Was Martial Law Implemented in Boston?

It has been a tough week for America, tougher yet for the citizens of Boston and the runners and viewers of the Boston Marathon. On Monday, two bombs ripped through the crowd and runners at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. One hundred eighty people were maimed and injured. Two women and an 8-year old boy were murdered by these homemade anti-personnel bombs, the design of which was often used in Afghanistan. The nation was in shock, but Boston was prepared for this type of thing and first responders, and your everyday citizen, jumped into action. Story after story emerged of heroes who stepped into the fray, ran toward the blasts, who carried people, carried out first aid, and even comforted those who had been injured. The story of a drummer in a night club who sat on the floor, cradling an injured woman gently brushing her hair with his hand, brought others to tears. The story of Carlos, whose son was lost in Iraq years ago, tying tourniquets on a runner whose legs had been blown off, and racing with him to the ambulance.

There are so many stories of valiant behavior that I cannot attribute them all. I can only say that it did the heart good to see so many people emerging as heroes that day. Conversely, it broke my heart to see the suffering, but not my American spirit.

Within hours, news of a 20-year old Saudi national, here on a student visa, was broadcast. He was a person of interest and under heavy guard at an unnamed hospital. Later that day, his residence was searched and bags and boxes were removed. Then news reached the American people that Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry had met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to discuss this college student, Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi.

The following day, Ali Alharbi was cleared. News quickly followed that he was being deported due to national security concerns. Within a day, WND and Glenn Beck both stated they'd received ICE reports saying that those concerns were tied to terroristic activity. These reports also stated that 80% of Ali Alharbi's family belonged to Al Qaeda.

There's no way to know, at this point, what is true and what is not. However, having both Barack Obama and John Kerry meet with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister makes anything they say highly suspect. My last report said that Ali Alharbi would be leaving America on Tuesday, April 23rd. Glenn Beck is threatening to release further information on Ali Alharbi if the White House doesn't come clean by tomorrow, Monday, April 22nd.

In the meantime, the FBI in concert with Homeland Security and the Boston Police worked together to try and identify the perpetrators. Within 24 to 48 hours the call went out to all who attended the marathon to look through their own videos and pictures and submit any suspicious ones to a specific website or to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Twenty-four hours later, pictures and a video were released by the FBI asking for help in identify two specific subjects, now labeled suspects. Within hours, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were identified as the bombing suspects and the search tightened.

The Tsarnaevs carjacked a car and took the owner hostage for thirty minutes. They made the hostage drive them around and get money from ATMs, according to some reports. That is one point I'm still fuzzy on. However, they bragged to their hostage that they were the Boston Marathon bombers. After thirty minutes they released him at a 7/11. He ran inside in a total panic. When police arrived and he told them what had happened the noose tightened on the Tsarnaevs. At some point, they assassinated Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police officer, Sean Collier, 26, and left him dead in his patrol car. Between the hour of midnight Thursday and 1:00 a.m. (EDT) a firefight ensued between the Tsarnaevs and the police. A FoxNews reporter detailed this firefight as more violent than anything he'd seen embedded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During this firefight, the Tsarnaevs and police exchanged gunfire. Tamerlan was later found to have a suicide vest on, I don't know if he detonated it or they removed it from him, but I know his body contained shrapnel. At some point, the Tsarnaevs began lobbing bombs and grenades (both homemade) at the police. Another office was critically wounded. He took a bullet to the thigh that severed three arteries, including the femoral artery. (Today, the officer was able to open his eyes, move his hands and feet and squeeze his wife's hand.) Tamerlan was fatally wounded, either through the firefight or being wounded by his own explosives, and according to some reports, was alive enough still to be arrested, until his brother ran over him with the car in his getaway. The police reported that Dzhokhar (hereinafter called Johar) stated that he was going to kill as many people as possible.

