McCaul thinks bombers had help

Washington Times:

The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says that evidence suggests the Boston bombing suspects had help in the attack and that he is concerned about a “wider conspiracy.”

“Given the level of sophistication of this [explosive] device, the fact that the pressure cooker is a signature device that goes back to Pakistan and Afghanistan … leads me to believe there was a trainer,” Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican, told “Fox News Sunday.”

“The question, where is that trainer or trainers? Are they overseas in the Chechen region, or are they in the United States. And [with] my conversations with the FBI, that’s the big question.”

Mr. McCaul says U.S. officials are casting a “wide net” worldwide to find anyone responsible for aiding the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in custody, and his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police during the manhunt for the two.

The lawmaker said he believes the mother of suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev played a significant role in his radicalization and is a “person of interest.” He said if she comes to the U.S., she likely will be detained by authorities for questioning.

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The surviving bomber claims they modeled their bomb after one found on the internet.  While that story is somewhat plausible, the Russian trips by the older brother and his attendance at radical mosques suggest he may have gotten some help on the trip.   The mother apparently influenced the sons' radicalization although watching her on video leads me to believe she is not high functioning enough to have worked on designing a bomb.