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dkf's JournalBoston Attack Spotlights Struggle Half a World Away
Still, it is clear from interviews with friends and relatives in Dagestan and in the United States that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had firm views about the violent split between moderate Sufi Muslims supported by the Russian government and adherents of Salafism, an orthodox form of Sunni Islam — a tug of war that has driven the religious politics in the North Caucasus for two decades.
Mr. Tsarnaev sided squarely with the Salafist camp, which includes the jihadist rebels for whom violent revenge and score-settling are a way of life developed through years of anti-Russian insurgency. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, many of the Salafists studied at religious universities in the Middle East, forming a cadre of young ideologues who returned with strong objections to the more tolerant forms of worship they found in their homeland.
At his mosque in Cambridge, Mass., Mr. Tsarnaev had shown a preference for a strict Salafist interpretation of Islam, objecting to a sermon that approved the celebration of Thanksgiving and saying that he would not celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. While those views seemed out of place in the university town of Cambridge, in the wind-swept villages of Dagestan they are a part of the daily discourse, and of a legacy of violence going back decades.
Over the years, the Dagestan insurgency spawned its own ideological framework, based on Islam. In 1998, several mountain villages in Dagestan, in an area known as the Kadar Zone, rejected Russian law enforcement and courts and practiced Muslim religious law, called Sharia.
They were crushed by the Russian military in 1999, but the movement survived. Insurgents say they are fighting to uphold Islamic law and reject Russian institutions and practices, like women wearing revealing clothes and the sale of alcohol, and also to substitute for corrupt courts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/europe/boston-bombing-stirs-echoes-of-unrest-in-caucasus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0
Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking
BOSTON — The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional right to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Once Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was read his rights on Monday, he immediately stopped talking, according to four officials of both political parties who were briefed on the interrogation but insisted on anonymity because the briefing was private.
After roughly 16 hours of questioning, investigators were surprised when a magistrate judge and a representative from the U.S. Attorney’s office entered the hospital room and read Tsarnaev his rights, the four officials and one law enforcement official said. Investigators had planned to keep questioning him.
It is unclear whether any of this will matter in court since the FBI says Tsarnaev confessed to a witness and U.S. officials said Wednesday that physical evidence, including a 9 mm handgun and pieces of a remote-control device commonly used in toys, was recovered from the scene.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/boston-honors-slain-mit-officer-investigators-want-to-talk-to-brothers-parents-in-russia/2013/04/24/be74738e-ad3e-11e2-a8e6-b6e4cc7c49d1_story.html
Lawmakers, aides may get Obamacare exemption
There is concern in some quarters that the provision requiring lawmakers and staffers to join the exchanges, if it isn’t revised, could lead to a “brain drain” on Capitol Hill, as several sources close to the talks put it.
The problem stems from whether members and aides set to enter the exchanges would have their health insurance premiums subsidized by their employer — in this case, the federal government. If not, aides and lawmakers in both parties fear that staffers — especially low-paid junior aides — could be hit with thousands of dollars in new health care costs, prompting them to seek jobs elsewhere. Older, more senior staffers could also retire or jump to the private sector rather than face a big financial penalty.
Plus, lawmakers — especially those with long careers in public service and smaller bank accounts — are also concerned about the hit to their own wallets.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/obamacare-exemption-lawmakers-aides-90610.html#ixzz2RRRKVwWy
The obscure Russian jihadist whom Tamerlan Tsarnaev followed online
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's YouTube account has been an object of fascination and speculation since journalists and Web users first found it just hours after the Boston bombing suspect’s name was released. There’s been particular attention on the two videos he placed in a playlist labeled “terrorism,” which involves a Dagestani jihadist virtually unknown outside his region.
The videos could hint at Tsarnaev's knowledge of foreign terrorists, at least one expert says. Investigators say they have ruled out the possibility that Tamerlan and his brother worked with an outside group, but the Internet is a big place, and the corners where Tsarnaev may have spent his time could give some clues as to what he believed.
But the interesting thing about Dolgatov in particular is his obscurity. Law enforcement officials do not believe there is any link between the Tsarnaevs and outside terrorist groups. Even so, the fact that Tsarnaev even knew about this minor Dagestani terrorist seems to suggest that the young man had unusually detailed knowledge of the groups, North Caucasus expert Cerwyn Moore told the Guardian.
