Why does Boston celebrate Martial Law with chants of ‘USA, USA’?
April 20, 2013 By 65 Comments
Obama: ‘The people of Massachusetts now owe federal and local law enforcement a debt of gratitude’
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
Last night in Boston, following the apprehension of a 19 year old student suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, crowds poured on to the streets of Watertown and surrounding boroughs, celebrating what they believe was an end of their terrible ordeal which began on Monday.
In what looked more like an post-game celebration following a Boston Celtics NBA championship, or a Red Sox World Series victory - major media reported the communal outpouring of national pride where resident could be seen with painted faces, brandishing American flags, and heard shouting “USA, USA”.
How did Friday become such a huge ‘patriotic moment’ for the people of Boston? Was this some kind of victory for America?
President Obama also emerged from ‘The Situation Room” in typical Hollywood fashion, to inform the people of New England that they “owed a debt of gratitude to federal and local law enforcement officers and officials”.
Was it really a success?
The Voice of America has called it, “A Week of Terror” in Boston.
But other than mustering en mass and on cue, many are still left asking this question of the 9,000 law enforcement, “What have they actually done so far?”
It seems that the biggest urban dragnet in US history could not manage to find the suspect, who was eventually found by a neighbor having a cigarette break.
What is obviously clear by the public reaction, and by the incessant grandstanding by a handful of officials at multiple press briefings, was that the people of Boston had been conditioned to believe that an overwhelming police and military show of force in Boston was necessary in order to ‘make them feel safe’.
For federal and local officials, this was their own personal ‘Katrina moment’, and the media circus scrum saw a number of individuals and departments almost competing for air-time in a bid to make their own corner of the crisis relevant while the national media spotlight was still fresh. The words of former White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel can be heard echoing through Boston:
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”…
The city of Boston was effectively closed down under military-style dictum that included the closure of the city MBTA public transport system, Taxis taken off the road, restricted curfews, bank closures, business closures, police taking over public areas for ‘staging’, door to door searches of homes, and something which was not reported, and unsurprisingly so, the military commandeering of Boston police scanner communications in the early hours of Friday morning. Drivers heading in and out of city arteries could see the signs which read in bright letters, “Shelter-in-place in effect in Boston”, which was an order to stay indoors.
Boy held is still only ‘a suspect’
Here another major point which seems to be lost on everyone from the President downwards – the 19 year old held in custody is still only ‘a suspect’. After the largest man-hunt in New England history, with an estimated 9,000 local and federal police, hundreds of bomb squad workers and SWAT Team marksman, anti-terror specialists and a visible contingent of heavy military vehicles – all spread throughout Boston conducting house-to-house searches, patrolling city neighborhoods – the 19 year old high school wrestling champion and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was miraculously located only blocks from the original shoot-out on the evening of April 18th. He has since been transferred to a local hospital and is said to be in serious condition due to gun shot wounds suffered some 24 hours before.
It was a bizarre spectacle – even by American standards, where under a federal mandate, the city of Boston went into complete lock-down for nearly 2 days, enacting what amounts to Martial Law, in order to apprehend one 19 year old suspect, who, based on the assessment of every pundit on every local and major network (as well as the White House) had already been determined to be the most dangerous fugitive in US history. Even after being discovered nearly bleeding to death under a tarp covering a boat in someone’s Sommerville driveway, the feeding frenzy continued, along with accolades and tributes to the bravery of Boston’s 9,000 plus finest.
To call all of this over-the-top is an understatement for sure, but more than anything, it confirms what many already suspected – that faced with any threat – real or fabricated, and after pumping up with the corporate media machine and the new American police state, and in a macabre sort of fashion which has become almost unique to the post-9/11 American cultural mindset – they will clamour for Martial Law in their communities. Naturally, and with this Boston example offered as clear proof, authorities, technocrat and the architects of the new American police state now know this is indeed the case.
For all this it seems, the Commander ‘n Chief felts that America owes this new over-arching Police State a “debt of gratitude”.
Who benefits?
