After a week of blame throwing centered around the Fort Hood shooting, including a round of highly placed stories leaked by anonymous government sources, the shooters motivations are still cloudy.
Was he motivated by radical jihadist hatred of America, mental illness, alienation, fear of deployment, or all of the above?
As details emerge, President Barack Obama has called for a review of all intelligence surrounding Hasan and whether agencies shared information and acted correctly. The review, headed by John Brenan, assistant to the president for homeland security, is due Nov. 30th.
Meanwhile the critics on the right are using the Fort Hood tragedy to condemn an entire religion, bash the president and to further polarize a divided America.
Ignoring the lessons of history, Pat Robertson casts off any trace of tolerance for an entire religion by calling for all Muslims to be treated as communists or members of a fascist group, not as Americans guaranteed religious freedom. He calls it a violent political system bent on world domination. An ordained minister, he seems unaware of the irony considering the widespread oppression suffered by 1st century Christians.
Right-wing talk show hosts have been quick to take advantage of the call for tolerance to play on fears and hammer a deeper wedge in American political opinion while driving up viewership. Sean Hannity lambasted the Obama Administration for not catching Hasan before he went berserk -- despite the fact that the joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI which failed notice the red flag of Hasan's communications with a radical cleric, gathered the information in 2008 under the Bush Administration.
In a weird twist of logic considering his war views, Rush Limbaugh also cast blame on the Obama Administration claiming that because Obama hadn't gotten us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, "that's one of the reasons the guy cracked."
One particularly rabid Obama critic, Ralph Peters writing in the New York Post said that the military's "political correctness" was the cause of the shooting. He said the army's fear of being accused of discrimination would prevent it from listening to anyone who complained about Hasan's radical or insane tendencies. Peters says he 's been deluged by supportive messages since writing the article. "Many from soldiers outraged at the politically correct treatment of this terrorist by the media, by senior military leaders — and by the president," he wrote.
Only hours after the shooting blogs started an outpouring of anti-Muslim verbiage. A post by Robert Spencer headlined, "Jihad at Fort Hood?" appeared on his blog , Jihad Watch, shortly after Hasan's deadly rampage.
Next, the Associated Press came out with an article headlined "Anti-Muslim Backlash Immediate," finding that Muslim groups in suburban Washington and Chicago were calling for extra security. It went on the report that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had received one threatening call and was scheduling a news conference to urge calm. It also cited Spencer's blog.
Spencer immediately shot back with a post mocking the one phone call, asking if " ferocious white supremacists" had mauled "fragile little girls in hijabs on their way to school?" He called the CAIR (the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in America) a "bunch of thugs" that has the "clueless" mainstream media in its pocket, adding that hate crimes where how "they can claim victim status for Muslims and deflect attention away from such small matters as the jihad at Fort Hood."
Read the posts that follow and the xenophobic and Islamophobic vitriol becomes truly vicious.
One poster calls for military screening of staff and travelers based on religious beliefs and ethnicity. " I think we need the backlash and we need it now! …We are all worst off for having followers of this ugly ideology among us. I see nothing redeeming about Islam."
Another adds, "Well...if they're expecting an "Anti-Muslim Backlash," who are we to disappoint them?"
Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations had this to say, "We're asking for calm and unity," said Ibrahim Hooper, national communication director. "In this time of crisis, we really need to come together as a nation and not listen to voices that try to pit one community against another."
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FOR A REALLY COGENT DISCUSSION OF THIS DIVISION PLEASE SEE FRANK RICH's COLUMN
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Comments
I think I'll write an article for the examiner and call it "Politically correct liberal idiots ensure there will be another Fort Hood"
By the way...CAIR is nothing but a front for terrorist support.
Tell me "O Madam of the Write" what is "plame"? Don't you proof your article before it's published?
You are way off base with what you are writing.... the muslime was a jihadist and had advocated charging war crimes on some of the soldiers he "counseled". That's a little much to understand being he was a commissioned officer of the United States (not). I'm sure Associated Press is the arbiter of all the good in all of Amerika.... he carefully planned killing as many people as he could before someone would send him to his 72 virgins(with burkas).... Pat Roberson is right. Put them out of the US military, treat them as adversaries of Amerika.... and send them HOME to wherever they came from....
Of course I'm sure the Associated Press and the other MSM just hate that he wasn't a Christian...huh?
Before you write something, check at least one fact...
Rebecca, What a whimpering simpleton you are. Your p.c. colored glasses cannot see what is plainly in front of your eyes. Islam is a barbaric ideology bent on world domination, and it's followers are modern day barbarians. Those who are in the West should be immediately deported back to the third world hell hole they came from upon violation of any of our laws. Those who are naturalized citizens should have their citizenship stripped and then deported. Those who are natural born citizens (unlike Barack Obama) should be exiled to the hell hole of their choice.
So called "islamic culture" is incompatible with western civilization.
So Rebecca, take off your p.c. blinders and look at the world the way it is, not the way you want it to be.
CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation HAMAS terror funding trial. This organization is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas infrastructure in America.
You have a lot to learn, Rebecca
I don't know why it printed my comment 4 hrs. apart.
Just a note, writers don't write the cross links. So plame is NMF
We as Americans have lost the ability for civil discourse. Democracy is based on access, and respectful regard, of all opposing views. People throwing slurs see anyone who disagrees with them as a moron or idiot because that's easier than thinking about points that upset your world view. This article is a collection of verifiable facts. (I won't list my advanced degrees or IQ numbers). Just think - don't react. You should see your over-the-top anger as a call for help. All genocides started with the angry masses dehumanizing a less powerful group. Read the Frank Rich article, even the hard parts.
Another American worker is driven crazy by job stress and workplace discrimination and harassment, and goes postal with guns.
What's that got to do with anybody's religion?
Rashid Patch, Oakland
Irish-American, ex-USMC, Muslim
You people are too quick to criticize. Read the WHOLE article, and then state your views. Don't read one sentence of a paragraph you don't agree with then call someone an idiot because they have differing views than you.
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