This Is How Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Confessed to the Boston Marathon Bombings

The 19-year-old scrawled, with marker, a confession note in the interior of the boat he was hiding in, as police combed the city in a massive, unprecedented search. Written while he bled out from wounds sustained during the previous night's shootout, the note is “part manifesto, part suicide note, and part justification for the killing and maiming of innocent civilians,” according to CBS.

The bombings were retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and called the Boston victims “collateral damage” in the same way Muslims have been in the American-led wars. “When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” Tsarnaev wrote.

Dzhokar said he didn't mourn older brother Tamerlan, the other suspect in the bombings, writing that by that point, Tamerlan was a martyr in paradise — and that he expected to join him there soon.

 

Why does this really matter? Because it ruins the argument from the Dzhokhar apologists, who say he was dragged into this situation by an overbearing brother. Dzhokhar played an integral part in the planning and operating of the attacks, and he had thought out, clearly, why he wanted to take innocent lives. Look for this note to come up again during his court case. 

[H/T: CBS News]