Why ?

The question that can never be fully answered is why two promising young men would build bombs and take the lives of people who were complete strangers.   One is dead and the other in custody, but the question of why the Boston marathon was subjected to jihad will be impossible to explain.

Two Checken brothers left their ethnically troubled country for a better life in America.   The elder - Tamertan Ysarnaev ( 26 ) became a promising amateur boxer and had prospects of competing at the next Olympics.   It appeared that he had settled into a suburban American lifestyle because he married a wife who converted to Islam, and together they had a young daughter.   The only clue seems to be a statement he made, declaring that he had " no American friends, because he didn't understand them ".

His younger brother, Dzhokhar ( 19 ) was enrolled in the prestigious MIT as a student.  It seems that when his brother became radicalized he was swept along and it appears there was an Australian connection.   Tamertan posted the fiery sermons of Australian based Sheik Feiz Mohammed on his website.

This bomb attack was not a spur of the moment thing.  The means of turning a pressure cooker into an explosive device is clearly identified on al Qaeda sites on the Internet, but it requires research to collect the necessary parts and the bombs were carried in backpacks - one each by the two brothers.  Both clearly set out to inflict carnage on others.

A common thread in attacks that seem to have a " revenge against society " objective and range from mass shootings without apparent cause to a bombing of the Boston marathon nature - is the " loner " description that is applied to a person responsible.   Tamertan fitted that description.   Perhaps his failure to integrate with others drew him to become radicalized as he replaced personal family affections with what he saw as the vengeance requirement of his religion.   This zeal was then transferred to his younger sibling - who capitulated and joined in jihad.

It seems that there is no clear defence against this sort of madness.   From time to time seemingly normal people go berserk with a weapon and kill others at random.   The fact that we have some Muslim clerics openly calling for jihad from followers of Islam in western countries - which we allow under the " free speech " rules that apply  - enhances the chances of home grown radicalism.

There are no winners in such situations.   Several people died and many were crippled in the marathon bombing.    One of the perpetrators is dead and the other faces either life in prison - or execution.  Nothing tangible was achieved, but the bombers immediate families will be scarred for life by their association with the two people who caused world headlines.

Hopefully, it may play a part in helping others under pressure to reject similar attempts to radicalise them.