Fort Hood - Outright Terrorism and Political Correctness

As I contemplate the events that occurred at Fort Hood, Texas the other day, I can’t help but believe this really was a terrorist act caused by political correctness run amuck even in the U.S. army. Although 13 people were murdered and 30 injured this could have been far worse, were it not for the brave acts of a few people. The density of unarmed people in a small space and the assumed secure surroundings existent at Fort Hood were a perfect scenario for an entrepreneurial terrorist like Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to carry out his dirty deed.

More facts will eventually emerge, particularly as people who came in contact with Hasan over the years are questioned and his computer files are inspected, however, one thing is certain in my mind; this was clearly a planned and calculated terrorist act of the entrepreneurial variety. Hasan was not a member of the “corporation”, Al Qaida, but in business for himself. This act was driven by his Muslim religious beliefs and it was executed in the name of Allah as he shouted “Allaha Akbar” the Arabic phrase for “God is Great!”. The frightening thing is that sentiments like this are cultivated in many mosques all over the U.S. Although the vast majority of people who practice the Islamic faith here are peaceful and law-abiding, there are pockets of people like Maj. Hasan who are capable of this type of terrorism and, in fact, we have stopped many these terrorist attempts with the help of law-abiding Muslims. However, the silence of the Muslim community in condemning these acts is deafening, this also is a result of political correctness in their own community.

The U.S. is extremely vulnerable to entrepreneurial terrorism; since our armed forces and intelligence community are in dire need of people who speak Arabic, who can act as counter-intelligence agents for us, and will integrate with the local population in efforts to stabilize political factions where our forces are deployed. The problem is that the forces of political correctness exacerbate this vulnerability as exemplified in the Hasan case. Hasan may have been provoked by harassment, but it now appears that his actions as a psychiatrist for army returnees and his vocal tirades against our military policies made him a lightning rod for this harassment. His training as psychiatrist should have been enough for him to realize the consequences of his behavior.

Yes, this may have been the act of a desperate man but most of the suicide bombers recruited by Al Qaida are desperate men and women with no future and caught up in a religious justification for their acts. Maj. Hasan had a future, an education, a profession, and a job, all paid for, compliments of the U.S. government and yet he chose this action in the name of Allah. Most Americans abhor this, yet political correctness prevents us from speaking out about this apparently unique Islamic concept.