Boston Marathon, Terrorism & The Future

It’s been one hell of a week in Boston. We had the terrorist bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday (both Patriots Day and Tax Return day), leading to high speed pursuits, a locking down of large parts of the Greater Boston Area, and the eventual death of one of the brothers believed to be responsible for the atrocity and the capture of the second (I write this early on the morning of Saturday 20^th, so I’m writing from what the media have reported on to date).

Despite the desire of many for the execution of the captured terrorist, I am glad that we live in a State which doesn’t have the death penalty, as I would hate for this individual to become a martyr and used as an inspiration around the world to recruit more people to commit such atrocities. The recruitment of suicide bombers by Hamas, in the Gaza strip, is largely based on the romanticism of martyrdom – the US would be doing Itself, Israel, the UK and other countries that have been targeted by such fanatics a great favor by denying the enemies of western democracies a martyr that they can rally around. A scared and wounded kid in a boat, who is captured, tried and justly sentenced with multiple life sentences in some high security prison is not an inspiring story to sell the kids in Gaza City and elsewhere – no romance. If I was a family member or close friend to a victim of the bombing, my emotions may justifiably lead me elsewhere but from a purely non-involved/emotional standpoint I am glad he was taken alive, and for the record I have lost close friends to acts of terrorism.

I’m also glad he was taken alive so that we can all better understand the nature of the potential threat we face. We are yet to find out if the motive was financial (give us $5 million or we’ll bomb the next major sporting event on U.S. soil), political (to draw attention to the situation in Chechyna – both terrorists were Chechian and it would be useful to know if there was a sponsoring body or group from that country) or religious (some form of “punishment” to the west for their presence on the Arabian Peninsula). I always want to know if the threat we faced is over, or is going to continue. When the terrorist attack/bombing occurred no one or group claimed responsibility – this could have been because they under-estimated the effect of what they did, and as first timers panicked, or were planning to execute some more terrorist acts before they did etc. Hopefully, we’ll now learn more about the potential threats and dangers we face, and if there is a new enemy to be concerned about. This might even improve our knowledge at a higher political level if we discover they were financed by Iran, Syria, Suadi Arabia etc.

I would like to congratulate the FBI on the way they re-constructed the “story” of what occurred on Monday (this was an amazing piece of surveillance work), when the bombing took place, through the use of video footage that members of the public provided however I have to ask the question, why does a modern city like Boston not have CCTV (Close Circuit TV Cameras), whose footage could be analyzed immediately, without having to rely on the time delay of the public submitting their un-coordinated footage – this is not a criticism of either the FBI or citizens of Boston who provided images etc however the lack of “official” footage shows that the City may need to put some measures in place to ensure that: a) any future potential threats may be identified on camera before they occur (something that would have been difficult given the apparent nature of Monday’s attacks but may help identify other potential terrorist acts before they occur), and/or b) there is adequate official evidence to work on before sifting through the thousands of hours of public images etc, speeding up the identification process. People always argue the case for civil liberties etc where CCTV is concerned however after a week that Boston has gone through is there really an argument?

There are also lessons that Boston could learn from other cities. Paris in the 1990’s removed all of its public metal trash/litter bins and replaced them with frames on which clear trash bags were hung. Many other European cities that were also subject to continued terrorist bombing campaigns at the time e.g. London, replaced all of their metal trash/litter bins. This removed a potential hiding place for any device as there would be some degree of visibility, as well as lessening the blast impact of any bomb that would be placed.

It is easy to fall into the idea that the capture of Terrorist No 2 is a great victory (and for the security services, and members of the public who played a part etc it is and everybody should be commended for it) however there are still 3 people dead, and hundreds injured and it is these people and their friends and family that need our support. Terrorism will fail, not because our agencies and military will stop every event from ever occurring but because we as individuals care enough about our own, to make sure that we don’t let it happen again (we stay vigilant, change our personal safety habits, accept the inconveniences that extra security may cause us etc) and that if another event does occur we’ll show the resolve, dignity and honor that sets us apart from those who commit such acts. Also we should all remember that the State Trooper or Policeman you celebrate now as capturing a terrorist is the same guy who may in the future write you a ticket for speeding: heroes are still heroes and have a job to do.