Tsarnaev's Library: 'Hitler Had a Point,' Mass Killings

Older brother was reading up on drones, Gitmo
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 5, 2013 7:23 AM CDT
Tsarnaev's Library: 'Hitler Had a Point,' Mass Killings
In this Feb. 17, 2010, file photo, Tamerlan Tsarnaev smiles after accepting the trophy for winning the 2010 New England Golden Gloves Championship in Lowell, Mass.   (AP Photo/The Lowell Sun, Julia Malakie File)

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's library was full of far-right reading material ranging from white supremacist tracts to writings on "the rape of our gun rights," the BBC reports after speaking to friends of Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar. "Hitler had a point," read one piece. The Boston Marathon bombing suspect also had articles calling the 9/11 attacks and Oklahoma City bombing government conspiracies, as well as descriptions of the mentality behind mass killings, including commentary on attackers' calmness. Also on his reading list: condemnations of US drone attacks that killed civilians and material on the hardships faced by Guantanamo detainees.

Tsarnaev "just didn't like America. He felt like America was just basically attacking all Middle Eastern countries … you know, trying to take their oil," says one friend. As for his religion, "I would say he was just a Muslim of convenience," says a rep for his Cambridge mosque, noting that he wasn't deeply involved in the religious community. As for Dzhokhar, he left a note before he was arrested: "We Muslims are one body," it said. "You hurt one, you hurt us all." He smoked marijuana heavily and "was intimidated" by his brother, who didn't like the younger Tsarnaev's penchant for partying, says another friend. Dzohkhar "took him very seriously. He was an authority." Click for the BBC's full piece. (More Tamerlan Tsarnaev stories.)

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