“American People Refused to be Terrorized”

April 16, 2013

Boston Globe – President Obama said Tuesday investigators do not know whether the bombs that killed three and wounded dozens at the Boston Marathon were an act of a single person or a an organized group — or why they were planted — but that the “American people refused to be terrorized.’’

The president said investigators are treating the episode as a terrorist act.

“Any time bombs are used to target innocent civilians, it is an act of terror,’’ he said at a short briefing in the White House. The president took no questions.

“We do not know whether this is an act of an organization, or an individual, or individuals. We don’t have a sense of motive yet,’’ he said.

Obama cited what he described as acts of heroism at the marathon finish line shortly after the bombs exploded, creating a chaotic and bloody scene. He lauded exhausted runners who “kept running to the nearest hospital to give blood’’ or tore off their own clothes to make tourniquets for the wounded.

Earlier, US Senators opened their session Tuesday with condemnations of the Boston Marathon bombing attack, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that Americans have lowered their guard against terrorism to pre-Sept. 11, 2001 levels.

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