British PM Thatcher
Dies Age 87
BOSTON SHAKEN -
US FIRM ON TERRORISM
Warning: This article may contain disturbing images for some readers.
"Crude
bombs": Both of the bombs were small, likely homemade devices and
initial tests
showed no C-4 or other high-grade explosive material (Reuters)
* Thanks to "Google Images", The "White House Blog, "USA Today",
"Chicago Tribune","Time" and "The Washington Post".
by Felicity Blaze Noodleman
A few words of
consolation to the family's of those who died and those who suffered in the cowardly act of terrorism in
Boston, MA on Monday April 15, 2013: “Fate
has chosen you to demonstrate to the world, to be the representatives of those who have
courage and who meet the challenges from those who fail in their attempts to influence
the progress of human kind. Your city
will live on and prosper long after this tragedy has been forgotten”.
The Noodleman Group
President
Obama: "The American People Refuse to Be Terrorized"
President Barak Obama delivers remarks on the explosions
that occurred in Boston,
in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White
House, April 16, 2013.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Colleen Curtis
- April 16, 2013
12:21 PM EDT
Following a briefing from FBI Director Mueller, Attorney
General Holder, Secretary Napolitano, and homeland security advisor Lisa
Monaco, President Obama went to the Brady Press Briefing Room to update
Americans on developments in Boston, following two explosions at the finish
line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon.
"We continue to mobilize and deploy all appropriate law
enforcement resources to protect our citizens, and to investigate and to
respond to this attack," the
President said in a televised address. "Obviously our first thoughts
this morning are with the victims, their families, and the city of Boston. We
know that two explosions gravely wounded dozens of Americans, and took the
lives of others, including a 8-year-old boy.
"This was a heinous and cowardly act. And given what we
now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of
terrorism. Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians it is an
act of terror. What we don’t yet know, however, is who carried out this attack,
or why; whether it was planned and executed by a terrorist organization,
foreign or domestic, or was the act of a malevolent individual."
The President assured the American people that while it will
take time to determine what happened, "we will find whoever harmed our
citizens. And we will bring them to justice."
In addition to highlighting the tremendous acts of heroism
by the men and women of the FBI, the Boston Police Department, and other
agencies and first responders yesterday, the President praised the kindness,
generosity and love that was on display throughout the city of Boston in the
aftermath of the bombings. "if you want to know who we are, what America
is, how we respond to evil -- that’s it. Selflessly. Compassionately.
Unafraid."
"The White House"
Graphic Evidence . . .
(WPX 11 News) New York Daily News
Wounded bomb victims lie sprawled
amid a chilling, surreal scene in Boston.
(AP – New York Post)
A
Boston police officer wheels an injured boy down Boylston Street as medical
workers carry an injured runner following an explosion during the 2013 Boston
Marathon on April 15, 2013.
(US News.com)
While researching this article we uncovered quite a long list of past attempts by terrorists from around the world and the one thing they all have in common is clear - they all accomplished nothing! From Madrid to Munich to Tokyo and the United States the world refuses to be intimidated by these senseless acts of violence. US policy in this area is unwavering: this country will not be influenced by terrorists.
For now the FBI is pursuing the case and asking the public for any and all photos and video of the blasts for analysis in developing leads in the case. The foot race at the Boston Marathon is now over and a new race to apprehend the bombers is now in full swing!
Boston Bombing Investigators
Pursuing Two People
"USA Today"
Investigators are exploring a number of promising leads,
including an image of a man believed possibly involved in one of Monday's twin
explosions.
Investigators are pursuing two people, one at each of the
two sites where bombs detonated near the finish of the Boston Marathon, killing
three people and wounding 176, a federal law enforcement official said
Thursday.
The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly,
said investigators were still seeking to question the men in the bombing
inquiry, cautioning that it is not clear whether they are suspects or merely
witnesses.
The promising developments build on a cache of video and
photographs authorities have been examining since Monday's deadly blast.
At one of the bomb sites, several law enforcement officials
told USA TODAY, surveillance video shows a man putting down a bag. The bag
appears to be similar to the black nylon pack described earlier as possibly
used to carry the explosive devices, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said
Thursday that responsibility for the Boston Marathon attack has yet to be
linked to international or domestic terror groups or individuals.
