The Events of Boston: A New American Phase

Massachusetts was among the many American states struggling for independence from England. It is known for its liberalism and inclusiveness, even of its children of non-American origins, such as Arabs and Muslims, and the ostentation of its famous scientific monuments. Civil rights groups play an important role in shaping political opinion in this state.

Links to al-Qaida or Jamaat-e-Islami acts of terror in America didn’t stop the national security director from minimizing the role of these groups in the events of Boston. He attributed these events to the work of an internal group: white bigots, arms dealers, tax objectors or anti-government groups demanding more representation.

The Benghazi incident could come into play if it is established that al-Qaida, Arabs or Muslims are behind the events in Boston. The presence of a Saudi man injured in the incident did not keep social media from slandering Arabs and Muslims, recalling the events of Sept. 11, Iraq and Afghanistan. We note that the media do not focus on the political role of Islam and al-Qaida, even after the Oklahoma City bombings, but instead continue to focus on Arabs and Muslims and their attitude toward Americans.

The U.S. government is now facing a major challenge to identify the perpetrators of this crime and answer the following question: Has someone broken through national security defenses, or is this an internal threat from groups, unnoticed by successive administrations, repudiating U.S. administration policies?

Clinton and Bush’s policies exploited domestic events to reflect back on the outside, implementing foreign policy with tenuous arguments. Meanwhile Obama hesitates to decide until he is at the very least able to see the perpetrators, after which he will answer the Republicans who have started bringing up the Benghazi incident as an issue of national security. The U.S. government will not hesitate to take up stringent measures to address Americans’ concern in the public arena, and it will be worse for Muslim rights with white Americans against them.

Though the FBI’s report confirms the growing risk of internal groups, the media is still pointing to external causes. Sept. 11 and the photos of American soldiers’ bodies returning from Iraq and Afghanistan represent the crux of the matter, and these constitute a black legend that will pursue Muslims and Arabs for a long time.

The recurrence of these grisly events, after the Sandy Hook school shooting and the many unacceptable crimes in civilized American society, hasn’t helped the Obama administration take firm action against them. The insanity plea is the worst anesthetic dispensed by the U.S. media in most of these events now carved on the American psyche, especially the brutality against the school children.

U.S. security’s failure to deal with such crimes with necessary firmness and the invocation of mental illness has created a panicked situation emerging in a number of political groups and media sources, especially with talk of the similarities between the circumstances of the American Civil War and the current American climate. This is a bad omen, as the national security director mentioned before Congress.

The nature of the explosives used in the Boston bombings also points to a simple, amateur construction, not to groups linked to international organizations dealing with advanced scientific practices.

President Obama is improving management of the crisis and addressing the Republicans ahead of their offensive. These attacks were carried out on Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike. Our actions will not be easy, and our decisions will not be merciful to the offenders, but we must ask: What could be more offensive?