I think it's a much narrower issue. The Right wants to have this, early-on, labeled in the public eye as "the first act of terror on American soil since 9/11"." Period.
This is because they can then spend the next gazillion years inserting the phrase , followed by the important fact: "and it happened under Obama's watch." #nidalmalikhasan
How about this... he's a Muslim. He's a terrorist. He said lots of anti-American things and then snapped and killed a bunch of people while shouting 'Allah Ackbar'.
@Han Valen: Agreed. By not simply acknowledging this, we sound like the crazy right-wing nut jobs who insist that the murdered census worker who had the word "FED" carved in his chest may have been killed for reasons other than anti-government sentiment. #nidalmalikhasan
Let's be thankful that Hasan survived so he can settle this bullshit for once and all. The worst thing that could've happened was if he had died and we'd be left with wackos like Lieberman to put words in his mouth or use his image to sell some freakish agenda (see: Pat Tillman)
I think the truth is that Hasan was a very incompetent and dissolusioned soldier turned wannabe radical Islamist. If this guy is the boogieman, then a real terrorist like Scott Roeder is Godzilla, Freddie, and Jason rolled up in to one. Only no one's talking about him. #nidalmalikhasan
@pepelicious: Right. We should believe the guy who just murdered 12 unarmed soldiers and a civilian, rather than Joe Lieberman. Because Lieberman's not liberal. #nidalmalikhasan
@pepelicious: Who gives a flying fig what this man has to say? And are you attempting to say that the murder of 13 people is somehow less significant or horrifying than the murder of an abortion doctor, because it had nothing to do with an issue that is important to you? #nidalmalikhasan
@pepelicious: You're assuming that he's going to talk.
As for his radicalization, he was attending that mosque (the same one attended by 2 of the 9/11 terrorists and run by a radical, terrorism-supporting imam) before 9/11.
@pooks: I'm just curious what he has to say for himself. I'm not saying that he deserves to be heard, but everyone and their mother are grabbing at bits of clues to figure out his motives. I don't think he's this evil genius who had some master plan he devised with Al Qaeda like some in the media are making him out to be. In a way, that's giving him way more credit than he deserves. Odds are he'll talk and reveal himself to be a mentally unstable loser who couldn't even get Al Qaeda to support him. #nidalmalikhasan
@no I said no I won't no: What did Joe Lieberman know about this guy when he made his comments? Probably not much more than we did at the time. He saw an opportunity to get his name out there on a slam dunk issue.
Tell me who's profiting off the tragedy at Fort Hood? #nidalmalikhasan
@no I said no I won't no: Really? Lieberman is the first person to turn to when a national tragedy happens, I guess. He's got it all worked out.
Barring actual facts, it's all hearsay. Lieberman based his initial conclusion on statements Hasan allegedly made, saying that was enough to brand him a Islamist extremist, i.e. a terrorist on par with Al Qaeda. Even the Army Chief of Staff warned that it wasn't a good idea to start "connecting the dots" so early on.
Lieberman is a callous opportunist, looking for any issue to prop him up in the public eye. Do you think he cared about the broader implications of his allegations? He's not in the Middle East fighting in a war - perhaps there was a reason the Army was concerned about such grandiose statements. Did Lieberman care? No. All he saw was the opportunity to be the first one to scream, "Terrorist!".
The only silver lining to Gore losing in 2000 was that we were spared at least 4 years of Lieberman in the White House. #nidalmalikhasan
Thomas Ricks got it right. The question is more did the Army fail to dismiss Hasan on account of his religion, despite displays of incompetence and inappropriate behavior? If they kept him on because they feared appearing prejudiced against Hasan, then they are as accountable as anyone.
@Niko Bellic: I truly hope that's how, in the end, he's portrayed. Those who would call Republican or Democratic Senators "Traitors" because they vote for a damn health care bill need to be reminded of the utter seriousness of the term, and need to have pointed out to them that it's a pretty specific and harsh term designed for, oh, someone in uniform who turns a military base into a shooting gallery.
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Edited by Go Like Hell Machine at 11/09/09 3:54 PM
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@Fuzzy Dunlop: I did not say they are exclusive, but I don't think he is a terrorist, and here is why:
If this has happened in a base in a foreign country, than you could argue that his motivation was to inflict terror on the US public. But, if that was his motivation, and he was in US, wouldn't it be more effective to hit a school, or a mall or something?
I think his target was (at least in his mind) a military one. So, I think it's a classic case of treason: he had conflicting loyalties, and he finally picked the other side.
@Niko Bellic: There is no universally-accepted definition of "terrorism." But I would think the fact that he tried to contact a terrorist organization beforehand, and attacked unarmed people outside of a combat zone, would be enough for the colloquial use of the term. Quibbling over how to define "terrorist" in this circumstance is just that, quibbling, and I don't understand why it's necessary here. To be honest, it makes our side look like a bunch of fucking smarter-than-thou jackasses. "Oh no, the man who slaughtered all those people wasn't a terrorist you silly red-staters. Let me explain why over a nice Merlot." #nidalmalikhasan
@Fuzzy Dunlop: Well, but seriously, if this can be construed as "terrorism"; an attack on actual state actors by a single rogue individual with, what sounds like, a fairly loose set of objectives, then we're defining terrorism really loosely. Isn't there usually some sort of will to influence political decisions, at least to a degree?
I mean, I know that Islamic fundamentalism is nihilistic, but this seems much more so than even that. Even OBL wanted to influence the US Government, even if he wasn't sure exactly how the US would respond. It doesn't sound like this guy had an objective beyond killing a bunch of military service persons. #nidalmalikhasan
@Go Like Hell Machine: I'd say you're imposing too stringent a requirement if you say that there needs to be some express will to influence specific political decisions in order to qualify as terrorism. Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, was certainly a terrorist, but I doubt that nutjob could articulate specific political positions beyond "die, infidels!" In any case, I think the "political motivation" prong is pretty strong here - he didn't want US troops to be deployed to the Middle East, so he killed people on an army base from which US troops were to be deployed to the Middle East.
