Ruslan Tsarni's Remarkable Statement...

Ruslan Tsarni is the uncle of both Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his now deceased brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the two men who are suspected of planting two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon last Monday afternoon. Mr. Tasrni addressed the media this afternoon, before his nephew Dzhokhar was captured after a dramatic manhunt. 

His comments are an alluring mix of shame, personal responsibility and compassion. Tsarni makes no excuses for either of his nephews other than to suggest that someone "radicalized them." He speaks passionately of his feelings about the boys, their actions, the effects of those actions on the Chechnyan race, the United States and the victims of Monday's bombings. 

Watch his remarks in full here:


No excuses, no finger pointing at America for anything. I found it to be very powerful and attractive in its bluntness. His attitudes revealed profound and impressive levels of shame in his nephew's actions and the repercussions that followed as well as his love of the United States. His willingness to assume some level of responsibility for the actions of others, albeit in a sensibly indirect way, were striking:

“Those who suffered, we’re sharing with them, with their grief—and ready just to meet with them, and ready just to bend in front of them, to kneel in front of them, seeking their forgiveness. … In the name of the family, that’s what I say.”

Well said, Mr. Tsarni...