BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- The reviews are in after the convicted Boston Marathon bomber spoke in court Wednesday, and they're not great.
Yes, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev took responsibility for the explosions at the marathon's finish line. His words were, "I did do it, along with my brother."
But he never said why. And the way he framed and delivered his statement, made it feel insincere, some say.
In a soft voice and with his Russian accent, Tsarnaev spoke for nearly 5 minutes, beginning with words about Allah. That initial reference to Allah was followed by at least a dozen more. Tsarnaev made Islam the theme of of his remarks, and the irony was not lost Dr. Max Abrahms, a terrorism analyst from Northeastern University.
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"Islam is what supposedly motivated him to commit the attack," he said, "And now he's saying equally Islam is what is requiring him to offer an apology?"
An apology was made but not before the pot smoker turned terrorist thanked his lawyers and supporters.
"Those who sit at this table, the table behind me, and many more behind the scenes. They have done much good for me, for my family. They made my life the last two years very easy," Tsarnaev said.
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Life has been anything but easy for the families of the dead and the survivors. To them Tsarnaev offered this: "I'd like to now apologize to the victims, to the survivors. Immediately after the bombing, which I am guilty of, if there's any lingering doubt about that, let there be no more. I did do it along with my brother. I learned of some of the victims. I learned their names, their faces, their age. And throughout this trial more of those victims were given Names, more of those victims had faces, and they had burdened souls."
Abrahms said the apology "was a failure" and "came across as insincere."
We may never know if Tsarnaev wrote the entire apology himself, or if one of his lawyers or supporters crafted it.
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