By Edmond Y. Azadian
The US once again witnessed events reminiscent of 9/11, although fortunately on a more limited scale but of equal sensationalism. The suspected Boston Marathon bombers, brothers Tsarnaev, terrorized Boston and its suburbs for almost three days. Watertown, the hub of many Armenian organizations, suffered the brunt of the massive manhunt which climaxed with the capture of the younger terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in that same town. The elder brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during a shootout with the police.
Federal, state and local law enforcement officers did an outstanding job to minimize collateral damage and finish the manhunt, before the suspects inflicted further mayhem on the civilian population. The two bombs that exploded at the marathon finish had already caused three deaths and 170 injuries.
As the nation grieves its losses and wonders about the motivations of the suspects, the news media is ahead of itself to snatch crumbs of information to outdo competitors. Although that is the nature of the news business, irresponsibility is not.
In an atmosphere of heightened tension, all evidence discovered, every word said, every document released, is amplified and resonates loudly.
It seems that in this tense moment the Turkish and Azeri disinformation services have played their dirty roles to deflect the attention from the main case and float the Armenian name in the media, knowing full well that once the damage is done to the Armenian image, a million retractions and apologies cannot undo that damage.