Why Place Two Bombs in the Chelsea Neighborhood?
By Jim Geraghty — September 18, 2016
It is extremely unlikely that two separate perpetrators, acting independently, would place two explosive devices four blocks apart from one another on the same night. New York City is facing an individual or group who set two explosive devices intending to harm people. (If we were collectively less lucky, the bombs could have killed someone last night.) Whether or not Mayor Bill de Blasio chooses to call it ”terrorism” or says there is any connection to terrorism, the perpetrator’s intent was to terrorize.
A bomber’s choice of location for his bomb says a great deal about him. In the immediate days after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, some speculated whether it could be the work of militias, because the date (April 15) was close to tax day and the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing (April 19). But militias are primarily angry at the federal government; blowing up a marathon doesn’t make a lot of sense as a target. The Boston Marathon made more sense if you were targeting America or Americans as a whole, and it made more sense if the bomber was local. The Boston Marathon is a huge event in that city and region, but less so on the national stage (most years). As it turned out, the perpetrators were indeed locals who embraced jihadist ideology; they had previously contemplated suicide attacks on the crowds for the Boston Pops fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/node/440143/print
