Virginia woman who coordinated Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s burial says protests showed ‘America at its worst

[DonViejo]

Source: Boston Globe

By Wesley Lowery, Globe Staff

The secret transport of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body from Worcester to a small community near Richmond, Va., was set in motion by a woman who said she was upset to hear about protests to his burial and wanted to see an end to the weeklong burial saga.

Martha Mullen, 48, of Richmond, said she was dismayed reports of protests outside of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester that she heard on National Public Radio.

“It portrayed America at its worst,” she said in an interview with the Globe this morning. “The fact that people were picketing this poor man who was just trying to help [funeral director Peter Stefan] really upset me.”

Mullen, a licensed professional counselor who has lived in Richmond for most of her life, said she was sitting in a Starbucks Tuesday when it hit her: She could be the one to end the controversy. “Jesus says [to] love our enemies,” said Mullen, who holds a degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. “So I was sitting in Starbucks and thought, maybe I’m the one person who needs to do something.”

Read more: http://boston.com/metrodesk/2013/05/10/virginia-woman-who-coordinated-tamerlan-tsarnaev-burial-says-protests-showed-america-its-worst/MUVSIfHsGMxp23XC1tJOCN/story.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. Yeah, protesting the funeral home is

one of the single dumbest things I've ever heard people do...I know Bostonians are hurting, but I would have thought they'd be overjoyed that he was dead...

[RiverNoord]

3. Ditto to that

He's dead - what does it matter that he got buried? What was the alternative - publicly burn his body at a stake? He's beyond any kind of human justice now.

[grandpamike1]

30. Unless

You are a true religious fanatic and maybe expect him to rise and terrorize again, but for people who are not believers, well, we don't care where you bury him.

[Marrah_G]

4. Mass has its share of nuts too

[DonViejo]

7. The elections of Mitt Romney and Scott Brown...

are proof of that. I think Ed King's election was that proof too

[RKP5637]

52. Yeah, I've been amazed at how some of the elections in MA have gone! n/t

[alsame]

2. Unfortunately, they printed the

location of the plot. I hope there are no 'incidents' there.

[Tanuki]

5. I wish she would have kept quiet about it,

as publicizing it at this point only seems to increase the likelihood that the cemetery will be vandalized or subjected to other abuse.

[xxqqqzme]

6. This story has perplexed me.

mcveigh and co-conspirators (all US citizens) killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6. I don't remember anyone protesting his burial.

[nolabear]

8. I think we're more volatile than we were then. Not a good thing.

People can be very mean, and seem to be increasingly willing to, as my grandmother would say, show their behinds.

[Zoeisright]

15. Oh, definitely.

That was back before the putrid teabaggers started ranting and raving about any religion other than fundamentalist crap.

[xxqqqzme]

18. My grandmother would say

acting like a 'horse's ass'.

[DonViejo]

9. He wasn't Muslim...

I think the difference is that clear, simple and sickening.

[whathehell]

54. Really? I believe he thought otherwise.

Sorry, but I don't see the clarity at all.

[geek tragedy]

10. There were no concerns about treatment of the body.

Unmarked grave, over and done with.

[riverwalker]

12. McVeigh burial

A newly passed Federal Law prohibited McVeigh from being buried in a military cemetery, and no one claimed his body, so it was cremated and given to his lawyer, who scattered the ashes at an undisclosed location.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22747

[kona808]

13. Maybe you don't remember because he wasn't buried

On November 21, 1997, President Bill Clinton had signed S. 923, special legislation introduced by Senator Arlen Specter to bar McVeigh and other veterans convicted of capital crimes from being buried in any military cemetery.His body was cremated at Mattox Ryan Funeral Home in Terre Haute, Indiana. The cremated remains were given to his lawyer, who scattered them at an undisclosed location. McVeigh had earlier written that he considered having his ashes dropped at the site of the memorial where the Murrah building once stood, but decided that would be "too vengeful, too raw, too cold." He had expressed willingness to donate organs, but was prohibited from doing so by prison regulations.

[xxqqqzme]

20. Thank you

riverwalker and kona808. I thought he was cremated but didn't trust my memory. Didn't know about the legislation though. Thanks for that information.

[treestar]

41. lol

You know you died unlamented when your ashes are given to your lawyer!

[CBGLuthier]

21. He was cremated. his lawyer scattered his ashes.

That may have something to do with the fact that you do not remember anyone protesting his burial. he did not have one.

