Quote:
Originally Posted by buckman
The more we learn about this the worse it looks. How does a a mediocre student and lazy worker get promoted to Major? They arrested the Sudbury kid on less then they had on this guy. I know this wasn't terrorism, as I now have seen the light( thanks JD ), however if this guy slipped through the cracks, then how safe are we?
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Terrorism, especially as a means to influence government policy, may be too general a term to apply to this situation. More specifically, Islamic terrorism might be more apt. According to the overly admired Wikipedia "Islamic terrorism is the common term for
violence thought to be rooted in Islamism or misinterpretation of Islam, and is based on claims of defending, or even promoting Islamic culture, society and values in opposition to the political, allegedly imperialistic, and cultural influences of non-Muslims, and the Western World in particular." Based on some of Hasan's previous statements against our being in Iraq and Afghanistan and what should be done to non-Muslims, his act might be construed as a
violent defence of Islam. Muslim scholar Zakir Naik said (again in Wikipedia) "Every Muslim should be a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who causes terror. The moment a robber sees a policeman he is terrified. A policeman is a terrorist for the robber. A muslim should be a terrorist for the robber and
all other anti-social elements." Hasan seems to have considered America, especially its military, as anti-Muslim-social.
As far as this being a psychological "snap," not only was his act too well prepared to be a snap, but there may be a pathological element to most terrorist acts (certainly anti-social). Afghan pathologist Dr. Yusuf Yadgari (again in Wikipedia) found in a study of 110 suicide bombers that 80% of them had some kind of physical or mental disability. The difference between a terrorist and a mental case may not be that great, and to say that Hasan had a mental problem does not discount him being an Islamist terrorist.
As far as it being an act of mass murder rather than terrorism, most acts of terrorism
are acts of mass murder--again, being one doesn't discount the other.
Perhaps an even better name for Hasan would be Jihadist. Especially one of the "lesser Jihad" or Jihad of the sword. This is justified by Muslim Scholars as acting against injustice and oppression (he certainly viewed the U.S. as unjust and oppressive in Iraq and Afghanistan), and as acting against the rejecters of truth after it has become evident to them (as we in the West reject the truth presented to us by Osama bin Laden, Hasan, and Islam).