“He’s obviously aware of some of the clandestine groups operating in Dagestan," Moore said. "This is a small sub-group. Abu Dujana is not a big player. Federal forces have been successful recently at killing all the top leaders.”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/24/the-obscure-russian-jihadist-whom-tamerlan-tsarnaev-followed-online/
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, College Weed Dealer
We knew that 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev smoked pot — he seemed to admit as much on his much parsed Twitter account. But according to a new report, the Boston Marathon suspect was also a go-to source for marijuana on campus. Because, you know, he was a kid in college.
The younger Tsarnaev brother never went broke while attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth — and that could be attributed to his side business dealing drugs, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday morning. "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a scholarship student who earned spending money by selling marijuana, say three people who bought drugs from the 19-year-old," the Globe's Todd Wallack and Beth Healy write.
Before you go out screaming about accused terrorists and their connection to Big Weed, you should know Dzhokhar wasn't high up on the drug food chain. "Several fellow students reported he earned at least some cash selling marijuana — at least the portion he didn't smoke himself," the Globe reports. From the sound of it, Dzhokhar was dealing to get a better price for his own supply — a common occurrence for heavy smokers in college dorms. There's a readily available market, and they save money, something Dzhokhar apparently was concerned about. He appears to have been earning money on the low as a pot connect.
Tsarnaev never had a lot of money while attending school, but he was never short on cash, either. On Wednesday, the Boston Herald reported that the two brothers received state welfare benefits through their parents when they first came to America, painting a picture that would imply the family was receiving little if any financial help from back in Dagestan. State benefits also helped 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev raise his three-year-old daughter up until 2012 when his wife, Katherine Russell, started earning enough as a home health aide that they no longer qualified.
http://m.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-dealing-drugs/64529/
Providence police say body found in river could be missing former Brown student Sunil Tripathi
Police in Providence pulled a man’s body from the Providence River on Tuesday, and authorities said it is “very possible” that it is Sunil Tripathi, 22, a former Brown University student who has been missing since mid-March.
Providence police Lieutenant Joseph Donnelly said Monday night that “it’s very, very possible” that the body could be Tripathi’s, but also said authorities will not know for sure until the medical examiner’s office in Providence identifies the body Wednesday morning. Donnelly said Tripathi’s family has not been notified of the body’s recovery.
Donnelly said the body was found in the river behind the Wyndham Garden Providence Hotel at around 6 p.m. The coach of Brown’s rowing team, which practices in that area, saw the body floating in the water and called police, Donnelly said.
Tripathi was last seen in his apartment on Angell Street in Providence around 11 a.m. on March 16.
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/23/providence-police-say-body-found-river-could-missing-former-brown-student-sunil-tripathi/Xmj50CyM73PPrjHDirdm0M/story.html
This is so sad...
Homeland security knew about 2012 trip, FBI did not.
US officials have faced tough questions for not tracking the older brother’s travels to the Russian provinces of Dagestan and Chechnya — where he spent more than half of last year and may have interacted with militant groups or individuals.
The FBI has said it was not aware that Tsarnaev had traveled to Russia in 2012. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said Monday that the FBI told him it was not aware of the older Tsarnaev’s travels because his name had been misspelled on an airliner passenger list. US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano confirmed the misspelling during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, but she said Homeland Security nonetheless was aware of his trip.
“Even with the misspelling under our current system, there are redundancies, and so the system did ping when he was leaving the United States,” she said.
Her disclosure that Homeland Security knew of the trip, but not the FBI, raised questions among lawmakers.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/04/23/russia-contacted-fbi-multiple-times-concerns-about-alleged-boston-marathon-bomber/ND0bhUdq1Tp1mRuC8xlb8N/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw
Boston bombing suspect cites U.S. wars as motivation, officials say
The 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack, according to U.S. officials familiar with the interviews.
From his hospital bed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has acknowledged his role in planting the explosives near the marathon finish line on April 15, the officials said. The first successful large-scale bombing in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era, the Boston attack killed three people and wounded more than 250 others.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation, said Dzhokhar and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by police as the two attempted to avoid capture, do not appear to have been directed by a foreign terrorist organization.