[grandpamike1]

31. But, But, But

They were American's, which makes it OK. We cn kill all the American's we want, just us, no foreign killers.

[Posteritatis]

32. He passed the colour test. (nt)

[MADem]

59. Tsarnaev was as "caucasian" as they come.

You might be thinking he was a religious minority in USA, but Tamerlan wasn't a "person of color" unless you're talking about the color white.

[treestar]

42. This ^^^^^^^

Yes, it has to do with being a foreigner and a Muslim, most likely.

[exboyfil]

53. McVeigh wasn't buried

His mortal remains were handled without any sort of ceremony (dumped in a nondescript van and sent the the crematorium without ceremony). Body cremated in a cardboard box and ashes spread by his lawyer with some perhaps going to the parents. I am sure lots of people would be willing to take a dump on his grave given a chance.

Most serial killers and the like are cremated now days because of the likelihood of desecration. Oswald's grave was protected from desecration so this is not a new phenomenon. Lanza's body was buried in secret after being processed in an undisclosed funeral home.

I do agree that protesting the funeral home was behaving badly. On the other hand his religion attributes great importance to his body, and he was nothing but a monster who caused great suffering. Since he assigns value to his corpse, desecration in a sense is hurting him (not that I would do it).

[Gin]

11. No good deed goes unpunished.....she will be protested along with the grave site.

[Gin]

27. Just as I thought....local news says the city is checking to make sure all permts were

In order"..if not....he gets moved....doesnt want to be known for having the boston bomber there.


This stinks...stay tuned.

[marble falls]

14. The attitude of the majority in this country is its OK to abuse a corpse.

[blackspade]

16. Good for her.

This whole bullshit saga about his burial was a disgusting display of the worst of American culture.
The fucking guy is dead. Making an issue of his burial doesn't hurt him, it only damages our civil society.
Do we bury rapists? Mass murderers? Yes? Then these protesters are full of shit hypocrites.

[Mustellus]

17. But.. but but.. you don't understand !!!!!!!

Al Quaeda Terris are bad... but

Zombie Al Quaeda Terris are much, much worse!!!!!

[tavalon]

19. And Ms. Mullen, you are among the best of us

Yes, what this man did was evil, but he's dead now, and we bury the dead.

[MADem]

38. No, she's a tone-deaf, clueless bigmouth who wants her name in the paper.

She did two stupid things; first, lecturing everyone about how awful they are and what Jesus wanted, and second, revealing the location of the grave.

If she were really a humble servant of a deity, she'd just say "He's buried in an undisclosed location" and not name a city or state, and then say "NO COMMENT."

Look at the can of worms this loudmouth opened.


See here: http://boston.com/metrodesk/2013/05/10/the-burial-boston-marathon-bombing-suspect-tamerlan-tsarneav-caught-virginia-officials-surprise/GrwrxBxS1BPblekuO5fVPN/story.html

The Al-Barzakh Cemetery currently has 47 marked graves and four unmarked graves, one of which presumably now contains Tsarnaev’s body. Tsarnaev was buried here after his remains spent nearly a week in a Worcester funeral home, while relatives and funeral director Peter Stefan searched for a cemetery willing to accept the alleged terrorist’s body.

Tsarnaev’s burial caught officials in Caroline County by surprise, including Sheriff Tony Lippa, who arrived at the cemetery around 1:30 p.m. today, searching for someone at the cemetery to speak with.....This afternoon before news of the Tsarnaev burial was widely known, the cemetery was quiet, except for the chirping of some birds and the sounds coming from trucks from local television stations parked nearby.

But word was beginning to spread......“He’s a Muslim. We don’t need that here,” Margaret Stevens, a 68-year-old-retiree, said as she bought items at the market. “All that stuff started in Boston. It’s just not right. They shouldn’t have brought him. It didn’t happen here.”

She's just handed the headache to the managers of that cemetery in VA with her big fat mouth. Some asshole in the article wants to go spit on the grave.

But hey, she's in the news now! It's all about HER and her "charity." If she starts giving TV interviews I really will toss my cookies.

[retired rooster]

22. I don't understand why they didn't cremate him...

...and give the ashes to his mother.

[Scootaloo]

24. Because cremation goes against the mores of Islam

And despite the wishes of many, the people who dealt with the man's remains aren't animals who are going ot give a grieving mother a big jar of fuck-you.

