The diary written last night that claims that Boston is a springboard for a police state is malarkey. The request for people to stay indoors was voluntary. The suspect on the boat was identified through the use of heat-seeking technology, per Daily Kos user Otteray Scribe and the local ABC affiliate. If it had been a police state, then there would still be cops patrolling the streets, people forced to stay indoors, and civil liberties curtailed.
Furthermore, the capture of these terrorists did not involve any of the following:
--Patriot Act
--Guantanamo
--The use of torture
--Extraordinary renditions
--Bombing Iraq
--Crackpot conspiracy theories (such as the "Axis of Evil")
--Jumping to conclusions (like Cheney did with Iraq)
--CISPA
--NDAA
--National Security letters
--Warrantless wiretaps
--Denial of the right to a fair trial
--Denial of Habeas Corpus
--Indefinite detentions
--Racial profiling
--Police brutality
The way these terrorists were hunted down and captured is a model for how future anti-terrorist operations should take place. No need to gut the Constitution. Just good old-fashioned law enforcement and teamwork, like John Kerry said back in 2004.
The reason these people were apprehended was respect. Respect is a curious thing. Either you have it or you don't. Boston's police department had it. People did what the police authorities asked them to not out of compulsion, but out of respect. Some of the most moral and decent human beings don't succeed in certain roles because they did not earn the respect of the people under them. Others whom you think are loose cannons nonetheless are respected because they earned it. Respect is earned, not something you are entitled to. People respected the police enough to tip them off whenever they saw the suspects.
The 9/11 attacks never should have happened. There was no communication, no teamwork, and no sense of urgency even though the government had been warned that Bin Laden would be attacking buildings with planes. If the people in charge of finding the Boston Marathon bombers had been in charge of protecting our country and they had been tipped off about prospective 9/11 attacks, they would have done a careful investigation. Then, they would have shut down whole cities if necessary to find the plotters. There is no law whatsoever against teamwork and common sense.
The shutdowns of transit were completely justified. If they had not been shut down, then the suspect might have gotten to an airport and gotten away to some other country. Ready to strike us again. Others question the high numbers of police officers and agencies involved. But what they ignore is that one of their own was shot. Anytime that happens, the police will spare no pains to find the person that did it. Fact of life.
There is no guarantee that terrorists will never strike again. But if our leaders replicate the success of this operation on a national level, then we will be much safer from terrorism. And there will be no loss of civil liberties.