J.J. Goldberg April 14, 2013

The Los Angeles Times now confirms what the N.Y. Post first reported, that the Boston police are questioning a Saudi national in connection with today’s bombings. The Times attributes its report to federal law enforcement officials.

Earlier, I reported on the initial N.Y. Post story and flippantly dismissed it as a presumably false rumor. A Boston police spokesman had told Talking Points Memo that he didn’t know where the Post got its story, “but it didn’t come from us.” Looks like I might have dismissed it too quickly. The Post reported that the Saudi national had been injured in the blast and was being kept in the hospital under guard. The L.A. Times made no mention of those details.

From earlier: Chemi Shalev notes that the event occurred on a significant day on the Massachusetts calendar: Patriot Day, April 19, the anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, a a state holiday. It’s also the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. I would add that it also happens to be Income Tax Day, symbolizing the dictatorial power of the hated federal government, if you’re of such a mindset.

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On the other hand, it’s also the eve of Israeli Independence Day. Granted, that’s according to the Hebrew calendar, and Palestinians generally mark the Nakba on the Gregorian anniversary, May 15. On the other hand, it’s conceivable that as jihadis’ intelligence gets better, they’d want to time an attack to ruin their enemies’ celebrations. But, again, at this point we’re speculating.

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