Boston Bombing

What's wrong with people? Why would anyone want to blow up the Boston Marathon? I can understand terrorists blowing each other up in areas controlled by other terrorists. It's still stupid, but maybe they can gain control of some patch of dirt if they kill enough of their enemies. It doesn't make any sense to attack places like Boston. If you're a terrorist, you're never going to control Boston. There's no way in hell you're ever going to take over the United States. Our military would blow up the entire world before they let that happen. Maybe you can take over parts of Pakistan or Afghanistan, or some former Soviet republic, or chunks of Africa, if you're lucky. You're never going to make a dent in America.

Attacking the World Trade Center made sense. It was a cowardly act by a bunch of assholes, but attacking the financial center of the world will get you loads of attention. How many Americans knew anything about al Qaeda before 9/11? They're international superstars now. Attacking a marathon isn't going to bring a world power to its knees, or even a city. The point of terrorism, other than to kill, is to terrorize people. It's in the name. You're never going to make people in a city like Boston bow down in fear. Anyone who thinks that has never been to Boston.

Attacking a marathon is not even a great way to kill a lot of people. Taking down giant skyscrapers turns them into death traps from which escape is difficult to impossible. Far more people died when the towers collapsed than in the initial impact. Marathons are out in the open. People can escape in every direction.

If your fundamental goal is to bring the American imperialist dogs to their knees, you need to get a lot smarter. Bombing the Boston Marathon was stupid.