Boston bombing manhunt: how far is too far?

[Free Northman]

Why does it matter what other countries do in these situations?

Women here generally don't get shot for trying to go to school or have acid thrown in their face for being unfaithful either. Is that something that should be adopted in North America, to keep up with other places in the world?

I'm certain the people of Cambridge, Watertown, Boston and the like care not how things are handled in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv is used as an example as it probably has more experience and expertise in dealing effectively with terrorist threats than pretty much any other major city on earth.

[ljkeane]

I've never been there, but I imagine that Tel Aviv for example does not shut down even for much larger events than this.

Maybe not but the Israelis resorted to a rather more permanent restriction of movement in the form of building a rather large wall in the West Bank.

[Lord Godric]

If they would have found him, then no. But since he managed to get away ON FOOT, then it's a little ridiculous.

[Free Northman]

Maybe not but the Israelis resorted to a rather more permanent restriction of movement in the form of building a rather large wall in the West Bank.

Probably because they don't have the Pacific and Atlantic oceans on either side.

[Seli]

Tel Aviv is used as an example as it probably has more experience and expertise in dealing effectively with terrorist threats than pretty much any other major city on earth.

But it is also a place where the context of terrorism is known.

I think a huge part of the issue is that US officials have no idea at all what they are dealing with.

[TheRaggedWildling]

Today, my school was evacuated and EOD and fucking Blackhawks were called in all due to the fact that the guy was a registered student at UMD and was seen in the area a couple of days ago. Was I upset that I was forced to leave my very expensive school? No. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, in this case.

It's not like Boston has been shut down for a month, or hell, even a week. It's been what, 12 hours? Of being "strongly recommended" to stay indoors and lock up? My sister (who lives in Boston) says it's not that big of a deal. She said she would rather be told to stay inside than have crowds walk about the streets, with a killer on the loose and potential bombs still unfound.

Get your priorities straight, people. And this is coming from someone who tends to be a strong Consitutionalist.

[Free Northman]

But it is also a place where the context of terrorism is known.

I think a huge part of the issue is that US officials have no idea at all what they are dealing with.

My view is that as the US gets more experienced in dealing with this kind of thing, so too the nature of the response will improve. And hereby I mean the response of both the officials and the public.

[Shryke]

Tel Aviv is used as an example as it probably has more experience and expertise in dealing effectively with terrorist threats than pretty much any other major city on earth.

Except that doesn't explain how it's relevant to Boston or what Boston "should" do or how Bostonians "should" feel.

My view is that as the US gets more experienced in dealing with this kind of thing, so too the nature of the response will improve. And hereby I mean the response of both the officials and the public.

Improve in what way? What's been wrong with the response so far?

[kairparavel]

My view is that as the US gets more experienced in dealing with this kind of thing, so too the nature of the response will improve. And hereby I mean the response of both the officials and the public.

I can't speak for everyone, but I would prefer they don't get more experienced with this kind of thing. Like, this kind of thing stops happening.

Crazy, I know.

[Free Northman]

Except that doesn't explain how it's relevant to Boston or what Boston "should" do or how Bostonians "should" feel.

Improve in what way? What's been wrong with the response so far?

To copy a quote from AndrewSullivan.com:

"In short, two miscreants have shut down an entire metropolitan region. And we're supposed to try to not give terrorists what they want."

[Free Northman]

I can't speak for everyone, but I would prefer they don't get more experienced with this kind of thing. Like, this kind of thing stops happening.

Crazy, I know.

Yeah well, life usually doesn't work out the way we want it to. There's a lot of evil out there.

[The Progressive]

To copy a quote from AndrewSullivan.com:

"In short, two miscreants have shut down an entire metropolitan region. And we're supposed to try to not give terrorists what they want."

That's a great line, but unfortunately for you and andrew sullivan, we don't know what these two terrorists want.

Hell maybe they wanted the US to intervene into Russia's pacification of the caucasian states ............. I'm sure as hell they won't be getting that.

[Shryke]

To copy a quote from AndrewSullivan.com:

"In short, two miscreants have shut down an entire metropolitan region. And we're supposed to try to not give terrorists what they want."

I imagine what he wants to do is "Not die". And potentially "kill some more people", but who knows on that front. Frankly, I don't see what these "terrorists" you speak of are getting here. This kid is certainly getting nothing he wanted.

Your problem is you keep starting from the assumption that temporarily keeping everyone indoors while the cops search for an armed and dangerous subject is somehow bad. That is most definitely not something many agree with.

The only people winning here are the Bostonians not getting killed during a confrontation with an armed suspect. We've already seen how that went down in the middle of the night.

[Free Northman]

I imagine what he wants to do is "Not die". And potentially "kill some more people", but who knows on that front. Frankly, I don't see what these "terrorists" you speak of are getting here. This kid is certainly getting nothing he wanted.

Your problem is you keep starting from the assumption that temporarily keeping everyone indoors while the cops search for an armed and dangerous subject is somehow bad. That is most definitely not something many agree with.

The only people winning here are the Bostonians not getting killed during a confrontation with an armed suspect. We've already seen how that went down in the middle of the night.

No, I'm just digesting everything that's happened, trying to make sense of it all. I just can't help being left with a nagging feeling that Americans in general live a very sheltered lifestyle.

[Sci-2]

The only people winning here are the Bostonians not getting killed during a confrontation with an armed suspect. We've already seen how that went down in the middle of the night.

Yeah, I don't understand the argument that this is an abuse of government power. If the suspect was not known to have been in the area it would be a different story.

[Shryke]

No, I'm just digesting everything that's happened. I just can't help being left with a nagging feeling that Americans in general live a very sheltered lifestyle.

You mean Americans live a life mostly free of horrible terrorist attacks? Yeah, I'm left with that nagging feeling too. I believe that feeling is called "fucking awesome, we live in a society that isn't a warzone".

[Leofric]

I don't see a problem with the lock down. In the Washington DC sniper and bombings in other cities, it make no sense to lock down and do house to house searches when you don't know who you are looking for. In this case they know exactly who they are looking for and the last area where he was seen in. Also they know he is desperate and is an immediate threat to whoever he comes in contact with based upon he and his brother's actions ever since their photographs were publicized. Closing down public transit and other areas where you would find crowds make sense when this person may want to take as many people with him before he is brought down.

[kairparavel]

I just can't help being left with a nagging feeling that Americans most westerners in general live a very sheltered lifestyle.

FTFY

And as for the shut down/martial law aspect? Americans know nothing, have experienced nothing, John Snow.

They should ask their Quebec neighbours to the north how martial law works.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Also, FLoW's rationale for the door-to-door search makes a lot of sense--provides a potential hostage with the means of asking for help.

After posting that, I heard a police official say that they were going door to door to see if people were okay and conducting "limited" searches. I imagine that means if someone answered the door, they just made sure they were okay. No answer, and they searched.

[RWHamel]

I don't know Scott. If they have to get a warrant for every building, then it's going to take weeks for them to be done. They probably have a judge on standby to issue a warrant just in case, and guess what type of search you are going to get if you make it difficult for them.