The Question of Divided Identity

As an American citizen, Boston bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnavez will be tried in a civilian court. But the Obama administration has made the decision to delay reading him his Miranda Rights, citing a public safety exemption to allow law enforcement officials to first ask him questions relating to any other terrorist or violent attack that could compromise the safety of the public.
Meanwhile, several Republican senators are already calling for Tsarnavez to be classified as an enemy combatant, a classification that would strip him of many of his legal protections. Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Scholarship at American University Washington College of Law, discusses the questions surrounding Tsarnavez’s due process.   
One week after the tragedy in Boston and several days after the manhunt that resulted in the capture of Dzhokar Tsarnev and the death of his brother Tamerlan Tsarnev, questions have turned to motive. Americans are mystified: what would inspire two young men who went to school in the United States and who were part of the community to commit such heinous acts?
Akbar Ahmed is the  Chairman  of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington and author of “The Thistle and the Drone: How America’s War on Terrorism Became a War on Tribal Islam.” He describes men caught between two worlds. Though they never lived in Chechnya, their story may be one of a struggle to balance national identity and the ideologies of their Chechen roots with their identity here in the United States
As an American citizen, Dzhokar Tsarnev will be tried in a civilian court. But the Obama administration has made the decision to delay reading him his Miranda Rights, citing a public safety exemption to allow law enforcement officials to first ask him questions relating to any other terrorist or violent attack that could compromise the safety of the public.
Meanwhile, several Republican senators are already calling for Tsarnev to be classified as an enemy combatant, a classification that would strip him of many of his legal protections.
Stephen Vladeck, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Scholarship at American University Washington College of Law, discusses the questions surrounding Tsarnev’s due process.