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Once again, the unprecedented refusal by authorities all over the USA to bury Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and quietly be done with it emphasised the American thirst for revenge and their disrespect for the sanctity of life and the dead. Sure, no one wants their grave next to one belonging to a monster, but civilised intelligent societies don’t play games with corpses… unfortunately, that’s a fact. While the USA has buried thousands of mass murderers and psychopaths with little fanfare, for some reason, they didn’t offer this young Muslim, who showed the fallacy of the police state, the same regard. Certainly, he was evil, but you don’t play politics with a corpse.
The disgrace of the Tsarnaev burial débâcle is a story most Americans would want to go away as quickly as possible (move along… nothing to see here), some publications even openly saying as much, with the Boston Globe even going so far as to publish a piece entitled “It’s Time to Bury this Story”. Of course, it’s time to bury the story, as it’s a very uncomfortable one for Americans; it shows the complete idiocy and lack of common human decency that exists in the American masses.
The author of the Boston Globe article (perhaps, he was playing with words when he titled it?) cited Thane Rosenbaum, the author of the book Payback: The Case for Revenge, as saying, “There’s a difference between an ordinary crime and an atrocity. Someone went to the hardware store and picked out nails and bolts and ball bearings for the purpose of dismembering children. They knew the purpose was not just to kill, but to dismember. The atrocious deserve very different treatment. They deserve to be ostracised and banished from the community.”
By all means, what Tamerlan Tsarnaev did was an atrocity (assuming he was, in fact, guilty of the crime as he was still only a suspect, a fact few wish to be reminded of), no one would argue to the contrary, yet civilised intelligent people wouldn’t do something as distasteful as playing revenge with a corpse. The fact that Tamerlan died a horrendous death, being shot by police and run over by his own brother, apparently was not enough for the American thirst for blood and revenge, and by not allowing him to be quietly be buried, once again, we’re reminded of that particular characteristic of the “American experience”… the love and enthusiasm for bloody revenge, at once appalling and disgraceful , made even more so by the self-righteous indignation and the holier-than-thou-zeal with which it’s sought. The refusal by American officials to allow Tamerlan’s burial has resonated around the world, and the spectacle of a body rotting away, waiting for burial, being refused left and right, has the world’s population again focused on the idiocy of the American people.
The refusal to bury Tamerlan was unprecedented, as every type of killer, paedophile, rapist, mass murderer, and even those guilty of treason are buried somewhere when they die. Usually, it’s done quietly in a prison cemetery or some other obscure location, perhaps, in an unmarked grave, as the Boston Globe noted in an article on Tsarnaev, “Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler, confessed to 12 murders during a crime wave that ranks among the most famous and heinous in American history. Yet, he’s interred at Puritan Lawn Memorial Park in Peabody MA”. Of course, there are others:
- Ted Bundy, who confessed to killing over 30 women, was cremated, and his ashes spread over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, according to his own wishes.
- John Wayne Gacy, who killed 33 young men and boys, was quietly cremated, although it was later learned a psychiatrist saved part of his brain in a basement for years.
- Jeffrey Dahmer, responsible for the deaths of 16 people, whose crimes included cannibalism and necrophilia, was cremated, after much debate over what to do with his brain, which had been saved in a jar.
- John Geoghan, a defrocked priest who molested more than 150 children, was buried in Massachusetts in the same cemetery as many of the Kennedy clan.
- Jim Jones, responsible for over 900 deaths, was quietly cremated in Dover DE.
- David Koresh, the infamous Branch Davidian leader, was buried a month after being shot in the head by federal agents in Tyler TX.
- Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the Columbine killers who killed 12 classmates and a teacher, were cremated and buried, respectively.
- Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary School killer who killed his own mother and, then, 20 first-graders and 6 school staff, was buried after private arrangements organised by his father.
- Osama bin Laden, even though his body was thrown off a ship at sea, the US government heatedly-claimed that they followed Muslim tradition in burying him within 24 hours of death.
- Home-grown American terrorist Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people, was almost buried as a war hero at Arlington National Cemetery before being cremated, the USA even passed a law to stop him from being buried at Arlington.
- Lee Harvey Oswald was buried twice in Fort Worth TX, the second time after being exhumed.
Therefore, we see that, all over the USA, death row inmates, presidential assassins, cannibals, mass murderers and terrorists of all kind get a normal burial alongside other “normal” people. So, why did the disgraceful treatment of Tamerlan Tsarnaev occur? Some say that the idea of honouring the dead would be violated and the dead desecrated by burying a monster amongst them. That’s an argument that may be valid, as no one would want to be buried next to Oswald or Hitler, whose remains were flushed into the sewer, by the way, but why desecrate the living by playing games and politics with a corpse?
What Tamerlan reportedly did was horrible, there can be no doubt, but what he did wasn’t as bad as others who received respect in death. Part of the reason is the American lust for revenge, something they were robbed of when Tamerlan died. There can’t be a sensational trial, where he and his family would have been demonised daily, and the American populace would feed on all of the gory details of the case, there can’t be an execution at the hands of this “civilised” state, satisfying the blood lust for revenge. By dying, Tamerlan did what was worst of all, he robbed Americans of revenge, so, what did they have left? All that they had left was to take revenge on a corpse.
Why was this acceptable in the case of Tamerlan? Well, like all of the men at Guantánamo, who are held for nothing, Tamerlan was Muslim. Americans are aware that Islam teaches that the dead should be buried within 24 hours of death, so, this was a way of getting back at a religion demonised and hated by Americans. Tamerlan was also from Russia, another country continually demonised by the West. So, what could be worse than a Muslim from Russia who tricked the American authorities and showed Americans what a complete failure their beloved security state is? What could be worse? One who died before the Americans could take their revenge, that’s what. Thus, once again, Americans have done worlds to offend and insult Muslims, and, once again, made another martyr out of a sick individual in their pursuit of revenge.
It’s also important to note that Tamerlan and his family had renounced Russia and were living in the USA in asylum; Tamerlan grew up in America, which made him a home-grown terrorist, robbing Americans of the chance to transfer the blame to Russia. To make things worse, Russia warned the American government about Tamerlan. Hence, strike three there as well.
The endless debate over what to do with the body was positive in one regard for those in power, it took the focus off the authorities who allowed the attack to occur. It’s also overshadowed any reports as to the victims, whom the American populace isn’t interested in. What about all of the people who were injured and maimed, whose lives were shattered? Where were the press reports about them whilst the mass media focused on a rotting corpse nobody wants? The only thing to have said was, “Bury it and be done with it”.
This aspect of the American psyche, this lust for revenge and disrespect for the dead is only outdone by the American disrespect for the living, if such people are “different”, or “Muslim”, or “brown”. This goes back to the very foundations of America, and I’ve said this many times, a country founded on genocide and built by slaves on stolen land can never be “normal” or “moral”. Just as Americans revelled in the deaths of the indigenous people (Geronimo’s bones are still kept as souvenirs by the Skull and Bones Society), displaying heads for months on stakes, and keeping body parts as trophies (something still done today in Afghanistan, for example), the sheer joy obtained by many Americans when someone “evil” is killed is unparalleled anywhere in the world, and if that joy and lust can’t be satiated by the act of taking the life, then, the next best thing is playing games with the corpse. All of this begs a question asked by the peaceful Indians who met the Europeans with open arms… “Who’s the real savage?”
13 May 2013
John Robles
Voice of Russia World Service
Voices from Russia 
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