I hate to say it, but it is starting to look like these guys were professionals

[quinnox]

And may have been trained to do this. The timing of the whole operation was perfect, and the way they were so calm in the video and pictures. And it was said on the cable news that the FBI thinks they may have done many "dry runs" as practice. I saw an interview with a congressman who had the same feelings I do, that this may be connected with Al Queda or some other similar type terrorist organization.

[grasswire]

1. CIA expert on MSNBC says they were too cool.

Not nervous at all. Said it really stinks of some kind of training.

[AgingAmerican]

76. Or valium

n/t

[Purveyor]

2. When the reports start linking them to "Iran"...guess who?

"By way of deception..." eom

[SidDithers]

18. Spell it out. What are you saying...nt

Sid

[Purveyor]

30. Stay tuned... eom

[SidDithers]

42. Yeah, that's what I thought...

Hints and innuendo. You don't have the courage to actually post whatever conspiracy theory you apparently think you've figured out.



Sid

[demwing]

93. "What do we want to regulate?"

See! Sometimes "guns' is the right answer...

[still_one]

44. It wasn't Iran or agents from Iran. In fact that no one has claimed responsibility makes me believe

it was domestic

[Behind the Aegis]

65. He's basically calling it a Mossad "false flag." He is implying Israel is behind this.

[AgingAmerican]

78. Or a future Republican talking point

Which is entirely plausible.

[Behind the Aegis]

81. Doubtful. Were it Arabs or Muslims, that would be a Republican talking point.

The only people where this is a "talking point" are among the right-wing/left-wing conspiracy nutjobs, and bigots. I sincerely doubt you will see Republicans blaming Israel.

[AgingAmerican]

83. I think you missed my point

There have to be no actual facts for a Republican talking point to emerge. Just the desire to start a war.

[Behind the Aegis]

84. Yes, I must have.

I still don't see it. Why would the Republicans claim Israel was responsible? That makes no sense.

[AgingAmerican]

85. The Republicans would claim IRAN was responsible

To start a war.

Hope that clears it up

[Behind the Aegis]

86. Oh..OK, gotcha.

[Purveyor]

104. "basically and implying", indeed. You sell your crystal balls on ebay so others can possess your

worldly insight?

[Behind the Aegis]

105. Then what were you saying? Put my Ebay crystal ball sales out of business.

When the reports start linking them to "Iran"...guess who?
"By way of deception..." eom

Spell it out.

[Purveyor]

114. You know exactly what I'm saying. You and the your 'friends' would have whacked themselves

off until blisters were achieved had this terrorist attack been tied to Iran.

That is what the fuck I'm saying.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Pros don't leave so many muddy footprints. nt

[Fumesucker]

9. Unless they are trying to lay a false trail n/t

[Xipe Totec]

12. They must be 11th dimensional chess pawns to lay that thick a trail nt

[deutsey]

91. That's what puzzles me

How did they think they could casually drop pressure cookers in the middle of a large crowd in our surveillance society and not be quickly identified?

And were they simply expecting to lay low for a while in Boston or did they have some bigger plan for getting out of the area and possibly the country?

[Xipe Totec]

94. The fact that they tried to rob a 7-11 last night shows they hadn't planned what would happen next

Like where to hide, what clothes to wear, what to eat.

Nothing.

The two most sought individuals in the US, and they rob a 7-11?

That's desperation.

[deutsey]

96. Yeah...I'll be interested in hearing what pushed them into such desperation n/t

[DURHAM D]

4. Your post deserves one response TMDUS

This Makes DU Suck

[TheProgressive]

7. Your post counteracts the OP and preserves DU

Anytime one speculates and cites an unspecified congressman...well, seems
like pushing a meme...

[Fumesucker]

28. Oh bullshit, speculation has run rampant here since the bombing first happened

You are the one making DU suck, there was no cause for your attack on a good DUer.

[Warren DeMontague]

77. Why?

I mean, specifically?

[demwing]

95. What makes DU Suck?

That question assumes that DU sucks.

I know what makes DU seem to suck: Mean people, thought nannies, and one-upmanship.

[elleng]

5. Don't know how anyone could tell that they were calm,

and of course they would have done dry runs.

[anneboleyn]

11. I can't get the vid to work -- who is Sunil?

[Chan790]

23. Missing Person flyer for Sunil.

[choie]

19. that is ridiculous...

n/t

[tblue37]

37. No, they don't look alike--but for some reason you keep posting this in various threads. nt

[idwiyo]

98. They dont look even remotely alike.

[Lex]

8. Blazing white ball cap and tons of pictures taken of your face?

Amateur hour.

