The Issue: How the bombings at the Boston Marathon can change the way we look at terrorism.
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Ralph Peters makes a powerful point (“Lessons of Boston,” PostOpinion, April 23).
A two-man, on-the-cheap terrorist attack essentially shut down a major American city.
The Tsarnaev brothers allegedly did with a couple of bastardized pressure cookers what George Washington did 237 years earlier with an army and numerous well-placed cannons.
The jihadist duo effectively held Boston under siege. Jim Soviero
East Setauket
On April 19, 1776, citizens of Lexington and Concord stood toe-to-toe with elements of the mightiest military force in the world.
On April 19, 2013, citizens, at the behest of their elected officials, cowered in their homes because of a search for one person.
I wonder what ourforefathers would think of their progeny today.
After hours of searching fruitlessly, people were allowed out of their homes, and an elderly man found the suspect within 20 minutes while checking the security of his own property.
We certainly have progressed since 1776, haven’t we?Dan Shapiro
Oceanside, Calif.
Peters hit the nail on the head regarding headlines that inspire copycats.
He also did what everyone should do when discussing the perpetrators of such acts: define them as cowardly.
If everybody in the media and politics did that, the number of copycats would probably diminish.
Not even wackos who want to go down in flames want to do so as the greatest coward to date. Ben Davidson
Winsted, Conn.
I read Peters’ article and wondered why no one is asking why Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was granted American citizenship through the naturalization process.
If I was a Bostonian, I would want to know. I read that the older brother, Tamerlan, also applied, but had his held up due to concerns over the FBI interview.
Why wouldn’t our immigration and naturalization program look at family members with a skeptical eye if someone else in the family raised concerns?
It seems terrorism’s best recruiting tool is family members of devotees. I wish this whole immigration debate would slow down so we could really inspect who gets naturalized and what processes are followed. Liz Edwards
Tupelo, Miss.
Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery.
Obama needs to admit that radical Islam is our enemy. Unless he recognizes it, he cannot defeat it, and more Americans will lose their lives.
The Tsarnaev brothers were jihadists hell-bent on killing Americans.
The crude bombs they used were secondary weapons.
Their primary weapon was our own warped political correctness, perpetuated by a president oblivious to the real world and stuck in a self-defeating ideology that has evolved with his lack of leadership.
Those who were butchered in Boston and their loved ones probably could not care less about political correctness.
Our borders must be secured, our citizens protected and our enemies killed.Elio Valenti
Brooklyn
Another thing the terrorists obtained from the Boston attack was information on our investigative techniques, of which the Tsarnaev brothers were apparently unaware, but which, after the attack, were reported in the media.
Robert Peterson
Port Charlotte, Fla.
It’s time we stopped professors from teaching classes in our colleges on this radical Muslim agenda. Some impressionable young men want to act on this, especially if they have a Muslim background.
Stop these people from demanding and trying to change our laws. If they don’t like our ways, then let them return to their own ways in their own countries.
Political correctness has gotten out of hand, and we are paying dearly for it. E. Graham
Astoria