[DonViejo]

25. Because cremation is against the family's religion...

what I don't understand is why the Uncle, who announced he was accepting the body and would handle the arrangements, didn't. This Muslim cemetery he's buried in (Richmond, VA), is really close to where the Uncle lives (Gaithersburg, Md).

BTW, the parents are on the run so, it's doubtful she could have accepted the ashes.

Boston Suspects’ Parents on the Run

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022820744

[MADem]

43. The uncle was in Worcester the other day. He washed and prayed over that rotting corpse IAW Islamic

traditions, and helped to prepare the body for burial. He was also at the graveside when the bum was buried. To my mind, that guy who called those two "losers" is the genius of the family.

I'm sure he's paying all the bills, because no one else in that family seems to have any money (that wasn't ill-gotten, anyway).

Ashes, because they are Haram, would have caused an international incident--that's desecration; no different than delivering a head on a pike. Islamic rites only provide for burial or, in exigent situations, burial at sea (which I think they should have done--after all, Beantown is a seafaring town).

If this big mouthed Mullen woman had not opened her big fat mouth, this would be OVER. People should go protest at HER house (which is in Richmond, far from the cemetery, so she'll never be disturbed by any "action" there), if they can't get over this foolishness and just leave the dead to rot. She's the one who continued this story with her "detailed" press release that patted herself on the back throughout.

And now, she's CONTINUING the "All About Me" tour with a "Poor Pitiful ME" chapter--she makes me quite sick, actually--SHE may have "no regrets" but her loud mouth has caused problems for countless others--she is a selfish, self-centered person, IMO: http://www.artesianews.com/2013/05/11/ap-news/united-states-ap-news/va-woman-has-no-regrets-over-role-in-burial/

“I can’t pretend it’s not difficult to be reviled and maligned,” Martha Mullen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday. “But any time you can reach across the divide and work with people that are not like you, that’s what God calls us to do.”....“I thought someone ought to do something about this — and I am someone,” Mullen said.

She just pleads for a great big "Awwwww......SHADDUP!!!!!!!!!"

[DonViejo]

48. In a slight defense of Mullen...

In 1985 I was on the receiving end of a barrage of phone calls from a Globe reporter, and subsequently two of his editors, about a story that became known as "the Massachusetts foster care controversy." I refused to speak with the reporter or his editors but the pressure to speak was horrendous, "if you don't go on the record, the story will be one-sided...the article will be tasteful, no screaming headlines...blah, blah, blah." I refused to speak on the record and the next morning, on the front page of the Metro Section, the article appeared with a semi-screaming headline over an article outlined with a heavy black border. So, I'm wondering if Mullen received the same coercive pressure from the Globe and surrendered to the coercion or, decided to play ball.

I agree with you about the Uncle and I think his first comments about that side of the family being made up of "losers" was right on the money.

I would have been opposed to dropping the body in the deep waters of Boston Harbor but, if it was dropped just beyond the national boundary line, I'd be cool with that.

[MADem]

49. The Globe was not the first nor the only paper to go after this story.

This idiot issued a PRESS release with details--she might as well have sung a song and led them in a grand parade to the burial site.

What's wrong with saying that the body has been buried in an undisclosed location, in an unmarked grave? And leaving it at that.


And if they bugged her:

Where? No comment. When? No comment. In which state?: No comment. In what country?: No comment. Is the grave marked? NO. I have nothing more to say, the books are closed on this matter.

Then she should have takena short vacation to another "undisclosed location" to catch some sun, and turn off the phone. Eventually, the jackals always move on to the Next Big Thing. Instead, she's basking in the glory. I find her conduct reprehensible. It's the EXACT OPPOSITE of what should have happened.

There was no continuation of this story until she started playing the I-I-I-Me-Me-Me and "What YOU PEOPLE should think/say/do" bullshit. I thought Jesus believed in being humble--she's as much like Jesus as an apple is like a button.

I really think it would serve her right if the people of that town picketed her house with "Thanks a lot, Big Mouth" signs. Or better still..."She LIED--he's buried in HER BACK YARD!!"

FWIW, re: Boston Harbor--they couldn't put the body in the harbor, it's too shallow. The religious burial guidance is "open sea" and the body must be properly weighted and dropped into very deep water far from shore--so "international waters" would do. It also obviates the question of which way the guy's body/face was aimed--towards or away from Meccah. If you are an infidel buried in Islamic cemetery, they face you away; if you are a Muslim in good standing, they face you towards. I'm sure it was up to the uncle how the "loser" was positioned; he'll take that information to his grave, I'm guessing.

