Okay, someone please explain this to me.
How the fuck is a pressure cooker bomb categorized as a Weapon of Mass Destruction when it did not include any traces of chemical nor biological nor nuclear material?
I am so completely baffled how this can even remotely be a WMD particularly after all the bruhaha from the Bush admin.
Not that I don't want the fucker to get the death penalty, but it should be done in accordance with the reality of US laws and not trumped up charges.
Oh, and IMHO, all terrorists should be charged as Enemy Combatants. They are performing their actions more as attacks against the state than anything else.
Below is an explanation of how the feds are charging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with using a WMD while in commission of a felonious act:
Disclaimer: doesn't mean that I necessarily agree or disagree in whether or not a pressure-cooker converted into a high-explosive, remotely controlled-detonated device packed with material meant to more seriously/critically injure, if not permanently maim or kill anyone within its blast radius can legally be classified as a WMD. Then the so-called WMD being intentionally placed within an area containing a large group of people that were tightly packed together between barricades of fencing and the side of a large building. Also, had the brothers placed the bombs about 5 feet above the ground instead, perhaps the death toll, as well as the amount of injured/critically injured might have been much higher.
The FBI further classifies a WMD as "a destructive device as determined by section 921" — and
that section is wide ranging:
(C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.
Section A includes bombs, grenades, rocket propellers, missiles, and mines. Section B is pretty vague, too:
(B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter.
The always reliable explainers over at Cornell's law blog put that in Lehman's terms (we've italicized the relevant parts):
(
"Lehman's" terms....lol. Its spelled layman's terms)....>
(4) The term “destructive device” means—
(A) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas— (i) bomb, (ii) grenade, (iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, (iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, (v) mine, or (vi) device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses;
(B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter; and
(C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.
(4) The term “destructive device” means—
(A) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas— (i)
bomb, (ii) grenade, (iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces, (iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce, (v) mine, or (vi)
device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses;
(B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known
which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter; and
(C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.
Will the Pressure Cooker-as-WMD Case Hold Up Against the Boston Bomber?
Hell...I could even "grandfather" this later legal interpretation and post that I consider the PNAC neocons and the Bush administration as having been the equivalent of "human" WMD(s).
oh, wait...