"We don't know,'' Napolitano told a congressional
panel, as investigators in Boston continue to pursue a number of promising
leads in the case.
"The investigation is proceeding apace,'' she said.
Authorities were working to identify individuals at both
sites, as well as a number of other people in video and photographs near the
site of the explosions. More than 70 people remain hospitalized, with 14 listed
in critical condition.
The promising photographic evidence emerged during a chaotic
day Wednesday in which federal authorities dismissed a flurry of media reports,
including dispatches from the Associated Press and CNN broadcasts, that a
suspect had been taken into custody.
"Contrary to widespread reporting, there have been no
arrests made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack,'' the FBI said in a
statement.
Meanwhile, as investigators painstakingly gathered fragments
of evidence from the bomb scene, a lid was recovered from a pressure cooker
believed used as one of the explosive devices, a federal law enforcement
official said. An official who had been briefed on the matter but was not authorized
to comment publicly told USA TODAY the lid was found on a nearby roof.
The discovery came as Napolitano told a Senate panel in
Washington on Wednesday that the Coast Guard worked with the Boston Police
Department after the bombings to guard against any potential water-borne attack
from Boston Harbor or the Charles River.
Napolitano said officials continue to investigate the
bombings with the FBI as a solitary act of terror. "There is no current
indication to suggest the attack was indicative of a broader plot,"
Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
on Wednesday. "But out of an abundance of caution, we continue to keep in
place enhanced security measures, both seen and unseen."
Peter Burke, chief trauma surgeon at Boston Medical Center,
said two of the 19 patients there still being treated remain in critical
condition, including a 5-year-old boy. All are expected to survive, he said.
Burke said patients who required amputations or who lost
limbs are now entering the second phase of their recovery, which is making sure
that infection does not set in. "They get injured very quickly, but it
takes a long time for people to get better," he said.
Evidence investigators from ATF, FBI and other federal
agencies wearing protective suits continued to scour the crime scene Wednesday.
Evidence trucks and mobile labs filled Exeter Street, the side street off
Boylston closest to the blast sites.
The amount of gunpowder used in the bombings is believed to
be a fraction of the overall weight of the devices, estimated to weigh about 20
pounds each, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
Much of the weight was attributed to the pressure-cooker
container and a mix of shrapnel — BB pellets and nail fragments — that cut a
deadly path through the crowds gathered near the race finish line, said the
official who is not authorized to speak publicly.
The official said the components of the bomb — common
kitchen pressure cookers, wire, batteries and gunpowder — are so widely
available that barring the assistance of an informant or a telling photo from
the crime scene, it will likely take investigators some time to determine where
the materials were obtained and who acquired them.
"This is either quick or it's not,'' the official said,
referring to the identification of possible suspects, "and right now it's
looking like not.''
At the same time, the official said, bomb technicians will
likely be able to reconstruct much of the entire device, from both pieces
recovered from the scene and the collective knowledge of investigators who have
encountered similar devices in past investigations.
"They are going to be able to figure out how this
device was acquired,'' the official said. "Depending on the trade craft
involved, they will be able to do it relatively easily.''
Boston FBI chief Richard DesLauriers said the recovered
materials were being examined at the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Va., where
the bureau has assembled a clearinghouse of improvised explosive devices
recovered from such places as the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan and
crime scenes around the country. Some evidence will undergo an expedited
analysis, FBI spokesman special agent Jason Pack said.
The scene of the explosions is strewn with shredded
T-shirts, metal fragments and glass shards. Boston police and National Guard
members guard every access point, but from the side streets, spectators have
watched the investigators at work.
The ATF's evidence recovery experts have found blast debris
on rooftops and embedded in nearby buildings, acting ATF special agent Eugenio
Marquez said. "It gives the scope of the power of the blast," Marquez
said.
The latest discoveries came as investigators appealed to the
public for videos and photos of the scene in hopes of getting an image of the
person or persons who left the explosive devices near the finish line.
Authorities have yet to determine the motive for the
bombings and are urging anyone with tips to come forward with information.
"The person who did this was someone's friend, co-worker or
neighbor," DesLauriers said. "Somebody knows who did this."
