Terrorism or Tragic Shooting? Analysts Divided on Fort Hood Massacre - Updated

The shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and as many as 38 wounded this week has sparked a debate about whether it was an act of terrorism

It was one of the of the deadliest mass shootings on a U.S. base, but the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that killed 13 and wounded as many as 38 this week has sparked a debate about whether it was an act of terrorism.

The alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Palestinian-American and an Army psychiatrist, reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar! -- Arabic for "God is great!" when he opened fire. He was seriously wounded by police and is being treated in a military hospital.

The military has said he was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan, and family members suggested he was trying to avoid serving overseas.

That doesn't add up to the prelude to a terrorist attack, said Carl Tobias, a professor of law at University of Richmond who analyzes terrorist investigations across the country.

"Terrorist attacks are undertaken by people who typically ... have some agenda they want to forward politically, and from what I see in the news, this is just a person acting individually because he doesn't want to deploy overseas," he said. "So I just don't see that angle."

But others disagreed.

"Clearly I think it was a terrorist act. Whether he was connected to another group or not or a formal group is question we'll find out over the next couple of days," said Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit.

"But for years now, it's been very clear that two of the targets for Al Qaeda and other Islamic groups for recruitment were in the U.S. military and in the U.S. prison system," he said. "So this is not really much of anything new."

Walid Phares, an expert on terrorism and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called the shooting "the largest single terror act in America since 9/11."

"What happened at Ft. Hood is not about being frustrated by America's foreign policy or exacting revenge for racial slurs. Nor is it about simply being a Muslim-American serving in the military or about being a member of any faith," he wrote in an opinion piece published in FoxNews.com's Fox Forum.

"The murders at Ft. Hood are about the radicalization of individuals by an extremist ideology -- jihadism -- which fuels acts of terror," he said. "The main question we should be asking is when did Hasan become radicalized and who indoctrinated him? Everything else will fall in place once we have these answers. Moreover, this would allow us to detect other potential terror acts that may be in the making."

The authorities have not ruled out terrorism in the shooting, but they said the preliminary evidence suggests that it wasn't.

Phares said he doesn't expect the shooting to be ruled an act of terrorism because he believes the Obama administration has made a political calculation to not fight a war on terror. He cited the administration's decision to substitute "Overseas Contingency Operation" for the "global war on terror."

"Had this occurred under the previous administration or any other previous administration, the natural position would have been America is under attack," he said. "It would have been a different posture. Now because a strategic decision has been made to disengage, our efforts will be suffering. They're not going to coin it as terrorism."

Scheuer said law enforcement officials have been loathe to rule the shooting an act of terrorism because "they're politically correct."

"Over the last 24 hours it appears this major was a very devout Muslim, and his pending deployment overseas put him in a position where he was going to be assisting in killing other Muslims," he said. "And that's a very big decision for a Muslim to do, not only killing another Muslim but killing on behalf of an infidel or a Christian."

But Tobias remained skeptical.

"To me, it looks more like the other shootings where one person seems mentally deranged," he said, adding that the rampage reminded him of the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.

Update (11.09.09 2PM): Latest: Ft. Hood Shooter Linked to 9/11 Hijackers

"Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others at Fort Hood, worshipped at the same mosque as two of the 9/11 terrorists.

According to the London Sunday Telegraph, Hasan attended services at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Va., in 2001 at the same time as Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Funeral services for Hasan's mother also was held at that mosque.

The FBI wants to interrogate Hasan to see if he met or knew al-Hamzi or Hanjour, reports the Telegraph.

The imam at the mosque at the time Hasan attended services there was Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who has been described as a supporter of al-Qaida. A third 9/11 hijacker attended al-Awlaki's lectures in California."

Source: NightHawk/AARP Blog

Updated: (11.09.09 4:15PM) - Ft. Hood a Terror Attack? U.S. Aware Hasan Tried Contacting Al Qaeda

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.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

One senior lawmaker said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts. Read more here.

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This is perhaps a pivotal moment for America... Americans seem finally awake enough to see that the dangers and issues from Islam are monumental and have reached this point as part of a much larger radical progressive goal based on the Dumbing Down of America and the imposition of "Political Correctness" that has reached it's pinnacle of power with the election of Barack Obama

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Comments:

*M Rentshler

The Ministry of Truth has outlawed the usage of Terrorism. All those who attempt to use that language will need to receive mandatory re-education. Failed re-education efforts will result in fines and jail time thanks to the outstanding leadership and compassion of Premier Obama (Peace Be Upon Him), the Wise and Powerful.

about an hour ago

*TL Winslow

Obama: the Oxymoron President? If he wants to understand Maj. Hasan, all he has to do is pick up a Quran and take off his rose colored glasses. http://go.to/islamhistory

Mass Murdering Muslim Major Worked to Assist Obama’s Transition Team With University Project

I wonder what one draws from this?

