All In   |  April 26, 2013

Republicans drum up war in aftermath of Boston bombings (?)

There's a confluence of irresponsibility and fear and, in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, there is a dangerous way in which the psychological mechanisms of our national conversation lead to more conflict if we aren't wary of it. Chris Hayes talks about how some Republicans in Congress are key players in pumping the hysteria.

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>>> there have been some new developments from the boston marathon bombing story. some of which are terrifying and harrowing. some, not so much. okay, today authorities moved the boat that suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev was found in last friday, from watertown to boston , to the wrapped attention of news choppers flying overhead. there is also this truly incredible story from danny, the chinesant pan entrepreneur and chinese graduate who was allegedly car jacked. he did not want to reveal his chinese name . it sound like something from a quinton tarentino movie. the bomb threats go from terrifying him with a gun, to questioning his cds. authorities told investigators he and his brother add plan to go to new york . but a senior law enforcement official told nbc news that quote the idea was undeveloped. one senior official described the plan as aspirational at most. in fact the car jack victim, did notty, overheard them speak in a foreign language and manhattan as the only intelligible word to him. but all that makes a less satisfying story and is less useful in bringing up the panic and fear centers of the brain. so instead what we get, is this.

>> yesterday we learned that the perpetrators had planned to travel to times square in new york after the boston attack to unleash more mayhem and bombs. they apparently had more pipe bombs and pressure cooker bomb.

>> that is congressman poe. th here is what hearing was called, court sift sub committee chairman, dana rohrabacher , republican of california.

>> this topic is law make extremism in chechnya , a threat to the u.s. homeland. question mark .

>> question mark . you know, there is this thing we do in cable news. sometimes magazines do it too. you want to grab someone's attention but the information is not what you can stand behind. so lindsay graham , comma, constitution hater. so we would say, lindsay graham , constitution hater? since you are asking kwa question, you don't have to stand behind what you are asserting. anderson cooper , new york , next stop for bombing suspects? we don't know. we're just asking. often we get answers like this.

>> central asia represent a huge chunk of the planet and if that area comes under the domination of radical islam that makes it it's job to attack the united states or to attack other countries, not just the united states , but other nonmuslim people, that will be a disaster for this -- for every person on this planet.

>> the real take away from the hearing should have been that chechnya is a mass you'vely complicated place, a place of tremendous suffering and pain and violence on both the part of russian security forces . we are waging a brutal war on terror that involves kidnapping people from their homes and disappearing them and jihadists blowing up innocent civilians left and right. but also a battle that has not of yet conclusively come to our shores. in fact, this is what the head of one of the most extremist groups of chechnya said after the bombings. the caucasian mujahedeen are not fighting with the united states of mer ka. we are at war with russia. there however another threat in another country that now has our attention. chemical weapons and syria. syria had the qualifier they had the determination quote with varying degrees of confidence. that sounds like chemical weapons , question mark . it's not an accident that that's grabbing our attention in the wake of boston bombing. our fear centers are primed in the wake of boston . understandably so. but that's also when we tend to make our very worst decisions. we'll be right back with click three. [ agent