[dkf]

31. Yes...that white cap was a big mistake.

[winter is coming]

10. Professionals would have taken care to respond in the same way as the people around them. n/t

[KT2000]

13. I heard that guy

and thought he was trying very hard to make a connection to al Queda. He said the pressure cooker bombs are used in Afghanistan and Pakistan but as everyone knows, the instructions for those things are all over the place.
The congressman was pushing his own propaganda.

[quinnox]

22. I appreciate your opinion, and also this confirmation about that interview

Some guy up thread was implying I was making this up, about the interview with the congressman. It was on CNN, Erin Burnett show.

[Turborama]

54. I saw that interview. The transcript will be up on CNN's site in a couple of hours.

She came across as almost gleeful when he said that and asked him with a sense of excitement to repeat it.

Fran Townsend has been on CNN pushing that it was AQ for days. There's a transcript of her pushing that theory on CNN's Piers Morgan site. (On edit, I'm on my phone and will add the qoute/link when I get to my laptop in a bit)

Seems like a lot of people on CNN want it to be AQ for some reason.

[quinnox]

60. Yea, she did have an excited reaction

No doubt about that.

[texanwitch]

70. Maybe this is linked to the story CNN was pushing and then walked back on.

I have been listening to CNN, I normally don't.

This AQ is strong with them.

[LiberalFighter]

87. I wonder if the reason for them trying to make the link is because she

was part of the Bush administration.

[texanwitch]

66. I heard someone talking about this on CNN also.

I didn't see who it was but I did hear it.

[defacto7]

14. I won't even entertain that notion.

No professional would leave such a huge trail of errors.

[microbus]

15. hard to say....

Professionals I'd think would be more aware of the fact that there are cameras everywhere...

[Lex]

17. Yes, this.

And welcome to DU, microbus.

[quinnox]

24. I concede that is a good point

I might be wrong, I am just speculating here of course.

[flamingdem]

16. Let's face it they might be in another country by now

It doesn't look like their goal was to be caught..

[MindMover]

20. Professional IDIOTS soon to be ....

Professional criminals living in solitary confinement for the rest of there miserable lives ...

[NV Whino]

25. Sorry, this is strictly amateur hour

Professionals don't stick around to watch the "fun." Professionals don't make themselves so visible. Professionals would have understood about cameras, cellphones and video surveillance. I'm willing to bet these guys are still around enjoying the furor they have caused. Pros would be long gone.

[SoCalDem]

55. I think so too.. "Pros" would have made sure they were not identified

so easily..Many young men these days have stubbly beards..that and sunglasses & perhaps lifts in shoes that would make them appear taller..set them down and retreat to a safe place for a shave, change of clothes into (preppy maybe)...perhaps lightening the hair..lay low for a few days, separate and poof.. they are gone..IF they are pros

[NV Whino]

58. And no white hat

What I see with these two is hubris.

[SoCalDem]

72. yep.. two cocky bastards

who walked away

[NightWatcher]

26. What qualifies you to make that call?

As for the guy on CNN (rep mccaul), he sounds like he wants another war in the Middle East.

Do you have experience in criminal justice, federal investigations, or terrorism? Just curious. It took the FBI years to catch Eric Rudolph (Olympic park bomber), and these two unsubs have their faces spread all over tv.

[quinnox]

33. I am not in that field at all, this is just pure speculation on my part

[NightWatcher]

39. My guess is these are two "smart guys" from one of the colleges in Boston

And they're sending this message to wake us up from our stupid lives as sheeple in consumerism....blah blah blah (fight club).

Just my two cents. (BS in Crim Justice '01, other experience blah blah)

Didn't mean to be rude, quinnox

[quinnox]

45. no problem

I can understand why my OP can be troubling, and that is why I said I hate to say it. I could very well be wrong.

[NightWatcher]

50. We all watch a lot of tv/movies and there is a certain empowerment from speculating

No harm no foul in all of us putting heads together. Who knows, some of us might even guess right.

[Lex]

48. Kind of a Leopold and Loeb thing?

Just to see if they could do it and get away with it?

[NightWatcher]

53. Privledged, smart guys (or so they think)

[Starry Messenger]

82. I'm starting to think so too.

It has that feel.