ARTICLE FROM THE CANADIAN FREE PRESS

By Warner Todd Huston Saturday, November 7, 2009

imagePlus

In 2008 The George Washington University Homeland Security Institute (HSPI) initiated a transition task force to help craft homeland security policies during Obama’s transition period. In May of 2009 HSPI finished its report titled, “Thinking Anew-Security Priorities for the Next Administration.” One of the members of this Obama transition project was none other than the Muslim murderer Nidal Hassan.

Nidal is listed in Appendix C, Page 29 of the HSPI report as having served as a “Task Force Event Participant,” in his position with the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine. (download .pdf of report) We should caution, though, that Hasan did not work for Obama. But he was a part of the University’s efforts to advise Obama.

The HSPI fashions itself a “think and do tank” and claims its mission as that of building “bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach.” I wonder if one of those bridges leads to “understanding” the mindset of terrorists like Hasan, a participant in George Washington University’s “think and do” mission?

There is also video of Hasan participating at the GWU event.

So what of Obama? Why he’s still trying to understand this “tragic shooting.” Hours after the murderous rampage concluded, Obama made some rather facile comments after his jaunty opening remarks to members of America’s “First Nations” consisting of a long list of special “shout outs” to participants there.

“I planned to make some broader remarks,” he told the crowd. “But as some of you might have heard there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas.”

“This morning I met with FBI Director Mueller and the relevant agencies to discuss their ongoing investigation into what caused one individual to turn his gun on fellow servicemen and women,” he said. “We don’t know all of the answers yet, and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts.

One word is all you need to know, Mr. President: Islam.

Obama isn’t the only one pretending that this incident is beyond understanding or akin to some sort of “tragedy” or horrible accident nor is he the only one pretending that Islam has no role in Hasan’s murderous crime. As Obama called this a “tragic shooting” many in the Old Media followed suit. Instead of characterizing this as what it truly is, a crime motivated by religious zealotry, many Old Media outlets tried to pretend that this was somehow a “tragedy,” a mere unfortunate accident that befell our troops, one with no obvious motivating factors.

The Chicago Tribune, for instance, characterized Hasan as a “disturbed single gunman” instead of an Islamiofascist. For the Trib, Zeenat Rahman tired her best to pretend that Islam had nothing at all to do with Hasan’s crimes.

Ignoring Hasan’s many examples of Islamic radicalism, The Dallas Morning News’ Jacquielynn Floyd forcefully scoffed at anyone claiming to know his motivations and warned against drawing conclusions, dismissing Hasan’s actions as “a special kind of crazy.”
And then there were the labeling of this incident as a mere “tragedy.”

The Minnesota Daily Editorial Board headlined one of its posts on the incident a “tragedy developing.” For Newsweek, Rabeika Messina worried about how we should address these situations before “tragedy strikes.” Even the Christian Science Monitor called the incident a “tragedy” that “unfolded Thursday.”

This sort of rhetoric is not merely imprecise it is a cover up of the truth. This was not tragic as if a mere accident. It was a murderous crime.

Yet even worse than all the above, renowned moron Ron Reagan, extremist left-wing talk show host, coupled the tax/healthcare protests being held by conservatives that day in Washington D.C. to an event that was “pure tragedy” (his words) at Fort Hood. Plus, Ron Reagan couples “tea baggers” with Murderer Nidal Hasan.

Apparently when Ron Reagan thinks of peaceable protests against a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system and other onerous taxation he thinks of mass shootings by Muslim extremists. I guess Reagan sees no difference between the two since one so easily invokes the other to him.

So we have the president and his friends in the Old Media mislabeling this as a tragedy even as they try as hard as possible to pretend that Islam had no role in the Hasan murders — one of them, Ron Reagan, feeling that tea party protesters are just the same as a Muslim mass murderer. No wonder the left is struggling to understand what went on here.

Am I saying that all Muslims are crazed murderers? Of course not and I add this as a postscript because hatemongers like Ron Reagan will immediately launch into such a charge against me. But to pretend that Islam is a mere accidental factoid in the Hasan incident is not just absurd, but criminally negligent on behalf of the president and his lackeys in the Old Media.Islam is integral to this criminal act. There is no other way to assess this incident.

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Shooting Rampage at Fort Hood: Why Did It Happen?

A military doctor who reportedly feared an impending war deployment is in custody as the sole suspect in a shooting rampage at the Army's Fort Hood that left 12 dead and at least 30 wounded, an Army official said Thursday night.

The news that the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was alive and in stable condition, came as a sudden reversal of early reports that the gunman was among the dead.

"I would say his death is not imminent," Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said. Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times.
Two other soldiers who were taken into custody as possible suspects were released Cone told reporters Thursday evening.
A female first responder who shot at Hasan and was previously thought to be dead, was also alive, Cone said.

