The New York Times's David Herszenhorn on Friday wrote up a bizarre new conference held by the parents of the Boston Marathon bombers in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, where they have lived for the past year: "Parents Deny Son's Guilt And Accuse U.S. of Plot."
It's puzzling why Herszenhorn chose such a credulous tone to the conspiratorial rants of the bombers' mother Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (The Washington Post made do with a brief mention at the very end of a related story on Friday).
The parents of the two brothers accused in the bomb attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others near the finish line of the Boston Marathon insisted on Thursday that their sons were innocent and had no connections to radical Islamists.
In an outpouring of anguish and anger at a news conference here in the capital of Dagestan, a Russian republic on the Caspian Sea, the brothers’ father, Anzor Tsarnaev, and mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, also made accusations of a conspiracy in which the American authorities killed their older son, Tamerlan, after capturing him alive.
....
Their answers were a mixture of denials and conspiracy accusations. They seemed exhausted, their grief raw. They expressed concern about Dzhokhar, but did not offer any condolences to the victims in Boston. Ms. Tsarnaeva -- who at times sobbed, raised her voice and pounded a table for emphasis -- said she was considering giving up her American citizenship.
....
The parents said they regretted having lived in the United States but wanted to return soon to see Dzhokhar, though they expressed fears that they would not be allowed to see him until he was in prison.
Another possible reason went unmentioned: the mother, who on top of everything is apparently a 9-11 truther like her younger son, faces shoplifting charges in the United States.
Herszenhorn handed over several more paragraphs to the ravings of Zubeidat Tsarnaeva:
“Yes, I would prefer not to live in America now. Like, why did I even go there -- why?” Ms. Tsarnaeva said, breaking into tears and sobs. “I thought America was going to, like, protect us, our kids. It was going to be safe for any reason. But it happened the opposite. My kids -- America took my kids away from me -- only America.”
“I don’t know,” she said, regaining her composure. “I am sure that my kids were not involved in anything.”