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosions and
"the range of suspects and motives remain wide open."
Officials at a Northern California battery company said they
believe a battery they manufacture was used in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Benjamin Mull, spokesman for Fremont-based Tenergy Corp.,
said that based on crime scene photos that have appeared online, the company
believes one of its nickel-metal hydride batteries was used to make the bombs.
"We're all horrified and appalled that our
off-the-shelf product would be used in such a horrific way," Mull said.
The company has reached out to Boston police and the FBI but
hasn't heard directly from investigators, Mull said.
The company said the 1.25-volt battery seen in the photos is
sold in retail outlets and is frequently used by hobbyists for various toys,
including radio-controlled cars and trucks.
Tenergy has been selling the battery for several years and
said it has sold "tens of thousands" of the particular battery in the
past year.
Contributing: Bart Jansen; Associated Press
"USA Today"
Boston
Marathon Bombing Suspects: City Locked Down as Manhunt Continues
By Scott
Malone and Tim McLaughlin Reuters
2:30 p.m.
CDT, April 19, 2013
"Chicago Tribune"
WATERTOWN,
Mass.— Black Hawk
helicopters and heavily armed police descended on a Boston suburb Friday in a
massive search for an ethnic Chechen suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings,
hours after his brother was killed by police in a late-night shootout.
The normally traffic-clogged streets of Boston were empty as the city went into
virtual lockdown after a bloody night of shooting and explosions. Public
transport was suspended, air space restricted and famous universities,
including Harvard and MIT, closed after police ordered residents to remain at
home.
Officials
identified the hunted man as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and the dead suspect as his
brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed Thursday night in the working
class suburb of Watertown.
Details emerged on Friday about the brothers, including their origins in the
predominantly Muslim regions of Russia's Caucasus, which have experienced two
decades of violence since the fall of the Soviet Union.
A man who said he was their uncle said the brothers came to the United States
in the early 2000s and settled in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, area.
"I say what I think what's behind it - being losers," Ruslan Tsarni
told reporters in suburban Washington. "Not being able to settle
themselves and thereby hating everyone who did."
Tsarni said he had not spoken to the brothers since 2009.
He said Monday's bombings on the finish line of the world-famous Boston
Marathon that killed three people and injured 176 "put a shame on our
family. It put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity.
The bombing, described by President Barack Obama as "an act of
terrorism," was the worst such attack on U.S. soil since the plane
hijackings of September 11, 2001.
The FBI said the twin blasts were caused by bombs in pressure cookers and
carried in backpacks that were left near the marathon finish line as thousands
of spectators gathered.
Authorities cordoned off a section of the suburb of Watertown and told
residents not to leave their homes or answer the door as officers in combat
gear scoured a 20-block area for the missing man, who was described as armed
and dangerous.
The manhunt has covered 60 percent to 70 percent of the search area,
Massachusetts State Police Colonel Timothy Alben said Friday afternoon.
"We are progressing through this neighborhood, going door-to-door,
street-to-street," he said.
Two Black Hawk helicopters circled the area. Amtrak said it was suspending
train service between Boston and New York indefinitely and the Boston Red Sox
postponed Friday night's baseball game at historic Fenway Park.
The events elicited a response from Moscow condemning terrorism and from the
Russian-installed leader of Chechnya, who criticized police in Boston for
killing an ethnic Chechen and blamed the violence on his upbringing in the
United States.
"They grew up and studied in the United States and their attitudes and
beliefs were formed there," Ramzan Kadyrov said in comments posted online.
"Any attempt to make a connection between Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs is in
vain.
The brothers had been in the United States for several years and were believed
to be legal immigrants, according to U.S. government sources. Neither had been
known as a potential security threat, a law enforcement official said on
Friday.
HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH
In Watertown, the lockdown cleared the streets for police, who raced from one
site to the next. The events stunned the former mill town, which has a large
Russian-speaking community.
During the night, a university police officer was killed, a transit police
officer was wounded, and the suspects carjacked a vehicle before leading police
on a chase that led to Tamerlan Tsarnaev being shot dead.
"During the exchange of the gunfire, we believe that one of the suspects
was struck and ultimately taken into custody," Alben said.