[smirkymonkey]

103. I am thinking you are on to something.

[Spider Jerusalem]

73. Highly doubtful honestly

just based on the video? White cap guy has pretty noticeable bowlegs. Which are the result of rickets or some other childhood health issue; if he were American? He wouldn't have got rickets because milk in the US is fortified with vitamin D, and if he had, he would've gotten leg braces even if Medicaid paid for them. If it is someone who attends an area university? He's not American by birth.

[sarisataka]

27. Now it is Al Qaeda

not this http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2684474

[quinnox]

32. Of course, I change my opinion as more information is released

That is natural.

[sarisataka]

38. From experience I believe

Congress critters are blowhards who like to look important and informed. Investigators give them less actual information than they do to the media.

If I had to bet a dollar, I would go with home grown still. I cannot point to any specific item, but it does not 'feel' like international work. I may be proven wrong but hope mostly someone will turn them in shortly.

[quinnox]

47. I hope you are right

[sarisataka]

52. Agreed

and I'm mostly pulling your tail, we all have pet theories. I'm just in one of those moods tonight, no offense intended

[bluestate10]

59. I am sticking with homegrown and am willing to be proven wrong, which I doubt will happen.

The two suspects appear to be highly evolved in USA culture, but don't appear to be from Boston. On the day they bombed the marathon, I was walking around in shirtsleeves. One thing that I noticed was that both of the suspected bombers had well trimmed, short sideburns. The lead guy had what looked like well tended hair, at least well trimmed from what I could see. Neither strikes me as foreign from best I can tell from their photos.

[jaysunb]

29. The fact that no one has taken credit is

very troubling for me....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

41. Even psychopaths and sociopaths (as they have been called) can understand Opsec

[Oilwellian]

34. They weren't professional

they were arrogantly confident psychopaths on a mission to maim and murder.

[MrMickeysMom]

35. Speculation...

Of course they were professionals, but professionals from "somewhere else"?

Meanwhile, America shinks into a little fetal position and shivers. Once again, poison letters appear out of nowhere to congress and the WH...

Haven't we been here before?

[texanwitch]

51. I am glad someone else is thinking this.

We have been here before.

I don't think a professional would wearing white baseball cap backwards.

I hope I am wrong in my thinking.

This was such a rotten thing for someone to do.

I will hold back on what I am thinking for now.

Peace to the people of Boston.

[HiPointDem]

74. they got the poison letter guy. no connection. an elvis impersonator with a history of harrassing

people.

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. More likely Leopold and Loeb types: cool because arrogant, but not as smart as they think they are

Professionals wouldn't be so visible. Professionals wouldn't wear identifiable items like the backwards white cap, which allows one to pick him out of every damn pic taken that day. Professionals don't get seen dropping packages. Professionals bomb the place when the actual race leaders are finishing. These guys are a pair, folie-a-deux types, Modern day Leopold and Loeb. Probably rich, smart, well educated.

They act cool because they're sociopaths, not professionals.

[quinnox]

43. I think that is some good points

And also could be the case. This is very interesting, in any case.

[JenniferJuniper]

46. Leopold and Loeb came to my mind right away

Arrogant punks. Number 2 didn't even bother wearing sunglasses to help shield his identity from all of the surveillance cameras and hundreds of photographers all around him. Nothing professional about it.

[anneboleyn]

79. I thought of the L&L case today! Arrogant sociopath types. Harris and Klebold.

Very good points. I haven't seen Rope in a long time.

In the footage that was released from Columbine, Klebold and Harris were also acting very calm as they stalked their fellow students and their teachers -- especially considering the carnage they had already created in the school's library. I realize that they were stalking, armed with guns, but there is something similar about the arrogant profile. They had the calm demeanor that is shared by sociopathic types -- the Leopold and Loeb case makes me think of that as well -- two arrogant guys who decide to commit the "perfect crime;" then these sociopathic types act cool and calm in the aftermath.

[LuvNewcastle]

100. It seems to that the first thing a pro would do is

get the hell out of Boston. If I had done it, I would at least have made it to NYC. Staying in a city where everyone is on hyper-alert is stupid beyond belief.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

40. Some training or practice, maybe. Pros, clearly not

Did not blend nearly as well as they could have. Way too exposed for cameras. Maybe some dry runs but clearly were never trained at The Farm or equivalent.

That is my take today...tomorrow, who knows.

[Separation]

49. My thoughts were Mumbai attack.

Dressed and acted similarly, thankfully no shootings. Anyone who has seen the Mumbai videos, it's pretty chilling how calm they were up to the attack.

[slackmaster]

56. No, they're a bunch of fucking amateurs.

[davepc]

57. If they were amatures I'd hate to see what pros could do

How much training does the ISI or MISIRI give to a couple of yahoos off the street to make them pros anyways?