Rather, the officials said, the evidence so far suggests they were “self-radicalized” through Internet sites and U.S. actions in the Muslim world. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has specifically cited the U.S. war in Iraq, which ended in December 2011 with the removal of the last American forces, and the war in Afghanistan, where President Obama plans to end combat operations by the end of 2014.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/national/boston-bombing-suspect-cites-us-wars-as-motivation-officials-say/2013/04/23/324b9cea-ac29-11e2-b6fd-ba6f5f26d70e_story.html?wpmk=MK0000203
Boston Suspect Purchased Fireworks
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder brother suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, bought two large pyrotechnic devices in February from a New Hampshire branch of a national fireworks chain, according to executives at the chain's parent company.
William Weimer, a vice president of Phantom Fireworks, said the elder Mr. Tsarnaev on Feb. 6 purchased two "Lock and Load" reloadable mortar kits at the company's Seabrook, N.H. store, just over the border from Massachusetts. Each kit contains a tube and 24 shells, he said. Mr. Tsarnaev paid cash for the kits, which cost $199.99 apiece.
It wasn't clear if the powder from these fireworks was used in the bombings. A Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in the court case against the younger of the two suspected bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, said the bombs contained "low-grade explosives." The affidavit also said a "large pyrotechnic" had been found at the younger brother's college dorm room.
One federal law-enforcement official briefed on the probe said the government's working theory was that the powder used in the bombs could have come from high-powered fireworks. The official said there were other possible sources for similar powder and investigators hadn't drawn any firm conclusions.
http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/a/SB10001424127887324235304578440843633991044?mg=reno64-wsj
Saw this tweet:
@lrozen: Tamerlan Tsarnaev paid $399 for 2 lock and load fireworks mortar kits in NH Feb 6, paid cash. Used Inspire recipe http://t.co/0rISsekfpK
Older Boston Suspect Made Two Trips to Dagestan, Visited Radical Mosque, Officials Say
Two years ago, while visiting his family in the Russian region of Dagestan, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the prime suspect in last week’s Boston Marathon bombings, was flagged as a potential extremist by Russian security services. The only evidence they had were his regular visits to a mosque that gets more than its share of attention from police. Since its construction in 2000, the mosque’s broad, emerald-colored dome has been the center of the region’s Salafi community, which adheres to a more orthodox brand of Islam and, over the years, has been a hangout for men killed in shootouts with Russia’s counterterrorism forces.
There is no indication that Tsarnaev, who was killed in a standoff with Boston police on Friday, was instructed or pushed toward committing any terrorist acts during his visits to the mosque on Kotrova Street. The vast majority of the mosque’s congregants likely have no connection to the region’s extremist activity, and more moderate Muslims regularly attend services there. Both of TIME’s sources said the Russian security services never observed Tsarnaev make contact with any of the known insurgent leaders or suspected terrorists who operate in Dagestan. But the sermons he heard at the mosque might have contributed to his gradual radicalization, the sources said. “The idea that America and Israel are the axis of evil is pretty typical there. He would have heard some of that,” said the source in Makhachkala. He added, however, that the extremist videos he watched online could also have been an important factor.
Tsarnaev’s apparent choice to attend services on Kotrova Street seems to have been part of his religious divergence from his family. Although his mother has said she also became more devout in recent years, the security source in Makhachkala said she was never seen at the Kotrova Street mosque, which generally holds services for men only. The family’s neighbors in Dagestan told TIME over the weekend that Tsarnaev’s father, Anzor, attended services at the more moderate main mosque in Makhachkala, on Dakhadaev Street.
One of the regulars at the mosque on Kotrova Street was Murad Lakhiyanov, one of the most famous leaders of the Islamist underground in Dagestan. In October 2005, police cornered him in a Makhachkala apartment, and after an eight-hour gun battle that included mortar fire from both sides, he was killed. By then, the mosque had already gained infamy as a haunt for local terrorists. In 2002, an explosion ripped through a May Day military parade in the Dagestani town of Kaspiysk, killing 44 people, including 12 children, and wounding 133 others. A manhunt then began for a handful of suspects, some of whom turned out to be regulars at the mosque on Kotrova Street.
Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/04/22/tsarnaev-in-dagestan/#ixzz2RINuxzEp
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