The suspect died of multiple injuries including gunshot wounds and trauma, said
Dr. Richard Wolfe, chief of emergency medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center.
The older brother was seen wearing a dark cap and sunglasses in surveillance
images released by the FBI on Thursday. The younger Tsarnaev was shown wearing
a white cap in the pictures, taken shortly before Monday's explosions.
"We believe this to be a terrorist," said Boston Police Commissioner
Ed Davis. "We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people.
We need to get him in custody."
Copyright © 2013, Reuters
"Chicago Tribune"
Margaret Thatcher Memorial Service
 |
| Margaret Thatcher |
British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, (1975 - 1990) passed away Monday April 8, 2013 at the age of 87. Her state funeral took place at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on Tuesday of this week. She was then remembered in a privet service for the family afterwards at Westminster Chapel.
Thatcher was the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th. Century with three terms in office until her resignation in 1990. She and her government were strong allies with the United States under NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and President Reagan. Together under NATO they were able to bring about the peaceful collapse of the East German Government and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union (Russian) domination of Eastern Europe which then followed in 1991. This brought about an end to the long running "Cold War" and to some extent, the Communist State as it had been known.
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip were among the more than 2,000 mourners who attended the service. At least 170 countries were represented among them. Mourners
included Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former U.S. House
Speaker Newt Gingrich and F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid-era
president of South Africa. Former U.S.Vice-President Dick Cheney and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger attended but Nancy Reagan -- the widow of Thatcher's ally and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan -- was unable to attend and sent a representative in her place.
For this writer, instead of recalling what I'd liked about this world leader, I would have to ask, "what didn't I like about her". Thatcher seemed to be the quintessential elected western head of state in spades! At times she seemed to be more regal that Queen Elizabeth II herself and that is something which is just not written about. She, however, is certainly a role model for any young woman of our day.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron gives a reading
during the ceremonial funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Christopher Furlong/AP
Britain Bids Farewell to Margaret Thatcher,
The Iron Lady
 |
The Union Jack covers the coffin bearing Thatcher’s body during the funeral procession
in London. Thatcher was Britain’s longest-ruling prime minister of the 20th century.
Matt Dunham/AP
|
By Anthony
Faiola and Eliza Mackintosh,
Apr 17, 2013 04:43 PM EDT
The Washington Post Published: April 17
LONDON — Britain bade a final farewell to Margaret Thatcher
on Wednesday, silencing the bells of Big Ben and mounting a trademark display
of sober pageantry for the funeral of a towering leader who, in death as in
life, deeply
divides the nation.
Although not a state funeral — an honor reserved largely for
monarchs — the military honors and pomp unfurled for the event marked the most
elaborate goodbye for any elected leader here since Winston Churchill. As the
Union Jack flew at half-staff over No. 10 Downing Street, the hearse carrying
the flag-covered casket of the
Iron Lady wound along a historic two-mile route. For the final leg of the
procession, the casket was transferred to a gun carriage drawn by six horses.
Tens of thousands of mourners and 4,000 police officers
lined the route, which stretched from the Gothic spires of the Palace of
Westminster, through Trafalgar Square and over to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where a
service was later attended by more than 2,300 dignitaries and others.
Well-wishers waved flags, both of Britain and the Falkland
Islands, the British territory Thatcher went to war to recover after an
Argentine invasion. They had come, they said, to honor Britain’s longest-ruling
prime minister of the 20th century, a woman whose steely will is credited
with rebuilding the country’s global status, accelerating the fall of the
Berlin Wall and modernizing the domestic economy.
“She truly was an Iron Lady. She is what made Great Britain
great,” said Maureen Mann, 71, whose husband and son fought in the 1982
Falklands War. Mann’s family traveled hours from central England to stand along
the procession route. “Thatcher fought fiercely for that little island and the
people on it. We feel a great sense of pride in that.”
Margaret Fowler, who, like Thatcher, is a grocer’s daughter,
left Oxford for London at 5 a.m. to find a good spot along the route. “She put
Britain back on its feet. When you see the people turning out here, you can see
the support for her still,” Fowler said.
Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic came to pay
their respects, with former U.S. secretaries of state George Shultz, James A.
Baker III and Henry Kissinger joining British Prime Minister David Cameron and
John Major, one of Cameron’s Conservative predecessors.