So let's tally Tamerlan and Johar's crimes:

Bombing which killed three people (one was a child), and maimed/wounded nearly 180 people at the marathon.
Assassination of Officer Collier
Extremely violent firefight where he critical wounds another police offer
Threat to kill as many people as possible

By Friday morning a "Shelter in Place" request had gone out to the citizens of Boston and neighboring cities. They asked businesses to shut down, and sports events were cancelled; cab companies, subways, bus systems and airports were shut down, and Boston became a ghost town, as it were. The reasons for this were to limit the numbers of potential victims available to Johar, as well as to cut off all escape paths.

A massive manhut was underway, conducted by the Boston Police Department. House to house they went, searching for Johar Tsarnaev. Now comes the crux of the question, could this be defined as Martial Law? The simple answer is no, it was not. Let me explain why.

When the police searched the Tsarnaev residence they found even more ordinance which convinced them Johar would undertake a second bombing if he could manage it.

Due to the events which occurred over the week, the police had exigent circumstances which allowed them to search the homes within the perimeter without a search warrant. Yes, the NDAA and the Patriot Act both allow that, and I do not agree with either of those laws violating the constitutional rights of American citizens. However, that was not the case in Boston. No one was forced to stay in their homes or shut their businesses. No home was searched without permission from the homeowner. What America saw was a partnership between the BPD and the citizens of Boston and surrounding suburbs and cities to work together to bring a terrorist to justice. A terrorist who had threatened additional harm.

I stand firm that Martial Law was not implemented in Boston. The definition of Martial Law is as follows:

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis. Martial law is usually imposed on a temporary basis when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively (e.g., maintain order and security, or provide essential services), when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law becomes widespread.

Under no definition of the law was this Martial Law, no matter how you twist it. Now, there are those who disagree with me and show pictures and videos of people being arrested. Did you truly believe that in a home to home search of Watertown that not one criminal would be found? That all Watertown citizens were law abiding and not a criminal could be found among them? I am convinced these are the people we saw being arrested.

By 7:00 p.m. EDT the "Shelter in Place" was lifted. A citizen went into his backyard and found blood on the shed door and a strap torn on the tarp over his winterized boat. Some reports say that he lifted the tarp, saw Johar and went in and called police. That began the standoff that resulted in the arrest of Johar Tsarnaev, who is now, unable to be interrogated at this time, in ICU at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston.

Now that authorities have captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old believed to be the second suspect in the bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday, federal law enforcement officials are invoking the public safety exception regarding his Miranda rights, a senior Justice Department official told ABC News. The exception, according to the FBI‘s website, “permits law enforcement to engage in a limited and focused unwarned interrogation and allows the government to introduce the statement as direct evidence.” (ABCNews)

It is my opinion Johar should be labeled an enemy combatant and treated as such. However, Senator Diane Feinstein objects to that, so here's my suggestion: Call Johar an enemy of the state, charge him with treason and try him in a federal court with the death penalty on the table. If convicted he should be put death in a far more humane fashion than he allowed little Martin Richard.

We are at war with radical Islam, and have been for years. It's time to stop pussyfootin' around and let the Military do its job without congressional interference. Oversight yes, but no opportunity to order generals around. And it's time Barack Obama's actions be investigated by Congress. No POTUS should ever insert himself in a criminal investigation, even one involving terrorism. The justice needs to do its job, law enforcement needs to be able to a full investigation without congressional or executive interference. Any immigration reform being considered by Congress should address the national security issues immigration is bringing to America now.

One thing is certain, the American spirit is resilient and as Bostonians put it, "We are not terrified, we're wicked pissed."

Source Articles:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/boston-bombers-fbi-hunting-12-strong-1844844#.UXM54Yqm6hA.twitter

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/news/20130420/doctor-dead-bomb-suspect-had-wounds-head-to-toe.ap/?sct=obinsite

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/04/why-we-havent-heard-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-yet/64419/

http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/20/the-last-days-of-dzhokhar-tsarnaev/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/04/20/boston_bombing_suspect_dzhokar_tsarnaev_may_have_killed_his_brother.html