb from a predator drone, then what we saw transpire in Boston this week will sadly repeat itself in another American city.
This leaves us with the political implications that will come into play. When Mr. Greogory asked Senator Durbin about how Boston may affect Immigration Reform for instance, he responded by saying that if Congress does nothing, holding up the bill because of this week's events, we'll be less safe. There is no reason not to move forward on the bill. To the larger political point, it's ironic that some of our public officials, who tell Americans not to live in fear, cast votes that reek of it. Unfortunately, Monday wasn't the only sad day we experienced.
Wednesday, the Senate voted down a bill that would have required expanded background checks for gun purchases, something the ninety percent of the American people support. Why? Out of fear that they would face a primary and possibly loss re-election if they voted in opposition of an NRA-led effort to impede additional gun-safety measures, the bill went down in defeat. The families of Newtown, Connecticut looked on as 46 senators, one by one, let them and parents around the country down. The president described it as a 'shameful day' in America. With acts of bravery being illustrated moment to moment on television from within a major America city, our U.S. Senate was blind to the example and acted cowardly.
Columnist Peggy Noonan gave a nuanced [read: vague] answer as to why the Senate acts the way it does. As is her way, she blamed the president for the failures of that chamber saying that he did not have command of the levers of power. But slightly out of character, presidential historian Doris Kearns-Goodwin was having none of it, calling out the monied interests that rule the chamber at present and the 60-vote threshold that is required to pass legislation. [The filibuster rule in the Senator is in desperate need of reformation.] Will these spineless Senators reconsider their votes if it is found out that the Boston perpetrators bought guns illegally or without a background check? We would seriously doubt it. (There's a little bit of speculation.)
Like we said, it was a long week for America (that will not end any time soon) topped off with a fertilizer plant exploding in West, Texas claiming 14 dead so far, scores of people injured, and part of an entire community decimated. The regretful commentary that instantly comes to mind is about how safety precautions were probably not taken and regulations not followed, but we hope that's not the case. We witnessed too much actual terror, fear, death, and destruction play out this week, even for a country said to be anesthetized to it. The American people will have to lead our Congress in opening up the conversation about these root causes to make changes. It can not wait anymore. We're exhausted.
In the meantime, the thought to try to keep in mind is of the people in great city of Boston. On a day where they were celebrating our country's original act of patriotism, they showed us through bravery, selflessness, community, and togetherness what that idea is all about.
Round Table: Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff; The Atlantic's
Jeffrey Goldberg; NBC's Tom Brokaw; historian Doris Kearns Goodwin;
Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan.
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