It is not a good thing to jump to conclusions when there is a shooting, at least on the issue of whether the shooting was a mere crime or terrorism. On Thursday, I cautioned against jumping to the conclusion that Nidal Hasan was motivated by religious or political goals in the Fort Hood shooting, just because he had a Muslim name.
No need to jump to conclusions any more, the conclusion has been reached. This was an act of domestic terrorism committed for political and religious purposes. There may have been additional factors, or something which sparked the eruption at that moment, but there is more than sufficient evidence that Hasan sympathized with al-Qaeda, and made anti-American statements, to treat this as a terrorist act.
Now it even has been revealed that Hasan attempted to contact al-Qaeda operatives. As ABC News reports:
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.
Joe Lieberman, who Chairs the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, went public yesterday with the point that all evidence pointed to this as an act of Islamic terrorism. Lieberman has been attacked (and called a “bigot“)in the left-wing blogosphere supposedly for “whipping up” anti-Muslim sentiments:
Joe LIEberman (Insurance-CON) went on Fox News Sunday this morning and in addition to promising to block the public option, he announced that he was finally planning to hold hearings in the Homeland Security Committee…. What will be the topic for the hearings? Nothing other than a big round of “booga booga there’s Mooslums in the military!”
Given how viciously the left targets anyone who dares speak honestly about terrorism, it is not surprising — but still shocking — that the military hesitated to take action against Hasan despite all the warning signs.
General George Casey is correct that there should be no backlash against Muslims in the military, or in civilian society. Fomenting internal conflict is one of the goals of terrorism, and we should not allow Hasan to achieve that goal. At the same time, we cannot shy away from the facts as to this crime.
An investigation is needed, not only as to the extent of Hasan’s connections, but also as to why the military hesitated to respond. And if the left cries foul, that’s too bad. There are lives at stake, and we don’t need the truth to be Hasan’s last victim.
UPDATE: Looks like the NY Times changed its original headline to take out reference to Hasan having reached out to al-Qaeda, New York Times Retracts Headline Indicating ‘Fort Hood Suspect Communicated With Radical Cleric…’
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Comments
If there is no 'War on Terrorism' and the commander in chief is named Hussein what do you expect?"
This points to the need by the Military to look within its ranks to see how many other radicalized Muslims there are. Let's be real: Aside from the individual Islamist, there are probably cells who have infiltrated.
The Military should not be a politically correct organization. It needs to be strong and secure.
There's way too much information that is yet unknown (publically at least) about this particular episode. Regardless, General Casey's worries about a backlash are unfounded and his words are themselves a little hysterical. Muslims have nothing to fear from the general public – that was proven after 9/11.
Nevertheless, I am struck by the number of arrests of Muslims allegedly plotting acts of terrorism across the country recently. Quite a few actually. It is also publicly acknowledged that American Muslims have recruited domestically and sent for 'terrorist' training outside this country. Most people with common sense understand that we are in a war with radical Islam.
But, this is America. Here you get to choose whether or not you are ‘at war.’ You choose whether of not to defend the nation as a member of the military or other service. You can decide that it’s all a right-wing plot to marginalize Muslims. You can choose too to cast blame for terrorist acts, not on the perpetrators, but on Bush for instance. Here in America, you are free to root for the enemy as easily as you can the Yankees.
I dunno, if it turns out the FBI knew this guy was attempting to contact Al Qaeda and sat on it for PC reasons, there should be some sort of investigation.
All this PC avoiding issues to keep from offending anyone is going to get us hit harder than 9/11.
I, for one, am not willing to allow one more American die because someone is afraid to look into someone's behavior simply because they might be called a racist.
Common sense has GOT to prevail and if we can't even protect our men and women in uniform, how in the name of God, Allah or whatever you want to call it, can we protect the millions of Americans who DON'T live on military bases in this country?
WAKE UP!!!!!! Once again, they are at war with us, and we are sleeping when we should be, at the very least, keeping an eye on things.
This would be a perfect time for those who purport to speak on behalf of patriotic Muslim-Americans to speak up and denounce CAIR, Hasan's "big sister" and all the other terrorist apologist shrieks who dare to brazenly insult the most tolerant population in history by cautioning us not to overreact. It's one thing to get mugged, it's another for the mugger's family and friends to follow up with accusatory cautions against overreacting. It does not reflect well on Islam. Is this religion from another planet or something where common decency and common sense have yet to develop?
PasadenaPhil says – "patriotic Muslim-Americans". Phil my man….let me tell you from here in Dearbornistan, Michigan.
Islam is not a friend of the USA or the Western world in general. It is a political ideology as well as a religion and one antithetical to the West.
Most muslims are not jihadis but quite a few muslims quietly support and cheer on the jihadis. It's the immigration, stupid!
I do agree that Islam is not a friend of the USA. In fact if we are Jew or Christian, or Buddhist or Hindu, Islam is not our friend. To the Islamist we are the Kaffir and to them we are a target – they believe that we must convert to Islam or die….
With regard to the army major Hasan, first of all, I just read that the FBI member who is investigating the crime is a Muslim who claims that religion had nothing to do with the crime. Well, I just happen to think that this person should be removed from the case. I would go further, if this same man had information on the army major and he sat on it… that is he knew that Hasan had tried to contact Al Qaeda, then he should be removed from his own post pending further investigation. In fact any of the FBI agents who had information on this man prior to the attack should be stood down pending investigation of why they did nothing to prevent the terror perpetrated upon soldiers at Ft. Hood.
I have not seen any comment that calls for some kind of action against all Muslims. However, it seems that the usual suspects within CAIR and other organizations have been quick to give themselves an undeserved victim status. There has not been any substantial backlash against them.
On the other hand, I do think there needs to be an end to the political correctness. There also needs to be an end to the absurdity of people claiming that Joe Lieberman is a bigot when he pointed out the obvious. These people are totally ignorant when it comes to their own knowledge of Islam… especially the fundamentalist variety. Any fundamentalist group is a danger to society as a whole. What makes Islamists more dangerous is that within their ideoology/theocracy they believe in killing people because they will not convert.