Boston Marathon Bombers

Boston Marathon Bombing The events from April 15, 2013 are showing how terrorism can occur through individuals who are radicalized on the American homeland. In this particular situation, the Tsarnaev brothers were targeting the Boston Marathon. They wanted to kill or wound as many people as possible. This is because they felt the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unfairly targeting Muslim civilians. To extract revenge, they believed that these individuals are collateral damage in achieving these objectives. This is illustrating how their mindset was different from traditional terrorists.

To fully understand what occurred requires focusing on those factors that motivated them. These elements will illustrate how certain beliefs encouraged them to plan and conduct the bombing. (Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) What Motivated the Tsarnaev Brothers? The Tsarnaev brothers were motivated by the events they experienced during their childhood in Chechnya. This is when they saw the brutal civil war directed at the Muslim population. Unable to prevent it, they immigrated to the U.S.

Before this happened, their mother instilled radical Islamic ideas about who they are and their role in the world. (Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) After they arrived, the Tsarnaevs' were seen as outsiders and had trouble adapting to American culture. This alienated them even further, by not feeling a sense of connection with their new country. While at the same time, they failed to understand the mindset of the Chechnians living the U.S. As they were seen as weak and unable to become a force for bringing the events to the forefront.

This created feelings of isolation and hatred directed at America. Over the course of time, these opinions were turned inward and directed a single country (i.e. The U.S.). (Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) In 2012, they traveled to Chechnya and visited several terrorist training camps. This is when they were radicalized even further. In this case, officials were able to build upon the sense of loneliness and anger about what happened in Chechnya. This occurred with religious leaders telling them how the U.S. is root causes of all of their problems.

After they returned, the two were angry and wanted to lash out. (Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) A major sporting event, was the best way of achieving these objectives. The Boston Marathon was the perfect target. This is because it was open and the security was lax in contrast with others. Second, there were large crowds of spectators and participants. This meant that there would be tremendous amounts of collateral damage.

(Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) They chose the finish line, as it was the one point with the most publicity it receives and could injure the greatest numbers of people. The plan called for detonating one bomb and then having a second explosion during the rescue. This made first responders and the general public their targets of opportunity. (Bodden, 2014) (Feifer, 2014) In this case, the Tsarnaev brothers were motivated by what was witnessed in Chechnya when they were younger.

Once this arrived in the U.S., is when they still faced considerable challenges in adjusting. This helped them to feel a sense.