Fort Hood Massacre: Was it Terrorism, Part Two?

A story on the ABC News site has raised new and disturbing questions about Malik Nadal Hasan. It seems that the FBI had been aware that Malik Nadal Hasan was trying to contact Al Qaeda operatives by "electronic means."

There is no word as of yet whether the Army was informed that Malik Nadal Hasan was trying to contact Al Qaeda or what if anything that possible contact entailed. But it seems clear that Malik Nadal Hasan's behavior went beyond expressing seditious opinions. Malik Nadal Hasan was actively trying to contact enemies of the United States and was possibly conspiring with them to perpetrate a terrorist action.

Now, the question arises why was Malik Nadal Hasan not arrested? The seditious statements Malik Nadal Hasan made in the presence of other soldiers, including praise for suicide bombers and opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had not been enough to cause Malik Nadal Hasan to be disciplined under the United States Code of Military Justice.

There is more, though. Apparently when stationed at Walter Reed, Malik Nadal Hasan attended the same mosque led by a radical Imam who also was the spiritual advisor of two of the 9/11 hijackers. That mosque's Imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen is praising Malik Nadal Hasan on a jihadist website as a "hero."

These facts cause one to come to some disturbing conclusions. First, it appears that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies have fallen back, under President Obama, into the complacent habits that led to 9/11. Second, political correctness has infected even the US military so that a seditious soldier cannot be disciplined because of fear people will be accused of discrimination against Muslims.

The Obama administration is not being very helpful. President Obama himself is cautioning people to "not jump to conclusions", even those that should be obvious based on known facts. The reaction of Obama's Army Chief of Staff is to express fear of a "backlash" against American Muslim soldiers. Obama's Homeland Security Secretary is in the United Arab Emirates promising to work against such a backlash.

What the American government should be doing is a top to bottom examination of the military to find out whether there are other Malik Nadal Hasans, like ticking time bombs in the heart of our armed forces.

No one, of course, is advocating a witch hunt of Muslims or rounding them up into camps, as liberalism's hero Franklin Roosevelt did to Japanese Americans. But at the same time sedition, treason, and ultimately murder should not be tolerated, no matter what the faith the person committing these crimes professes. Most American Muslims are loyal to their country, but one other thing that Malik Nadal Hasan did needs to be condemned. To do murder with the name of God on ones lips is blasphemy in any religion. That needs to be condemned and rooted out by the Muslim community. The blood of the fallen demand no less.

Source: Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda, Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole and Brian Ross, ABC News, November 9th, 2009