TheBlaze's counterterrorism expert Buck Sexton joined Glenn on radio this morning to update listeners on the latest news and to give his analysis surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing suspects and the incredible events that took place overnight in their pursuit.
Buck started off by noting his concern that the suspect still be pursued by law enforcement would detonate an s-vest (suicide vest) if he were to get cornered. He noted that it's his belief that this suspect doesn't want to be taken alive. It has already been confirmed that the two suspects, the first of which died last night of gun shot wounds following a shootout with police, are radical Islamists from Chechnya.
Most Americans aren't that familiar with the Chechen's history and ideology. "Explain who the Chechens are," Glenn asked Buck.
Buck explained that Chechnya is about a 95% Muslim separatist state. Two of the worst mass casualty attacks outside of the U.S. in what Buck calls the "Jihad era" dealt with Chechen extremists. One is Beslan, in which extremists kill over 200 young schoolchildren with bombs and machine guns. The other is the Moscow theater siege, where the Russian used gas to knock them out, but also caused many casualties.
"The Chechens have been fighting against the Russian FSB — sort of the old Russian military apparatus — so they're hardened," Buck explained. "They're trained. They're not messing around. This isn't a bunch of rich kids from the Gulf who want to pretend they're playing jihad. For these guys it's a real way of life. There's also real military training that goes into a lot of what they do because they're up against an enemy. The FSB, which is sort of the new KGB in Russia, they're not playing games either. These are guys as tough as it gets when you're talking about jihadists."