Again, maybe there's an esoteric argument that no crime against military personnel should be considered "terrorism" under any circumstances, but my main point is why the hell do we want to have that argument, now or ever? It's just a really dumb time to be arguing over semantics. It makes liberals look like disconnected boobs, and it achieves no purpose. #nidalmalikhasan
@Fuzzy Dunlop: I can sympathize, but also, respectfully disagree. I think that the difference in terminology is important and profound, and we'd be better off having an esoteric discussion on the meaning of "terrorism" now, rather than defining it as we see it, which, historically hasn't worked very well when trying to apply standards of rule of law. #nidalmalikhasan
If you look into it, you'll find that he was given the inhaled version h1n1 vaccine, which actually vectors nanobots into close proximity to the brain. Once they reach their objective, the medulla non grata, they go into hibernation until their host receives a telefon call from Dick Cheney. #nidalmalikhasan
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Wow, a blogpost on a hot political topic and it is clear-eyed and reasonable! You will never work in the MSM, Mr. Cook. #nidalmalikhasan
And when Scott Roeder kills a doctor, it's not because of his "extremist Christian beliefs," it's because he's either extremely pro-life or because he's a "concerned citizen." Balls. #nidalmalikhasan
I wish the network news dinks would really assert the fact the biggest enemy we face in the U.S. are loons inside of the U.S.
Anti-Obama folks hoarding guns and ammo and showing up at rallies with assault rifles? Now this?
Also, everything points to this guy being a known problem who was shuffled around by his supervisors. When he should have been kicked out of the military to begin with.
It's seems like only yesterday (actually, it was Monday) that Virginia Foxx R-NC was telling me that I had less to fear from Islamic terrorists than from the Democrats' healthcare bill. At this point in the week, is that still an acceptable statement? Perhaps she'd feel differently if Ft. Hood were in her district. Or if she had a soul.
11/12/09
#tips
#terrorism
#terrorists
#fearmongering
#wingnuts
11/09/09
Geezus fuck, this line of Fort Hood stories on Gawker is weak. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
This is because they can then spend the next gazillion years inserting the phrase , followed by the important fact: "and it happened under Obama's watch." #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
How about this... he's a Muslim. He's a terrorist. He said lots of anti-American things and then snapped and killed a bunch of people while shouting 'Allah Ackbar'.
Yep, he's a 'Muslim Terrorist'. Case closed. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
11/09/09
I think the truth is that Hasan was a very incompetent and dissolusioned soldier turned wannabe radical Islamist. If this guy is the boogieman, then a real terrorist like Scott Roeder is Godzilla, Freddie, and Jason rolled up in to one. Only no one's talking about him. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
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11/09/09
As for his radicalization, he was attending that mosque (the same one attended by 2 of the 9/11 terrorists and run by a radical, terrorism-supporting imam) before 9/11.
Also, according to ABC News, he tried to contact some people in al qaeda. [www.abcnews.go.com] #nidalmalikhasan
11/10/09
11/10/09
Tell me who's profiting off the tragedy at Fort Hood? #nidalmalikhasan
11/10/09
11/10/09
Barring actual facts, it's all hearsay. Lieberman based his initial conclusion on statements Hasan allegedly made, saying that was enough to brand him a Islamist extremist, i.e. a terrorist on par with Al Qaeda. Even the Army Chief of Staff warned that it wasn't a good idea to start "connecting the dots" so early on.
Lieberman is a callous opportunist, looking for any issue to prop him up in the public eye. Do you think he cared about the broader implications of his allegations? He's not in the Middle East fighting in a war - perhaps there was a reason the Army was concerned about such grandiose statements. Did Lieberman care? No. All he saw was the opportunity to be the first one to scream, "Terrorist!".
The only silver lining to Gore losing in 2000 was that we were spared at least 4 years of Lieberman in the White House. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
[ricks.foreignpolicy.com]
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If this has happened in a base in a foreign country, than you could argue that his motivation was to inflict terror on the US public. But, if that was his motivation, and he was in US, wouldn't it be more effective to hit a school, or a mall or something?
I think his target was (at least in his mind) a military one. So, I think it's a classic case of treason: he had conflicting loyalties, and he finally picked the other side.
11/09/09
11/09/09
I mean, I know that Islamic fundamentalism is nihilistic, but this seems much more so than even that. Even OBL wanted to influence the US Government, even if he wasn't sure exactly how the US would respond. It doesn't sound like this guy had an objective beyond killing a bunch of military service persons. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
Again, maybe there's an esoteric argument that no crime against military personnel should be considered "terrorism" under any circumstances, but my main point is why the hell do we want to have that argument, now or ever? It's just a really dumb time to be arguing over semantics. It makes liberals look like disconnected boobs, and it achieves no purpose. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
Merlot? I discuss things over Pino. Merlot is for when it comes to breaking bottles over heads. Pfff...
Having said that: I respectfully disagree that you and I should dumb down our conversations so that we wouldn't offend the dumb. #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
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I've noticed that those two groups are often in agreement #nidalmalikhasan
11/09/09
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11/07/09
11/07/09
Anti-Obama folks hoarding guns and ammo and showing up at rallies with assault rifles? Now this?
Also, everything points to this guy being a known problem who was shuffled around by his supervisors. When he should have been kicked out of the military to begin with.
Good lord. What a mess. #nidalmalikhasan
11/07/09
11/06/09
11/06/09