[DonViejo]

51. All the reports I read about Mullen...

referred to the Globe as the source of the info about the "who, what, when, where" of the burial. Good to know the paper wasn't the prime mover of the story, however. Of course, you are correct, she's doing all this for attention and to promote what she sees as her holier than though religious beliefs. It will be interesting to see what type of backlash is directed at her.

I was pretty sure the Harbor was too shallow, just one of the reasons I said dump the body out near the international boundary line.

[Myrina]

23. Not religious, but I agree with her.

n/t

[morningfog]

26. And now Virginia is looking into possibly "undoing" it.

According to boston.com breaking banner.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

34. Oh, FFS. Send him a little further south...

and bury him in my yard among the pine trees. I won't tell a soul.

[mountain grammy]

28. A fairly small protest here, a tempest in a teapot well covered by national news media.

If only we could get half the media attention when thousands march for justice for the living.

[Half-Century Man]

29. He died, he is beyond our anger now

Let him be buried and go on with our lives in spite of him, that is the only revenge with meaning.

[Posteritatis]

33. It really did. Even the discussions here have been consistently nauseating. (nt)

[1620rock]

35. As long as he's dead, who gives a fuck what they do with him...dump him in a landfill somewhere.

[MADem]

36. WTF? Sorry--this Martha lady comes off as a self-aggrandizing BIGMOUTH.

Why did she even have to open her damn mouth? What a gas bag!!! Who cares where she was sitting when it "hit her?" Didn't Jesus also say something about being humble and not trying to be Star of The Day??

Mullen said she then e-mailed Islamic Funeral Services of Virginia, which responded within an hour that it could provide a plot for Tsarnaev at the Al-Barzakh Cemetery, in Doswell, Va.

Gee, why not provide the coordinates of the grave, now?

I hope they dug deep as all hell, and put a couple of two ton rocks on top of the guy--that's about the only way they can be sure that no one's gonna dig him up.

Martha needs to learn how to say "No fricking comment." This isn't all about HER, but she sure makes it so. I hope the poor bastards who manage that cemetery don't get any sketchy blowback as a result of her verbal loose stools.

[lynne]

39. The coordinates of the grave have been provided -

- complete with map, video, and pictures. See article below. Security at this site has been beyond compromised and I hope they move him in the quiet of night and keep their mouth shut as to where he is.

Had Mullen done this out of the goodness of her heart, she wouldn't have said a word.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/article_205f4f26-b986-11e2-bafa-001a4bcf6878.html

[MADem]

40. I saw a photo of two graves--one had flowers on it.

Supposedly there are four new graves in that cemetery out of forty some odd.

I hope like hell they don't dig up the one with roses only to find the remains of 95 year old Fatimah, grandmother to twenty and great grandmother to fifty, or something like that.

I think this woman ought to be roundly and publicly scolded. She runs around asking/lecturing "What would JEEESUS do?" like she's Jesus.

I'll tell ya what Jesus would have done--he would have kept his mouth shut!!!

There are provisions in Islamic burials to use rocks to preserve the corpse from assault by animals. I hope they dug deep and did that, perhaps using a small backhoe to position a few of those massive landscape rocks that are just too heavy for five or six humans to lift.

All this woman has done is cause heartache for the management of that private cemetery, pissed off a town that didn't even need to KNOW, made the 40-some odd families of others buried in that peaceful little meadow feel like shit and fearful for the safety of their own family's remains, and made damn sure that this 'event' is not over. What a clueless and selfish ass she is.

[GetTheRightVote]

46. I could not a agree more...

[Princess Turandot]

50. Self-aggrandizing and sanctimonious..

everyone involved should have just stopped talking about it, including the funeral director. (I assume the press got her name from either him or the woman herself.)

[Comrade Grumpy]

67. If you're so concerned that somebody is going to come dig up the corpse...

...maybe you should be more concerned with the kind of people who would do that than with this lady who took action.

It's almost as if you think grave desecrations is a perfectly normal and predictable response.

[MADem]

68. How you came to that conclusion, I have no idea. You had to take a HUGE leap

of --- well, making-it-up-in-your-own-head---to reach that end.

I invite you to do a search, and find a single example of my being in favor of corpse desecration.

