Just after the second explosion, marathoners, onlookers and those who were injured but still mobile ran as fast as they could from the smoke. A 20-year-old student ran from the blast, his leg bloodied but still usable. An onlooker then tackled him to the ground, effectively conducting a citizen’s arrest amid the pandemonium. The vigilante told officials that the man looked suspicious. The reasoning he gave was that the man was running from the explosion and looked Middle Eastern.
It is amazing and horrifying that police searched his home within hours of the attack with two K-9 units. Officials brought all of the “suspect’s” belongings in paper or evidence bags. Police even “questioned” his roommate. The New Yorker wrote in an article on Wednesday that the roommate eventually told authorities, “Let me go to school, dude,” and proceeded to break down. The only bit of evidence the police had that gave them the agency to ransack a man’s home and demand answers from another man was that the “suspect” was Saudi Arabian.
This further perpetuates a culture of hatred toward people of Middle Eastern descent. Citizens of the U.S. cannot equate terrorism to Islam. Look at the Oklahoma City Bombings or the Atlanta Olympics. Even think about the Newtown Shooting. None of those events included a Muslim terrorist. People must know that Muslim, Islamic and Middle Eastern is not always followed by the word “terrorist.”
It appears as if authorities responded to a citizen’s accusations against another, but amid the chaos, were unable to evaluate such claims in favor of helping the countless injured elsewhere. So, as a precaution, the accused became a “person of interest.” It could be true that that the vigilante saw something suspicious, more than the solely student’s race. In a time of crisis it is by no means a bad idea to take precautions and point out potential suspects, but there was no rationale behind apprehending a Saudi Arabian because he was running … because everyone was. It was fear that moved this vigilante, and that fear is blatant Islamophobia.
The innocent man’s name was even broadcast on Twitter before authorities came to any significant conclusions. It should never be that easy to demonize someone by falsely assigning such horrific blame. The words “custody” and “suspect” should not have been tossed around until concrete confirmation had warranted such powerful vocabulary.
The public must understand that not all “terrorists” are from the same region or culture, and that not all people from one region or culture are “terrorists.” It could’ve been anyone.
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The “innocent” person you are referring to is Abdul Rahman Ali Al-Harbi. He is is set to be deported under section 212 3B of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) – “Security and related grounds” – “Terrorist activities”.
Odd timing. He is still a “Person of Interest”.
Out of a list of 85 terrorists listed by the Saudi government shows several of Al-Harbi clan to have been active fighters in Al-Qaeda.
Why suddenly is al-Harbi being sent out of the country as the terror investigation is yet, ongoing?
On Wednesday evening, Reuters reported that Obama held an unscheduled meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal at the White House.
Curiously enough, the Boston PD and the FBI scheduled a press conference for Wednesday afternoon to give an update on the investigation, and perhaps, to announce an arrest. That briefing never happened.
Another tidbit – 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
15 Saudis. Your evidence is 15 Saudis? Seriously?
And:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/18/ice-official-responds-to-blaze-report-categorically-false/
A little bit sloppy aren’t we?
First off Islam is a religion. It is not a race.
Thanks to its aggression and supremacist beliefs within three hundred years of Mohammed’s birth Muslims had violently captured most of Northern Africa, most of the Middle East, huge sections of Asia, Sicily, Spain, etc…In doing so Muslims forced blacks and whites and all shades of brown, yellow and everything in-between into becoming Muslim. This pretty much assured Islam would never be a race.
Of course the same thing is happening today, but our authors here would rather pretend it isn’t. Even though Muslims in Egypt are kidnapping Coptic children and forcing them to become Muslims let’s pretend this is not happening. Even though Muslims in Pakistan are ethnically cleansing the last remaining Hindus from that region let’s pretend this is not happening. Even though Muslims are forcibly converting Black Africans (Animists, Christians and others) into Islam let’s pretend this is not happening.
Is this what we’re taught in Boston? Is it really more important to be PC than to be honest?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism
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Well, the story of “innocent” Al-Harbi gets curiouser and curiouser.
Breitbart News says that the Saudi National questioned after the Boston Marathon Bombing had his deportation order records altered, rescinding his deportation order. The alteration occurred the night before Secretary Napolitano vehemently denied the existence of any deportation order in testimony before the House of Representatives. Hmmm
Bringing other religions down to the level of Islam is one of the most popular strategies of Muslim apologists when confronted with the spectacle of Islamic violence. Remember Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber? How about Anders Breivik, the Norwegian killer? Why pick on Islam if other religions have the same problems?
The Truth:
Because they don’t.
Regardless of what his birth certificate may or may not have said, Timothy McVeigh was not a religious man (in fact, he stated explicitly that he was agnostic and that “science” was his religion). At no time did he credit his deeds to religion, quote Bible verses, or claim that he killed for Jesus. His motives are very well documented through interviews and research. God is never mentioned.
The so-called “members of other faiths” alluded to by Muslims are nearly always just nominal members who have no active involvement. They are neither inspired by, nor do they credit religion as Muslim terrorists do – and this is what makes it a very different matter.
Islam is associated with Islamic terrorism because that is the association that the terrorists themselves choose to make.
Muslims who compare crime committed by people who happen to be nominal members of other religions to religious terror committed explicitly in the name of Islam are comparing apples to oranges.
Yes, some of the abortion clinic bombers were religious (as Muslims enjoy pointing out), but consider the scope of the problem. There have been six deadly attacks over a 36 year period in the U.S. Eight people died. This is an average of one death every 4.5 years.
By contrast, Islamic terrorists staged nearly ten thousand deadly attacks in just the six years following September 11th, 2001. If one goes back to 1971, when Muslim armies in Bangladesh began the mass slaughter of Hindus, through the years of Jihad in the Sudan, Kashmir and Algeria, and the present-day Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq, the number of innocents killed in the name of Islam probably exceeds five million over this same period.
Well, look. There’s more.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/24/armed-and-dangerous-becks-latest-revelations-on-saudi-national-once-considered-person-of-interest-in-boston-bombings/