Who benefits from this week’s events? Do the people of Boston, or the American people benefit from the events of the last few days? As the dust settles, there are a few clear beneficiaries of this regrettable incident
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
Last night in Boston, following the apprehension of a 19 year old student suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, crowds poured on to the streets of Watertown and surrounding boroughs, celebrating what they believe was an end of their terrible ordeal which began on Monday.
In what looked more like an post-game celebration following a Boston Celtics NBA championship, or a Red Sox World Series victory - major media reported the communal outpouring of national pride where resident could be seen with painted faces, brandishing American flags, and heard shouting “USA, USA”.
How did Friday become such a huge ‘patriotic moment’ for the people of Boston? Was this some kind of victory for America?
President Obama also emerged from ‘The Situation Room” in typical Hollywood fashion, to inform the people of New England that they “owed a debt of gratitude to federal and local law enforcement officers and officials”. Was it really a success?
The Voice of America has called it, “A Week of Terror” in Boston.
But other than mustering en mass and on cue, many are still left asking this question of the 9,000 law enforcement, “What have they actually done so far?”
It seems that the biggest urban dragnet in US history could not manage to find the suspect, who was eventually found by a neighbor having a cigarette break.
What is obviously clear by the public reaction, and by the incessant grandstanding by a handful of officials at multiple press briefings, was that the people of Boston had been conditioned to believe that an overwhelming police and military show of force in Boston was necessary in order to ‘make them feel safe’.
For federal and local officials, this was their own personal ‘Katrina moment’, and the media circus scrum saw a number of individuals and departments almost competing for air-time in a bid to make their own corner of the crisis relevant while the national media spotlight was still fresh. The words of former White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel can be heard echoing through Boston:
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”…
The city of Boston was effectively closed down under military-style dictum that included the closure of the city MBTA public transport system, Taxis taken off the road, restricted curfews, bank closures, business closures, police taking over public areas for ‘staging’, door to door searches of homes, and something which was not reported, and unsurprisingly so, the military commandeering of Boston police scanner communications in the early hours of Friday morning. Drivers heading in and out of city arteries could see the signs which read in bright letters, “Shelter-in-place in effect in Boston”, which was an order to stay indoors.
Boy held is still only ‘a suspect’
Here another major point which seems to be lost on everyone from the President downwards – the 19 year old held in custody is still only ‘a suspect’. After the largest man-hunt in New England history, with an estimated 9,000 local and federal police, hundreds of bomb squad workers and SWAT Team marksman, anti-terror specialists and a visible contingent of heavy military vehicles – all spread throughout Boston conducting house-to-house searches, patrolling city neighborhoods – the 19 year old high school wrestling champion and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student fugitive Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was miraculously located only blocks from the original shoot-out on the evening of April 18th. He has since been transferred to a local hospital and is said to be in serious condition due to gun shot wounds suffered some 24 hours before.
It was a bizarre spectacle – even by American standards, where under a federal mandate, the city of Boston went into complete lock-down for nearly 2 days, enacting what amounts to Martial Law, in order to apprehend one 19 year old suspect, who, based on the assessment of every pundit on every local and major network (as well as the White House) had already been determined to be the most dangerous fugitive in US history. Even after being discovered nearly bleeding to death under a tarp covering a boat in someone’s Sommerville driveway, the feeding frenzy continued, along with accolades and tributes to the bravery of Boston’s 9,000 plus finest.
To call all of this over-the-top is an understatement for sure, but more than anything, it confirms what many already suspected – that faced with any threat – real or fabricated, and after pumping up with the corporate media machine and the new American police state, and in a macabre sort of fashion which has become almost unique to the post-9/11 American cultural mindset – they will clamour for Martial Law in their communities. Naturally, and with this Boston example offered as clear proof, authorities, technocrat and the architects of the new American police state now know this is indeed the case. For all this it seems, the Commander ‘n Chief felts that America owes this new over-arching Police State a “debt of gratitude”.
Who benefits?
Who benefits from this week’s events? Do the people of Boston, or the American people benefit from the events of the last few days? As the dust settles, there are a few clear beneficiaries of this regrettable incident
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