In accordance with Thatcher’s wishes, the service was
quintessentially British, including pieces by English composers Edward Elgar
and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury,
delivered a blessing. Cameron and Thatcher’s American-born granddaughter,
Amanda, offered readings.
Amanda Thatcher, 19, drew particular accolades for her
composure as she read a New Testament verse that spoke to her grandmother’s
strength: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.”
The Rev. Richard Chartres, a family friend and the bishop of
London, told the mourners that Thatcher had requested not a typical eulogy,
laced with her political accomplishments, but a more simple and personal
address. He delivered just that, reflecting on a young boy who had once written
Thatcher asking whether prime ministers, like Jesus Christ, never made
mistakes. Thatcher’s life, Chartres acknowledged, had been stormy. But as her
remains rested in the church, he said, now “there is a great calm.”
“At such a time, the parson should not aspire to the
judgments which are proper to the politician,” he said. “Instead, this is a
place for ordinary human compassion of the kind that is reconciling.”
After the service, the coffin was carried to a hearse
waiting at the foot of the cathedral’s west steps. A private cremation was held
later in the day. Thatcher’s remains will be interred next to the spot at the
Royal Hospital Chelsea where her husband, Denis Thatcher, was laid to rest in
2003.
Ed Miliband, head of a Labor Party that was forced to shift
to the center after Thatcher’s 11 years in office, led those from the
opposition who were present at St. Paul’s. But not all of Thatcher’s opponents
were as forgiving. Furious Labor lawmakers sought to block a move to delay the
start of Parliament on Wednesday so members of the House of Commons could attend
Thatcher’s funeral. Several also railed against the decision to silence Big Ben
for the event and to have taxpayers largely foot the 10 million pound ($15
million) bill for the funeral procession; Thatcher’s estate was to cover at
least some of the costs.
“This is over the top,” said John Mann, a national Labor
lawmaker. “Not even the German Luftwaffe could silence Big Ben. And I would be
surprised if Margaret Thatcher herself would approve of the 10 million pound
bill.”
Cameron defended the scale of the funeral, telling the BBC
that the plans were made long ago. “She was an extraordinary woman, and it was
right to mark her passing in this way,” he said.
On Tuesday, a more intimate service was held at the Chapel
of St. Mary Undercroft in the House of Commons for family, friends and
lawmakers.
British authorities reviewed security plans after the
bombings this week in Boston. But Scotland Yard said no additional precautions
were taken for the funeral, which was always going to be a massive security
operation.
Police had feared rowdy protests, along the lines of one
in London over the weekend. But Wednesday, Thatcher’s supporters far
outnumbered the small groups of protesters peppering the route. Anti-Thatcher
chants by some prompted sharp retorts from nearby mourners. At one point,
protesters appeared to throw something at the horses pulling the hearse. A
cluster of Thatcher opponents turned their backs on the parade.
“We lived through Thatcher destroying this country,” said
Bryony Nierop-Reading, a 68-year-old retired teacher. “We used to be a rich,
powerful, industrial nation, and she destroyed the working class.”
In Goldthorpe, a town in the South Yorkshire region hit hard
when Thatcher broke
the coal miners unions in the 1980s, an open coffin containing an effigy of
the late prime minister was set ablaze Wednesday as hundreds watched.
“In death as in life, Margaret Thatcher has drawn both
praise and opposition,” William Hague, Britain’s foreign minister, said in a
speech Tuesday evening, noting that Thatcher would not have minded the
divergent views about her legacy.
“She, who prized freedom above all things, would not be in
the slightest bit upset by the disagreement,” Hague said. “Some of us,
including me, will always be inspired and shaped by her achievements, while
others may never reconcile themselves to her policies or to her character. The
right to form our own opinions on that count is fundamental to our democracy.”
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, her husband, attended
Wednesday’s service despite long-standing reports of differences between the
nation’s two most powerful women.
“I think the queen is making quite a big statement by
going,” said Jane Tate, 48, a dressmaker from Kent who watched the procession
on the Strand with her two young daughters. “Despite what people might say, the
queen respected Thatcher because of the position she reached and all of the
works she did for this country.”
"The Washington Post"
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