[bluestate10]

67. Pros would killed a lot more than three people, while either never being seen or blowing

themselves up. I am sticking with my assumption that the two murderous bastards are homegrown terrorists, likely from the right. Their side got smashed in a recent election, their side is losing most battles on a weekly basis and the party that they aligned themselves to is in retreat. Some people seem to want to blame ME terrorists, the fact is a ME terrorists could kill more people on a NYC street at rush hour than he or she could kill at the Boston Marathon. The suspected bombers had a purpose for attacking the city they attacked on the day they attacked. The Boston region has a long and important reputation, with some setbacks, as a beacon of Liberalism - there are people around the country who despise the city for that.

[davepc]

71. The Mossad hit squad that killed Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh

Was photographed all over the hotel they did the hit in. And they knew there were CCTV all over.

[Behind the Aegis]

80. Do you have proof? I know that the Arab govt's in question never proved anything.

I am sure they would be interested in your proof.

[slackmaster]

101. You have seen the work of professional terrorists. September 11, 2001.

[Paul E Ester]

61. I guess some ordinary guys....

Managed by professionals.

Pros use patsies.

[larkrake]

62. I doubt it, we dont know if those two are true suspects

whoever did it probably did dry runs, but that is not being organized, and they do not pass the smell test for being foreigners. Most likely two gun nuts who like to hurt others. It is too soon to have any facts. I didnt see white cap leave a backpack in that video. It is all speculation at this point. Profiling chose those two, not facts.

[JenniferJuniper]

64. Photo of White Cap with Martin Richard and family in foreground?

[Amonester]

69. One of their victims ID'ed the stupid white cap coward

FBI showed him many pics, and he fingered him.

[rightsideout]

63. Number #2 reminds of Waldo.

Just change the hat. This whole thing reminds me of "Where's Waldo" except it's "where's the terrorist."

Undoubtably, their plan was well thought out. I heard a news story about some explosions in the weeks before that were unexplained and they could have been test bombings. And judging from the photos they seemed pretty confident in what they were doing.

One thing I learned from this is that big brother is watching over everything.

One guy appears to be white, the other darker skin. Kind of a mystery as to what cause they were representing.

[bluestate10]

68. The "darker" skinned guy had a black cap pulled down on his head. What I noticed is that

he had a neatly trimmed side-burn and the edging on his hair looked neat. The two just don't appear "foreign" to me, their mannerisms as I watched the video screamed USA born and bred to me.

[HiPointDem]

75. it doesn't look at all like they were professionals. professionals don't make themselves so obvious

[Honeycombe8]

88. Obviously not perfect, since they got caught. Their coolness: youth.

Things are easier when you're young. Like driving a car over 100 mph. A lot easier to do when you're 20 than when you're 40.

[txwhitedove]

89. Still just look like crazy-assed white guys to me.

[hobbit709]

90. Pros would have been long gone by the time the bombs went off. They would at least be out of state.

[Roland99]

92. Why stick around Boston? Esp. an area THAT close to the bombings??

And robbing a 7/11?? WTF?

These guys wouldn't have even made it on amateur hour.

They were just lucky due to how our society is generally open (and no bag checks for the areas along the route)

[Codeine]

97. I hate to say it,

but you suck at speculation.

[idwiyo]

99. +1 !

[FSogol]

102. LOL. Do they SMELL like professionals?

[Gravitycollapse]

108. Lulz. End thread.

[Gravitycollapse]

106. But a couple days ago you said you could smell that it was American right-wingers. What changed?

[FSogol]

107. IBTSD

In Before The Self Delete.

[Gravitycollapse]

109. I'm learning that some posts in here should be immediately screen captured.

[FSogol]

110. Just wait a few hours. Some people can't help themselves. n/t

[kwassa]

111. They had no escape plan. That is not professional.

That is delusional.

[yellowcanine]

112. If they had been pros they would be out of the country by now.

They would have had flight tickets purchased ahead of time as well as airtight cover stories for leaving the country, they would have not been in the area to watch the bombs go off, and they would have made some effort to disguise their faces. They also would not have been seen together before placing the bombs or after. They would each have entered the area from different directions and left the area separately and also flew out of the country on separate flights.

[Codeine]

113. Professional teabaggers? Professional RW white supremacists?

Oh wait, that was yesterday.

[Behind the Aegis]

116. Apparently it is "you know who" behind this. (Rhymes with "you" and "who"). See above.