Filed under: Foreign Policy, Intelligence, Military, National Security, Politics, Terrorism | Tags: Terrorism, Violent Extremism, Workplace Violence
Three years after a man with ties to Islamic radical groups killed twelve people while screaming “Allahu Akbar” over and over at the Fort Hood Army Base, the incident is classified as “workplace violence.” You might classify this one as a cover-up as well; it is at the very least, political correctness gone amok.
Major Nidal Hassan was a U.S. Army psychiatrist scheduled to be deployed. He was a loner, and increasingly under the influence of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. His superiors were increasingly aware of his odd behavior and Muslim radicalism. But no one did anything about it. The Obama administration has been reluctant to call any incident “terrorism.” Homeland Security has played around with other designations — “violent extremist” seems to be the most popular at the moment. That is a term they are still using for events at Benghazi.
The failure to recognize Islamic terrorism is rooted in a desire to avoid saying anything that would alienate Moslems. Islam, everyone keeps repeating, is a religion of peace. But there are Islamic terrorists and they do have an agenda. Refusing to call it by its correct name is simply a failure to recognize the agenda of those “violent extremists.”
The inaccurate designation of the incident as “workplace violence” is meant to suggest that it is just an ordinary “going postal” situation that could happen anywhere, and don’t even think of blaming Hassan’s superiors for not noticing that he was a danger to everyone around him.
The “workplace violence” designation also deprives Staff Sergeant Shawn Manning, who was shot six times during the attack, of the disability compensation that other wounded service members receive, and eligibility for Purple Hearts or medals for valor. And the twelve dead soldiers are deprived of the recognition they deserve.
Some members of Congress are fighting the classification, but it has not yet been enough. The constant avoidance of not just the designation, but the reality of terrorism, is just wrong and distorts Americans’ understanding of their own nation’s foreign policy.
Heritage’s James Carafano wrote earlier this month:
Clearly, acknowledging that terrorism is alive and well looks bad for the Obama Administration’s rhetoric, which has portrayed Obama as having vanquished Osama bin Laden and thus ending the “war on terrorism.
Playing politics with terrorist incidents and indulging in cover-ups to prevent public knowledge is more than unbecoming, it is dishonest, and unworthy of the office.
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American Elephants 
I don’t know where that idea comes from. Whenever anybody “goes postal”, one of the first questions that relatives of the victims demand an answer to is, why didn’t the person’s superiors (or other people who could have taken action) not notice that the shooter was a danger to everyone around him? Civil suits, if not criminal charges, often follow.
And I don’t know anybody who would categorize “going postal” as an “ordinary situation”. All too common in America, but that’s not synonymous with “ordinary”.
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Comment by Subsidy Eye October 25, 2012 @ 12:17 amThis story is as fantastic as something from ‘Homeland’. It has played out as both a black comedy and a deadly serious tragedy.
It’s like ‘Police Academy’ because the dolts who run our affairs couldn’t make out a banner reading ‘Death to American Bastards’ when it was strapped to Nidal Hassan ‘s head. And of course, it’s a tragedy because the innocent were horribly slaughtered. But also because, sooner or later, for better or worse, the US military, and many others too, will stop hiring Muslims. They can do this. They must. Stupidity like this must be halted before it opens up the door to evil on an even grander scale in the future.
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Comment by Kolnai October 25, 2012 @ 5:56 amOne of Obama’s major talking points in the debates has been that he has “kept us safe from terrorists”. He has done no such thing. He simply labels all the terrorist attacks that have occurred on his watch as something else. Reality never intrudes into Barack Obama’s mind.
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Comment by creeper00 October 25, 2012 @ 8:13 amExcellent observation. Accurate too. He says what seems to advance him at the moment. Doesn’t matter if it is true, he doesn’t think we will notice. He has such contempt for ordinary Americans.
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Comment by The Elephant's Child October 25, 2012 @ 2:25 pm