Left and Right have both misunderstand terror tantrums AS soon as it was revealed that the Boston bombers were of Chechen origin and had vaguely Islamist leanings, their outrage started being discussed as a potentially political act. What had been referred to by almost everyone as senseless was now talked about as if it made some sense. The bombers, brothers whose family fled Chechnya during the war with Russia in the 1990s, were clearly traumatised by their experiences, experts told us, as if that explained their decision to blow the legs off Americans gaily cheering marathon runners.