The point I'm trying to make is that the act of a terrorist is one designed to cause fear among a large population. The purpose of causing this fear is so that the people will push their leaders to make decisions congruent with the terrorist's wishes. For instance, I will paint a hypothetical picture:
Canada's military has been involved in Afghanistan for several years, now. Obviously, the Taliban wants to end that involvement. To date, the Taliban has been fighting coalition forces by use of roadside Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), and guerrilla military strikes. A possible option on the table for them would be to have an agent place an explosive device in a busy place like an airport or movie theatre in Canada and detonate it. Then they would post a video saying that more attacks will take place unless Canada pulls its military out of Afghanistan. Many people would be in such a panic and telling our elected officials "We're not safe, we need to give in." Of course, there would be some like me and mine that would say something along the lines of, "Step it up, we can't tolerate this. Crush them." It's tough to say which way the majority would lean, which is probably one of the many reasons (aside from our government's own security precautions) that is hasn't been attempted, yet.
The reason I'm talking about this is because the recent event in Boston almost doesn't look like a terrorist attack. It certainly caused a lot of damage and fear, but no one seems to be claiming responsibility and making demands. There is no apparent political goal to this attack. This is probably why the Obama administration is referring to it as a "domestic event" rather than an attack. Directly after the World Trade Centre was attacked, Osama Bin Laden immediately took credit on behalf of Al Quaida. Why is no one stepping up? Because there is no one to step up. It was done by an individual or small group of people for reasons currently unknown.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their loved ones. I hope more information comes to light very soon so that we can find justice and closure. I have included what the CBC has learned so far:
