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Pressure for answers will inevitably grow, but what matters is due process, and answers that can stand up in court
It is very difficult not to be impressed and humbled by the reaction of Bostonians to the bombings that ripped lives and limbs apart on their marathon day. The scenes on Boston's streets on Monday have echoes of things that happen with awful frequency on the streets of Syria or Iraq. Yet Boston's poise, humanity and calm amid the shock are all the more noteworthy, because no one, rationally, could have prepared themselves for such an attack against such a target.
From the president downwards, there has been little rush to judgment. Barack Obama has been careful with his words. Having been wrongfooted by national security events in the past (once by failing to comment for three days, on another occasion speaking too soon and getting the facts wrong), Mr Obama has learned to overcome his natural caution and talk about the bombings in real time. He intervened promptly in the public debate, just three hours after the bombings took place, and set the right tone – warning against premature public judgments, but determined to bring the full weight of justice down on the perpetrators. Yesterday he used the phrase "act of terror", which was notably absent from this first reaction. Parsing the difference between acts of terror and terrorism may become relevant in court, but it is for now irrelevant to the investigation. The important thing is what no one yet knows: who is responsible, and their motive. Nor it is known whether the bombs were planted by a foreign or domestic organisation, or whether indeed the horror was the sole creation of a "malevolent individual", as Mr Obama said.
It is important to say all this and to say it now. Because as London knows to its cost, the aftermath of a bombing can create enormous pressure on the police for swift results, with devastating consequences. Rushed manhunts are no substitute for the cool, sceptical and forensic minds that are particularly needed at such awful moments. So far, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies seem determined to do things right – preserving the crime scene, collecting evidence from the video footage (in the minutes before the bombs went off, it was the most filmed street in America), and making sure that everything that is done is usable in court. As the hours and days pass, however, pressure for answers will inevitably grow. A hue and cry, which enjoys the biggest of all megaphones in the social media, should be resisted at all costs. In these situations, what matters is due process, and the right answers – ones that can stand up in court.
If anyone needs tactfully reminding of the wrong reaction to major acts of terrorism , they need look no further than the 577-page report produced by the Constitution Project on Tuesday, which concluded that, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the US engaged in torture, and the nation's highest officials bore the ultimate responsibility for it. The non-partisan study was initiated by Mr Obama, as an alternative to setting up a national commission to investigate the post-September 11 counter-terrorism programmes. Its conclusions are another reminder of how flawed Mr Obama's decision to bury the past was.
Boston's determination to overcome the cruel blow it has taken is there for all to see. The individual stories are heartrending, like that of the eight-year-old Martin Richard, who had just run back from greeting his father at the finish line to be fatally caught by the blast alongside his mother and sister, who were badly injured. The suffering of the 176 injured, 17 critically, some with their lower limbs shredded by the pellets and nails used in the pressure-cooker bombs, will continue for years to come. The devices were designed and placed to cause the maximum number of casualties on streets that would be packed with people. No one should forget this, or the price that is now being paid. That knowledge should fashion only a determination to keep the marathon and stage it next year with even more runners. Solidarity, collective dignity and resilience are the right answers to such carnage.