I’ve seen things that lead me to suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, was actually an FBI operative. It’s funny how hostile people are to the idea — the FBI uses undercover assets all the time, just like the CIA, and obviously they’re not eager to admit it in a case like this. Was this yet another case where the FBI was encouraging a terror attack they planned to thwart? The circumstances surrounding the death of Ibragim Todashev, Tsarnaev’s associate, aren’t reassuring, because it looks more like an execution:
Ending an interrogation in its investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing with a dead body and a host of new questions was not the sort of thing the FBI wanted.
But on May 22, an FBI agent shot Ibragim Todashev – a 27-year old former mixed-martial arts fighter and associate of one of the suspected bombers – seven times, killing him. The agent had just completed a lengthy interrogation of Todashev in his Orlando apartment, part of an inquiry into the already-dead bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. One of the bullets appears to have entered through the top of Todashev’s head.
The FBI’s story, doled out through anonymous leaks, changed several times in the weeks that followed. First, Todashev, who had voluntarily endured hours of questioning, lunged at the FBI agent with a knife, or even a sword. Then it was a length of pipe. Other accounts had him knocking over a table. At least one account held that Todashev was unarmed. The version that currently stands is that Todashev wielded a metal pole – or, perhaps, a broomstick.
Little is known about that mysterious pole-slash-broomstick: its heft, its dimensions, its use. Yet it is likely to be a major difference between vindication and damnation of the FBI’s handling of the case. A Florida prosecutor examining the case is expected to publish the results of an long-awaited investigation into Todashev’s death on Tuesday morning.
Unknowns accumulate in the Todashev shooting. Two Florida detectives reportedly aided the FBI interrogation, and their role during the shooting remains unclear. Florida’s autopsy report, available since July, was barred from release by the FBI. The bureau’s months of silence over the case have compounded the questions it faces.
But the FBI has already reached its conclusion. An internal FBI inquiry vindicated the agent, whose name is not public, months ago. That’s typical for the FBI – between 1993 and 2011, its agents fatally shot 70 people and wounded another 80, and the bureau found no major improprieties in any of those cases, according to records obtained by the New York Times last year.
Todashev’s father told the media that his son had “bruises on his face and body from torture and was shot 13 times.” The FBI claims that just before he was shot Todashev told them that “Tsarnaev was involved in the September 2011 triple homicide in Massachusetts.” Which Tsarnaev brother was involved hasn’t yet been made clear. In addition most of Todashev’s friends have been deported. “A fish rots from the head.”
An internal FBI inquiry vindicated the agent, whose name is not public, months ago.
I believe the “months ago” part is not correct. The FBI inquiry report just came out last week.
But otherwise I agree that the whole thing is extremely suspicious. The recent This American Life episode (which aired before the FBI report was released) didn’t come to any definitive conclusions. But did explain the only plausible explanation that didn’t involve FBI agents committing cold blooded murder.
I agree with you that the Boston bomber was a FBI assest, or at least under observation. Once the Russians notified the U.S. (FBI?), they knew about him and his associates. So much of this is CYA. I doubt that the brother will ever appear in open court but will take a plea deal to save his life.