Federal law enforcement officials say Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author.

By the hour, information is surfacing that Hasan was either a radical Muslim who could not reconcile his religion and service in the US Army or perhaps even a home grown terrorist. Muslims in America and around the Western World is an issue that has too long been ignored as Americans and Westerners have been intimidate through the tool of political correctness, causing them not to speak about their fears or concerns. While Americans were asleep the “Hate Crimes Bill” which can be used against them was slipped into

Ft. Hood Army Officer Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ Before Shooting Rampage

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Army Shooter Was On Radical Internet Postings

------------

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Killing Over Religious Fervor

From the Romans to the Crusades to the Ottoman Empire. in 1455, more people have been killed in the name of "peaceful" religions than for any other cause.

"From the 4th to 1st centuries BC, the Dardani inhabited the region which roughly corresponds to modern Kosovo. ^[14] The area was then conquered by Rome in the 160s BC, and incorporated into the Roman province of Illyricum in 59 BC. Subsequently, it became part of Moesia Superior in AD 87. The Slavic migrations reached the Balkans in the 6th to 7th century, whereby autochthonous peoples merged with the northern newcomers. ^[15] Kosovo was absorbed into the Bulgarian Empire in the 850s, where Christianity and a Byzantine-Slavic culture was cemented in the region. It was re-taken by the Byzantines after 1018, and became part of the newly established Theme of Bulgaria. As the centre of Slavic resistance to Constantinople in the region, the region often switched between Serbian and Bulgarian rule on one hand and Byzantine on the other until the Serb principality of Rascia conquered it definitively by the end of the 12th century. ^[16] Such takeovers had little impact on the local populace, since it merely represented a changing of one Balkan Christian dynasty by another. The zenith of Serbian power was reached in 1346, with the formation of the Serbian Empire. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Kosovo became a political and spiritual centre of the Serbian Kingdom. In the late 1200s, the seat of the Serbian Archbishopric was moved to Pec, and rulers centred themselves between Prizren and Skopje. ^{[17] [18]} When the Serbian Empire fragmented into a conglomeration of principalities in 1371, Kosovo became the hereditary land of the House of Brankovi?.

In the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, Ottoman forces defeated a coalition of Serbs, Albanians, and Bosnians ^[19] led by the Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovi?. Soon after parts of Serbia accepted Turkish vassalage and Lazar's daughter was married to the Sultan to seal the peace. By 1455, it was finally and fully conquered by the Ottoman (Islamic) Empire."

Thx, NightHawk02 - AARP Blog

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We can all debate on the issue of tolerance, turning the other cheek, loving thy neighbor and having the same God... "or not" but when we close our eyes to reality... We lose!!

All religions, like all people, have had their negatives and perhaps the true Islamic faith is peaceful... but that is not the faith that is being practiced or taught in most of the world, including here in the United States.

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A bad week for Democrats compounded by an awful moment for Barack Obama

Getty Images

President Obama didn't wait long after Tuesday's devastating elections to give critics another reason to question his leadership, but this time the subject matter was more grim than a pair of governorships.

After news broke out of the shooting at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas, the nation watched in horror as the toll of dead and injured climbed. The White House was notified immediately and by late afternoon, word went out that the president would speak about the incident prior to a previously scheduled appearance. At about 5 p.m., cable stations went to the president. The situation called for not only his trademark eloquence, but also grace and perspective.

But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a "shout-out" to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow -- that Congressional Medal of Honor winner." Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That's the least that should occur.

Dramatic Photos: Fort Hood Shooting

Indeed, an argument could be made that Obama should have canceled the Indian event, out of respect for people having been murdered at an Army post a few hours before. That would have prevented any sort of jarring emotional switch at the event.

Did the president's team not realize what sort of image they were presenting to the country at this moment? The disconnect between what Americans at home knew had been going on -- and the initial words coming out of their president's mouth was jolting, if not disturbing.

It must have been disappointing for many politically aware Democrats, still reeling from the election two days before. The New Jersey gubernatorial vote had already demonstrated that the president and his political team couldn't produce a winning outcome in a state very friendly to Democrats (and where the president won by 15 points one year ago). And now this? Congressional Democrats must wonder if a White House that has burdened them with a too-heavy policy agenda over the last year has a strong enough political operation to help push that agenda through.

If the president's communications apparatus can't inform -- and protect -- their boss during tense moments when the country needs to see a focused commander-in-chief and a compassionate head of state, it has disastrous consequences for that president's party and supporters.

All the president's men (and women) fell down on the job Thursday. And Democrats across the country have real reason to panic.

By ROBERT A. GEORGE Updated 9:18 AM CST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009 - New York writer Robert A. George blogs at Ragged Thots. Follow him on Twitter

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Ft. Hood Army Officer Shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ Before Shooting Rampage