[1]ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)–“If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck and swims like a duck,” the old saying goes, “then most likely it is a duck.” The time-worn adage is rather self-explanatory and conveys that mounting evidence indicates a clear conclusion.
If you observe a particular fowl exhibiting only one of the aforementioned duck-like characteristics then perhaps it is only a rooster doing his best Daffy Duck impersonation. However, if the fowl in question begins to show all the symptoms listed above, then you can be pretty sure it is a duck.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, is accused of killing 13, and wounding another 30, at Fort Hood in Texas Nov. 4. A 14th victim was an unborn child.
There are several indications Hasan’s actions were a terror attack motivated by his radical views of Islam. That said, there are many bending over backwards in an effort to ascribe another motive to Hasan’s alleged deadly rampage.
So while Hasan talked like a Muslim terrorist, behaved like a Muslim terrorist, and killed like a Muslim terrorist, many government officials and members of the media refuse to accept the obvious and are desperately attempting to invent other motives for the shooting spree.
One of the most creative motivations for Hasan’s alleged killing spree is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. There are those that speculate PTSS was brought on by his fear of impending deployment and years of counseling soldiers scarred from battle.
[2]According to those seeking to explain Hasan’s alleged actions by way of PTSS, he was so distraught over the thought of being deployed to a war zone, because of his years of counseling those that had returned from war, that he snapped.
If one is going to buy this argument, then the syndrome’s name should be changed to “Pre-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.” Can you imagine if a jury was to sympathize with such a defense? Criminals would begin attempting to justify their behavior based on the perceived stress the future might hold.
There is mounting evidence that Hasan acted as nothing more than a cold-blooded radical Muslim terrorist who was killing infidels.
A myriad of reports indicate that fellow soldiers had discussions with Hasan in which he indicated that the Muslims should resist the enemy. At first, Hasan’s colleagues thought he meant that Muslims should rise up against the insurgents in Iraq. However, they soon realized he meant they should fight against the U.S. military.
In the days leading up to the shooting, Hasan was giving away his earthly goods as well as copies of the Koran. He also told his imam that he was planning on visiting his parents prior to his deployment to Afghanistan. Hasan failed to mention that his parents had been dead for almost 10 years.
Approximately six months ago, authorities discovered an Internet posting in which the writer, “NidalHasan,” compared suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on grenades to save their colleagues.
A senior administration official told Time magazine that “Hasan had other foreign connections as well: ‘It is clear that he had contacts with individuals overseas who have espoused the use of violence….'”
While Hasan was carrying out the alleged killings, witnesses said that he was shouting “Allaku Akbar,” which means “God is great.” It is a phrase that Muslim terrorists commonly shout when carrying out their atrocities.
Now, any of the aforementioned taken separately could mean little or nothing. However, taken together they give a strong indication that Hasan was motivated by his radical views of Islam and thus his actions should be considered terrorist.
In fact, the imam at the mosque Hasan once attended in Fall Church, Va., has no difficulty in framing his actions. According to reports, Anwar al-Awlaki cheered Hasan on his website.
Al-Awlaki hailed Hasan for doing his jihadist duty and for killing soldiers about to be deployed: “He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people,” wrote al-Awlaki.
If a person talks like a Muslim terrorist, behaves like a Muslim terrorist and kills like a Muslim terrorist, he or she is likely a radical Muslim terrorist. If an Islamic imam can accepts the logic, why can’t liberals in the media and government follow suit?
Not all Muslims are radical terrorists; however there are many terrorists who have been motivated by their views of Islam. Nidal Malik Hasan certainly seems to one of them.
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Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention.