EEEK! EEEK! SLEEPER CELL! (OR, MORE LIKELY, NOT)
(updated)

Three more arrests have been made in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing. So do we finally have our Al Qaeda sleeper cell? Is every right-winger in America going to react by doing an imitation of the restaurant scene from When Harry Met Sally?

Probably not. This is from the Boston Globe story (emphasis added):

Three college students have been arrested by federal authorities in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings, a law enforcement official familar with the case said this morning.

The Boston police Web page ... emphasized that there was no threat to public safety.

The three people were connected to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving bomb suspect, at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev was a student. They allegedly helped him after the bombing, a different source told the Globe.

CNN quotes Alan Dershowitz seconding that point:

"If they knew about the bombing, if they were involved in the bombing, the charges would be conspiracy to do the acts for which the other man has already been charged," Dershowitz told CNN. "So it sounds like at this point in time the only evidence they have is actions that took place after the bombing."

And this is from a Fox News story:

Two of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s former UMass-Dartmouth classmates, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, are from Kazakhstan and faced an immigration hearing this morning, sources said. Sources told Fox News they face obstruction charges in connection with the bombing. The identity of the third suspect is unclear.

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov are suspected of taking computers and other equipment from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's apartment and trying to dispose of it after the bombings, sources told Fox News.

I don't know what happened here. Did these three sympathize, but cooperate only after the fact? Or did they merely have a late-adolescent reaction of loyalty to a friend, agreeing to throw out some of his stuff before people who were after him could get at it, not quite grasping the seriousness of what he'd done (anyone ever see River's Edge?), or somehow believing the authorities would be after him even though he was innocent? Or are none of these scenarios accurate?

The two named suspects were questioned a week and a half ago -- yes, they're the ones with the "TERRORISTA #1" fake license plate: the Daily Mail story about those people said that two of them were "named by neighbours by their first names Azmat and Diaz."

I'm guessing these guys are going to talk in exchange for some level of leniency. Or who knows -- maybe they really are co-conspirators. But either way, are right-wingers now going to stop whining that we lost our only chance to get to the bottom of this because we Mirandized Dzhokhar? Obviously we didn't. Obviously the authorities had a lot of investigative avenues to explore.

Oh, and while we're on the subject, remember that other terrorism case last month? The one involving ricin letters? Did any right-winger ever say that either of the (white Christian) suspects in that case should be tried as an enemy combatant rather than put through the criminal justice system? Did we ever hear a right-winger suggesting that either suspect should be held without having Miranda rights read? Even though it seems quite possible that the suspects -- neither of whom is a scientist -- might have had help making ricin? And if more than one person worked on those ricin letters, will anyone ever call that a "cell"?

(And I still say the last thing you would do if you were a terrorist is put a "TERRORISTA #1" fake license plate on your car. But then again, I'm not a right-winger.)

*****

UPDATE:

Brotip: Don't try to help your bro cover up a federal crime

— AdamSerwer (@AdamSerwer) May 1, 2013

*****

UPDATE: Andy Kroll of Mother Jones summarizes the criminal complaint. The tweet above is highly appropriate.


*****

(Globe and Fox stories via Memeorandum.)