You know, most people--and I am one of them--can walk and chew gum at the same time. Consider these two separate factual circumstances:

***I have seen people in my HOME state of MA acting like boors about this issue. I have seen people across this nation being shitty to Muslims just because they are Muslim. This is why I express concern.

***I have seen this woman's face in the newspaper and on TV, and her voice on radio, giving interviews that feature the words "I" and "Me." She's EVERYWHERE, telling everyone how shitty they are and how she's like Jesus. Now, I am no expert on Jesus, but I think there was something in that book that said something about people without sin casting the first stone..? Maybe she should spend a little less time telling people how shitty they are, and certainly less time telling everyone how much like Jesus she thinks she is.

Because of this, I can be both CONCERNED about the safety of the families with loved ones in that cemetery, the cemetery owners, the people in the town who may have to pay for additional security, and pushback against the Muslim community in that area.

I can also ask myself why this woman had to put herself forward, with her I-I-I/me-me-me interviews. Why did she have to open her mouth at all? And if she did feel a need to open her mouth, what was wrong with the two magic words "NO COMMENT?"

I'm sorry that you seem unable to be concerned about only one thing. I can express concern about many things, as I have done in this post.

Hope I cleared up any confusion or "concern" you may have had about how I see this matter.

[DeSwiss]

37. K&R

“The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” ~George Orwell

[graywarrior]

44. I don't mind that she took the body and buried it, but fuck her and her holier-than-thou,

judgmental attitude. Nothing like doing a good deed then bragging about how much better she is than we "worst Americans."

[MADem]

47. Concur--wonder how she'd feel if some of the people from that small town turned up in Richmond

to protest in front of HER house, perhaps carrying signs that said "Let she without sin cast the first stone" or something on those lines.

This all would have been fine if she'd just not made it All About HER.

[graywarrior]

63. Now she's being interviewed on TV

Maybe she could be the 3rd pope

[MADem]

65. She keeps putting herself out there, saying I-I-I/Me-Me-Me, noting

how "awful" everyone else is (which isn't true, either--there are plenty of people who weren't in favor of not burying this criminal OR desecrating his corpse) and painting herself as some kind of willing victim/problem solver ..."I KNEW I would be vilified, but What Would JEEESUS do?" Jesus woulda kept his lip zipped, that's what!

[graywarrior]

66. Her opinion is obviously the truth

[MADem]

69. It sounds a lot like "Everybody sucks but MEEEEEEEE.....!"

I guess she skipped over all that stuff about humility in her religious education....?

[Bonobo]

61. Indeed.

It just SUCKS when the shoe fits.

[Daniel537]

70. On this issue, she is definitely "holier" than those clowns protesting a funeral home.

You have to be a real kind of stupid and hateful to do something as ridiculous as that.

[GetTheRightVote]

45. What is good enough for McVeigh is good enough for TT too

He should have been cremated as well. I would not want him buried in my back yard or any where near my home/town/city.

[MzShellG]

55. Good. American citizens and humans in general deserve a proper burial......

Anything else is inhumane. Even death penalty recipients get some kind of decent burial.

[burnodo]

56. +10000

I'm glad to see someone just wanted to bury Tsarnaev and be done with it.

[Sunlei]

57. wish she would have been quiet for a while

[KinMd]

58. Did Mullen alert the Globe?

..or did someone else give them her name and she just answered the reporters questions. Other people had to know about this The body was taken out of the funeral home in Worcester in an unmarked van, and I'm doubting she was driving it.
Also desecration of a gave is a felony in Va,

[truthisfreedom]

60. It's a body. It can't hurt anyone anymore.

I just don't understand why anyone cared where it went.

[ripcord]

62. This is nuts

We buried Lee Harvey Oswald.

[Fumesucker]

72. You'd be surprised how many people then thought Oswald was a hero

JFK was by no means universally loved in America in 1963.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

64. "America at its Worst"?

Shirley we done worster than that!

Wounded Knee, lynchings, Iraq, DU META, WW2 internment camps, all worse.

A protest, whether we agree with it or not, is an exercise in rights.

[Daniel537]

71. Did the loons who protested the funeral home

also protest at the Hospital where the brother was treated? It must surely piss them off to know doctors are required to treat all patients, terrorist or not. Its amazing that this was even an issue. There's just so much hate in this country.

[daleo]

73. This is a bit reminiscent of Antigone

Not the same, but has some similarities.

I suppose she's Antigone and there are thousands of Creons.