Saturday, July 29, 2006
Shooting Jews in Seattle
Most every newshound knows that a man walked into the largest Seattle-area Jewish center yesterday, announced that he was a Muslim who was angry at Israel, and began shooting women with an automatic weapon (see the Pajamas Media coverage). The thing is, the authorities will not acknowledge that the phenomenon is what it obviously is, Islamic terrorism. Andrew McCarthy, who knows more about prosecuting Islamic terrorists than virtually anybody, says that we ignore the character of such incidents at our peril:
So what happens? The police don't even want to admit that he's Muslim ("You could infer that," the police chief tells the reporters who press this patently relevant question). And the FBI insists it's not terrorism.
Now, it could not conceivably be more clear that it is terrorism. If the FBI is saying they can't link him to any known terrorist group, that doesn't mean it's not terrorism. It's too early in the investigation to have run down whether the guy has ties to known groups; even if he doesn't, not all terrorism is committed by known groups (sometimes the acts of terror are how we get to know them); and even if he is acting alone, federal law recognizes the concept of lone-wolf terrorism.
It is terrorism because it is a sneak attack — in this case against civilians — which is motivated by a purpose to affect government policy and/or further a political/social/religious cause. The shooter was not there to rob the register or kill someone he knew over some private dispute.
This is militant Islam in action, but we don't want to think or talk about Islam, so we'll pretend that the fact he's a Muslim is irrelevant ("terrorists come in all shapes and sizes" is the official PC postion of government), and if we can't attach a known group to the shooter we'll close our eyes to the fact that he might have reason the understand that his religion impelled him to act.
On November 5, 1990, at a hotel in Manhattan, Sayyid Nosair murdered JDL founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, as the latter finished a speech. The chief of detectives for the NYPD immediately pronounced that the homicide was the work of a lone gunman. No meaningful investigation had yet been done into Nosair's background, and the police could not quickly connect him to any known terrorist organization. It turned out that he had been a member of a nascent jihadist militia with connections the Egypt's Islamic Group (Gama'at al Islamia) for several years. Two years later, from his prison cell — which militants flocked to because the Kahane murder turned him into a hero in what they saw as an ongoing jihad — he helped plot the bombing of the World Trade Center.
Sometimes, homicidal maniacs are just homicidal maniacs. Other times, such as when a large group of them belong to a particular religion, read the same propaganda, share the same political views and slaughter the same people, they are an insurgency, whether they plan operations together or not. The longer it takes us to recognize this, the bloodier the ultimate war will be, and the greater the risk that the West will lose.
MORE: In a follow-up, Andy explores the shooter's background.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Jul 29, 10:08:00 AM:
The prob. is that approximately half of the population does not perceive the current state of affairs as real war. And the authorities oblidge by feeding back a PC nonsense.
By 
ScurvyOaks, at
Sat Jul 29, 02:16:00 PM:
Excellent point that it's "an insurgency, whether they plan operations together or not." There are lots of examples these days of the collective impact of individual actors. To call this insurgency an Army of Davids contains an obvious irony, but the concept does apply to some extent.
By , at
Sat Jul 29, 02:55:00 PM:
P.C. or reverse psych going on?
Consider fact that Libertarians join the LEFT in their fear of "Christian Theocracy" under the Christian GW.
Consider the howls if the FBI* immediately identified this as Islamic Terrorism.
By going the PC route, average Americans are making up their own minds. Just see the immigration polls that show majority of Americans are fed up.
The Admin could never take the Press/LSM on head on, but
the falling ratings and subcriptions show that the American public knows the LSM if full of crap!
They are being destroyed in a very "PC" way, aren't they?
When true crackdown comes it is best that it bubbles up from grassroots, which is happening.
May also be part of Israeli Cabinet meeting to not only keep their public in support of the war but to have Bush and Blair thru Condi telling them they can't back down now!
Reverse psych can work on many levels. GW isn't running again but immigration hearings taking place all summer, as supporters of Lebanon/Hezballah march and protest in our country.
Have faith that Americans can put 2 and 2 together.
By , at
Sat Jul 29, 03:01:00 PM:
*FBI
Do you actually believe that the Counter-Terrorism Task Force isn't tracking down all contacts - including NSA data base on his phone calls? You want them to announce that?
By Mark in Texas, at
Sun Jul 30, 10:54:00 PM:
The response to the shooting of several Jews at a Jewish Center by a self confessed Muslim gunman has been to send police units to protect local area mosques.
Isn't the Seattle PD the same folks who stood around and watched as a gang of underpriveledged youths beat and kick somebody to death?
