Sudden Jihad or "Inordinate Stress" at Ft. Hood? -Daniel PipesWhen a Muslim in the West for no apparent reason violently attacks non-Muslims, a predictable argument ensues about motives.
[L]aw enforcement, politicians, the media, and the academy – stands on one side of this debate, insisting that some kind of oppression caused Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, to kill 13 and wound 38 at Ft. Hood.
It disagrees on the specifics, however, presenting Hasan as the victim alternatively of "
racism," "
harassment he had received as a Muslim," a sense of
not belonging," "
pre-traumatic stress disorder," "
mental problems," "
emotional problems," "an inordinate amount of stress," or being deployed to Afghanistan as his "
worst nightmare." Accordingly, a typical newspaper
headline reads "Mindset of Rogue Major a Mystery."
Instances of Muslim-on-unbeliever violence inspire the victim school to dig up new and imaginative excuses. Colorful examples include:
*1990: "A prescription drug for … depression" (to explain the assassination of Rabbi
Meir Kahane)
*1991: "A robbery gone wrong" (the murder of Makin Morcos in Sydney)
*1994: "Road rage" (the killing of a random Jew on the
Brooklyn Bridge)
*1997: "Many, many enemies in his mind" (the shooting murder atop the
Empire State Building)
*2000: A traffic incident (the attack on a
bus of Jewish schoolchildren near Paris)
*2002: "A work dispute" (the double murder at
LAX)
*2002: A "stormy [family] relationship" (the
Beltway snipers)
*2003: An "attitude problem" (
Hasan Karim Akbar's attack on fellow soldiers, killing two)
*2003: Mental illness (the mutilation murder of
Sebastian Sellam)
*2004: "Loneliness and depression" (an
explosion in Brescia, Italy outside a McDonald's restaurant)
*2005: "A disagreement between the suspect and another staff member" (a rampage at a
retirement center in Virginia)
*2006: "An animus toward women" (a murderous rampage at the
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle)
*2006: "His recent, arranged marriage may have made him stressed" (killing with an
SUV in northern California)
Additionally, when a Osama bin Laden-admiring Arab-American crashed a plane into a
Tampa high-rise, blame fell on the acne drug Accutane.
As a charter member of the jihad school of interpretation, I reject these explanations as weak, obfuscatory, and apologetic. The jihadi school, still in the minority, perceives Hasan's attack as one of many Muslim efforts to vanquish infidels and impose Islamic law. We recall a prior episode of
sudden jihad syndrome in the U.S. military, as well as the numerous cases of non-lethal
Pentagon jihadi plots and the history of
Muslim violence on American soil.
Far from being mystified by Hasan, we see overwhelming evidence of his jihadi intentions. He
handed out Korans to neighbors just before going on his rampage and yelled "
Allahu Akbar," the jihadi's cry, as he fired off over 100 rounds from two pistols. His superiors reportedly
put him on probation for inappropriately proselytizing about Islam.
We note what former associates say about him: one,
Val Finnell, quotes Hasan saying, "I'm a Muslim first and an American second" and recalls Hasan justifying
suicide terrorism; another, Col
Terry Lee, recalls that Hasan "claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans"; the third, a
psychiatrist who worked very closely with Hasan, described him as "almost belligerent about being Muslim."
Finally, the jihad school of thought attributes importance to the Islamic authorities' urging American Muslim soldiers to refuse to fight their co-religionists, thereby providing a basis for sudden jihad. In 2001, for example, responding to the U.S. attack on the Taliban, the mufti of Egypt,
Ali Gum'a, issued a fatwa stating that "The Muslim soldier in the American army must refrain [from participating] in this war." Hasan himself, echoing that message, advised a young Muslim disciple,
Duane Reasoner Jr., not to join the U.S. army because "Muslims shouldn't kill Muslims."
If the jihad explanation is overwhelmingly more persuasive than the victim one, it's also far more awkward to articulate.
Everyone finds blaming road rage, Accutane, or an arranged marriage easier than discussing Islamic doctrines. And so, a prediction: what
Ralph Peters calls the army's "unforgivable political correctness" will officially ascribe Hasan's assault to his victimization and will leave jihad unmentioned.
And thus will the army blind itself and not prepare for its next jihadi attack.
[FrontPageMagazine]UPDATES:
Fort Hood Gunman: Infidels Should Have Their Throats Cut -Nick Allen
Hasan once gave a lecture to other doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats. Colleagues had expected a discussion on a medical issue but were instead given an extremist interpretation of the Koran, which Hasan appeared to believe.
One Army doctor who knew him said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim soldier had stopped fellow officers from filing formal complaints. (Telegraph-UK)
Ft. Hood Shooter Tried to Contact Al-Qaeda -Richard Esposito, et al
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al-Qaeda, two American officials told ABC News.
(ABC News) *
Palestinian police stand guard atop Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity
