Politics

Suspected Boston Terrorist Talking; Will Mayor Menino “Lone Shooter” Theory Stick?

MAYOR-MENINO-CITY-SUBSIDIES-MOSQUE

It’s being reported in local Boston news that the suspected terrorist is responding to questions, even though he tried to kill himself and damaged his jaw and neck:

WASHINGTON —Law enforcement sources tell ABC News Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombing, is awake and responding sporadically in writing to questions.

The source told ABC’s Pierre Thomas investigators were questioning the 19-year-old Tsarnaev about other cell members and other unexploded bombs, but said no details were given yet on answers.

Thankfully the FBI is in charge of this investigation, because Mayor Tom Menino is definitely personally invested in the “lone shooter” theory he’s been placing on the brother terrorists.

While we naturally tend to sympathize with the mayor of any city having to deal with a terrorist attack, Menino oversaw what some called a local government subsidy to the mosque where the suspects attended religious services. This mosque has since been criticized for it’s ties to extremist Islamist elements.

From the Weekly Standard:

ON NOVEMBER 7, 2002, POLITICIANS AND OTHER LUMINARIES–including Boston Mayor Thomas P. Menino–gathered at the corner of Tremont Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. They held shovels and awaited a photo op to celebrate the ground-breaking of a new mosque for the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB). It was a special occasion. The design for the $22 million mosque included a125-foot minaret as well as a 75-foot dome over the prayer hall. Al Jazeera joined the local Boston media on hand to chronicle the day.

It must have seemed noble and high-minded to offer such public support for the construction of a prominent mosque, especially since it had been only a little over a year since the 9/11 attacks. Senator John Kerry, who couldn’t attend the event, sent a letter “recogniz[ing] the outstanding work of the Islamic Society of Boston” and praising the project for coming along at a time “when the need for cross-cultural understanding and cooperation has never been greater.”

But the good feelings didn’t last. In the following months, the Boston Herald and Boston’s Fox Channel 25 published reports documenting the ISB’s ties with terrorists, terror supporters, and anti-Semites. The Herald reported that members of the ISB’s Board of Trustees had at one time included one of the Islamic world’s most prominent and vocal supporters of terrorism and another gentleman who would become notorious for his anti-Semitic writing. The media also reported that one of the ISB’s eight founders was a genuine terrorist who had since been arrested, convicted, and sent to jail.

It would take the incredible courage of a liberal to believe that the extremism at a mosque would have nothing to do with terrorist acts committed later by attendees.