The Boston Bombing... A Follow Up

Last night I posted about the horrific bombing of innocent people in Boston during the marathon and I feel the need to clarify a few things today.  Someone said the bombing was not political and that the victims were the important thing over all.  While I can’t agree that the bombing itself wasn’t political (since they all are political in one way or another) I now understand that first and foremost I should have talked about the victims.

My heart goes out to the victims, the families, the witnesses and even to the organizers of the Boston Marathon, which has certainly been changed forever.  No one at either of those scenes will ever be the same again.  Those who were injured, some devastatingly, will now have to live with the consequences of those injuries, as will their families.  I saw one picture of a man who lost both legs (and was conscious) that tore at my heart.  Being a former paramedic I’ve seen some pretty gruesome things but the picture of that man looking at what used to be his legs…  I simply cannot imagine how he was able to cope. 

The witnesses who describe seeing limbs and body parts flying past them will also never be the same.  How could one witness that and ever forget it?  They now have at least an inkling of what it must be like to be in a war zone.  It’s a sight they’ll dream about and re-live more than once, I’m sure.  It’s called “terrorism” for a reason.

I have one friend who often runs in this race who was unable to make it this year.  I have another who has begun running marathons and will probably end up running the Boston sometime in the future.  Both of them crossed my mind last night – not that they’re any more important than those poor victims yesterday but because they’re important to me and either of them could have been involved given different circumstances.

I won’t apologize for my post last night.  The entire point of it was to ask what the President is going to do about this attack on Americans on American soil.  He doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to these attacks.  He called the one at Fort Hood “domestic violence” even though Major Hassan was in direct contact with Anwar Al Awlaki and screamed “Allahu Akbar!” before beginning his murderous spree that claimed 13 American lives. 

The President has been evasive, elusive and he and his staff have blatantly lied about the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, which claimed four lives, including that of our Libyan ambassador.  It’s been over seven months and we have no more solid answers than we did in the first few weeks.  It’s shameful behavior coming from the White House.

So my post last night stands as is – what are you going to do, Mr. President?  The bombing wasn’t your fault and I won’t entertain the idea that it was.  But it was terrorism, plain and simple.  It doesn’t matter if it’s domestic terrorism (apparently MSNBC pundits have stated is their wish - which is a topic for another blog post), or foreign terrorism.  Both must be identified, correctly labeled and dealt with.  There is no Presidential campaign going on right now that needs to be protected from the truth.  Get the answers, tell the American people the truth, and dispense justice.  That’s all we want.

I do apologize to any and all who may have thought I cared more about the politics of the incident than about the victims.  That is definitely not the case.  No one should have to experience what happened yesterday.  Intentionally blowing up innocent people for religious and/or political reasons is unconscionable and unacceptable and those who perpetrate it should be found, convicted and executed.  Anyone who is capable of doing something like that is certainly capable of doing it again and again.  I say take them out, permanently.

May God be with the victims, their families and friends, and the innocent witnesses whose lives have changed forever.  A special thank you to those who ran to the scene to volunteer their assistance in helping the victims.  And thank you, of course, to the EMS services, not only from Boston but from the surrounding areas, who worked tirelessly to care for all of the victims and save the ones they could.  God bless you all.