“Classify the Islamic bomber as a terrorist and classify the mass shooters as terrorists.”
That is not necessarily true. A terrorist commits the deed as an expression of a political or religious goal or mission; a mass shooter may be a terrorist, or he may just be a lunatic who commits his action without any coherent rhyme or reason, or just for the sake of sadism.
John Wayne Gacy was a mass murderer, but he did not commit his crimes for any political or religious goal (though he was a Democrat precinct official in the Chicago area, and even had his photo taken with Rosalyn Carter!). Ditto with Ted Bundy. And Henry Lee Lucas. And a good deal more. Adam Lanza was a lunatic who was on prescription drugs for being a lunatic, and if he had a political or religious agenda it went with him to his grave, because no one knows of one.
On the other hand, the Unabomber was a terrorist because he committed his crimes for a political reason. Same for Obama’s friends Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dorn. Same also for Timothy McVeigh.
“That is not necessarily true. A terrorist commits the deed as an expression of a political or religious goal or mission; a mass shooter may be a terrorist, or he may just be a lunatic who commits his action without any coherent rhyme or reason, or just for the sake of sadism.”
If we accept mental condition as a contributing factor for a person that commits a mass shooting, we will be faced with a situation were a Islamic bomber claims the “Insanity Defense.”
“John Wayne Gacy was a mass murderer....”
John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy were serial killers, not mass murderers.
“Adam Lanza was a lunatic who was on prescription drugs...”
Adam Lanza being on prescription drugs for an emotion disorder is irrelevant to his actions.
And the reason it is irrelevant is that I fully expect we will learn that the Boston Bombers were also on prescription drugs.
Absolutely. The motive to advance a cause is the discriminant between terrorism and senseless violence.
Of course, that doesn't mean losers can't be terrorists or that terrorists are often losers. After all, feeling part of a larger cause, such as the Caliphate, can't help but boost a loser's self esteem.
The current pair are especially interesting in that they had 72 hours, more or less, to get out of Dodge, yet they chose to hang around and act as if nothing had happened. It seems they never had an escape plan. Zero tradecraft! They were totally incompetent!
I read earlier that Tamerlan told his mother that the FBI called him Thursday afternoon and told him he needed to come in for questioning. He told them to go to hell. Then came the press conference and the photos. Uh oh! That seems to be what precipitated the murderous chaos of Thursday evening.
It seems the FBI didn't learn their identity until they checked Tamerlan's remains after the Watertown shootout. As I recall, the FBI released the first photos showing their faces in decent resolution were released early Friday morning, as the fog of war was clearing.