Seven years ago, while on an extended road trip, I listened with horror to the news broadcasts describe what seemed to be random murders being committed in the D.C. Area. Some demented lunatic was gunning people down for no reason while they went about their daily routine. Since it was barely more than a year since the September 11th attacks, it didn't take me very long to begin wondering if the murders were also fueled by fanatical devotion to the “Religion of Peace.”
I remember my growing incredulity over the unmistakeable reluctance of journalists and officials to even suggest such an idea. This wasn't a case of prudent reticence against theorizing without sufficient factual knowledge. On the contrary, the usual plethora of psychologists, analysts and other professional speculators were trotted out to opine on possible motives and draw “profiles” of the killer. The common and increasingly glaring omission in the sort of speculative coverage that is always rife when facts are disclosed too slowly for the voracious appetite of competitive news peddlers, was that while we, the listeners, were all wondering if this was another terrorist attack our news providers were doing their absolute best not to make that suggestion and actively downplaying the very possibility.
Jump ahead to the present. Every major news source reported yesterday that the D.C. Sniper, John Allen Muhammad, was put to death. Not one journalist saw fit to mention that he was a Muslim, and member of the Nation of Islam. Several apparently thought his status as a Gulf War veteran pertinent to the story, though they didn't say why.
A week ago today, screaming “Allahu Akbar!” or, “God is Greatest”, a Major in the US army methodically slaughtered 13 people and shot 30 more, presumably attempting to kill them as well. Once again, my capacity for incredulity was strained as I searched the reports made by all the major news sources I could think of in vain for a mention of the suspect's faith, let alone any speculative connection between it and his murderous spree.
Of course, the indication that such a connection existed was actually suggested by the almost demented way in which making it was avoided by journalists and politicians alike. Our President advised us not to jump to conclusions, General Casey voiced concern about a “backlash” against Muslim soldiers, buying into the Chimera dutifully trotted out by journalists and pundits every time a Muslim commits an act of terror despite the fact that such a “backlash” never materializes. “Experts” were interviewed, blathering theories unsubstantiated by the least scrap of proof. The murderer had perhaps snapped under an undefined pressure, had suffered religious harassment, had been trying “desperately” but futilely to obtain an early discharge from his military commitment, had felt overwhelmed by his caseload. Every imaginable theory was given air except that he was a Muslim terrorist engaging in a personal act of jihad.
Mental illness, apparently caused or exacerbated by the Military's unreasonable expectation that a soldier carry through with commitments he made in exchange for years of education was at the root of his murderous rage, not religious mania. He wasn't an Islamic terrorist, just a nutcase...as though the two are mutually exclusive. Maybe it's just me, but I have a tendency to consider anyone who purposefully sets out to murder as many innocent people as possible mentally ill. But nutcases have motives for their actions as well as sane people do, and the fact that Major Nidal Hasan screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” as he opened fire on over 40 unsuspecting people tells me what his motive was despite the attempt at cover-up by our Comrades in the unofficial but all too extant Ministry of Political Correctness.
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