FBI Dropped The Ball--Obama Defies Republicans: Boston Bomber Will Be Tried In Federal Courts

by Monica Davis

President Barack Obama has decided that the alleged Boston Pressure Cooker bomber will be tried in US federal courts. Congressional Republicans would prefer to have Dzhokhar Tsarnaev tried as an enemy combatant in a military tribunal.

While his family and friends say that Tamerlan Dzhokhar was no terrorist, he was reportedly was under suspicion of Russian authorities. Two years ago they requested information on the elder brother from the US.   Critics say the FBI dropped the ball and told the Russians that they found nothing suspicious.

A delegation of Republicans reportedly are trying to pressure President Obama to have Tamerlan Dzhokhar tried as an enemy combatant. The president has chosen to have the alleged terrorist tried in US Federal Court.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that despite the demands of some congressional Republicans, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will not be tried as an “enemy combatant” but will face trial in U.S. federal court. Carney added that under U.S. law, American citizens such as Tsarnaev cannot be tried by military commissions. MOREHERE

Two years ago, the Russians asked for further information on Tamerlan.  They reportedly had information that he had become a believer of radical Islam and prepared to leave the US to join a possibly radical group in Russia.

The Russian government contacted the agency in early 2011 requesting further information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with the FBI confirming this was apparently “based on information he was follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups”.

The FBI apparently responded by checking databases, and interviewing Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his family but said it “did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign”.  MOREHERE