OK,
Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev has been found guilty on all 30 counts in the
marathon-bombing trial.
What
were those counts? Let’s look at a few:
Count
1: Conspiracy to use a weapon of mass
destruction
Count
2: Using weapon of mass destruction (pressure
cooker bomb #1)
Count
3: Used or carried firearm (pressure cooker bomb
#1)
Count
4: Use of weapon of mass destruction
(pressure cooker bomb #2)
Count
5: Used or carried firearm (pressure
cooker bomb #2)
et
cetera
(here’s
a CNN link to a full listing of the counts:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/08/us/boston-marathon-bombing-verdict-list/index.html )
So,
a pressure-cooker bomb is supposed to be a weapon of mass destruction —
something the U.S. military was not
able to find in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Really?
The Tsarnaev brothers were able to construct something that Saddam
Hussein (with all of the resources of Iraq) could not?
And,
those “weapons of mass destruction” are also considered firearms? (So conversely, can firearms be considered
weapons of mass destruction? Watch out,
gun owners.)
I
did a quick Google search on “What is a weapon of mass destruction?”, and
here’s the answer i got:
weap·on
of mass de·struc·tion
noun
a
chemical, biological or radioactive weapon capable of causing widespread death
and destruction.
So,
widespread death and destruction from pressure-cooker bombs? I think not.
Only limited death and destruction.
And definitely not a chemical, biological, or radioactive weapon.
According
to wikipedia:
A weapon of mass destruction (WMD or WoMD) is a nuclear, radiological,
chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm
to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures
(e.g. buildings), natural structures (e.g. mountains), or the biosphere.
What
was the casualty list from the marathon bombing? The tally varies. Three people dead, 170 injured according to:
Wikipedia
lists 3 people dead and 264 injured.
A
lot of casualties, no question; but was it from the use of weapons of mass
destruction? They were bombs, sure;
but i think that calling each of the pressure-cooker bombs a “weapon of mass
destruction” is a bit much.
What
this basically means to me is that any charge in the Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev court case that contained the words “weapon of mass
destruction” was basically meaningless. Which
counts included those words? Twelve counts
(#s 1, 2, 4, 16, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30) included those words; eighteen
counts (#s 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
did not.
Any
juror who voted guilty on the “weapon of mass destruction” counts was a tool,
IMHO.
Well,
at least eighteen of the thirty counts •did• mean something — that’s 60% of
them — so i guess a (slight) majority of the verdict has significance. The other 40%? Not significant.
Close
enough for government work.
(And
believe me, i’m all for the full prosecution of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the
bombing; but there’s no need to exaggerate the charges.)
I posted this picture back on Wednesday 10 July 2013 ( http://dsm32.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-mockery-pure-and-simple.html ), and the question still stands:
And the answer is still...
