Martial law was not directly responsible for catching Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. That's indisputable. However, it certainly reduced his options, and I would argue led indirectly to his capture. (I really don't think that boat was his first choice for a hiding place.) And it may well have saved lives (we will never really know).

He had already demonstrated that he had the means and the desire to commit mass murder. Shutting down Boston had the effect of reducing his ability to commit mass murder.

For sure, hindsight is 20/20. The authorities wasted a whole lot of time, energy, and money, doing things that they really should not have been doing. But I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. If they did not know that Dzhokhar was already seriously wounded, then most of their actions were not unreasonable.

What worries me more is the willingness of a couple Senators, of all people, to abrogate this young man's constitutional rights, on the grounds that he is somehow an "enemy combatant." Frankly, that scares me.

Onward and upward,
airforce