November 9, 2009
Fort Hood and Intolerance
On Friday, representatives from the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, the Diocese of Providence, and the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island publicly responded to the massacre at Fort Hood. As the Projo's Maria Armental reported on Saturday…
The Rev. Donald Anderson, executive minister of the Rhode Island State Council of Churches, said he called the news conference to “tell the Muslim community that they are not standing alone.”The article provided no explanation of why the religious leaders feel that Muslims without a connection to Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan other then their religious faith might feel that they are standing alone, as a result of Hasan's actions. Asked immediately after the press conference by WPRO (630AM) radio's Dan Yorke why the Muslim community was the focus of the interfaith coalition's public announcement, Rev. Anderson cited several examples of religious intolerance that have occurred in Rhode Island -- none against Muslims -- but some definitely disturbing cases of vandalism involving images of swastikas and upside-down crosses.“We are together as one,” Anderson said, flanked by religious leaders of the state’s Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities, “and we want to speak together with one voice.”
The religious leaders extended their prayers to the victims and their families.
“We know the actions of one individual did not represent the actions of one faith,” said Marty Cooper, community relations director of the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island.
But if the interfaith coalition's concern is general religious intolerance and the ugly ways in which it can mix with other human weaknesses and lead to violence against the innocent, what absolutely cannot be overlooked is the evidence coming to light that Hasan himself was associated with people who traffic in an intolerance at least as virulent as any of Rev. Anderson's examples.
On Sunday, the London Telegraph reported on Hasan's connections to radical Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki…
Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt....The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar...Awlaki's teachings include such beliefs as Christians and Jews living in Muslim majority countries should be banned from holding public office and be required to pay extra taxes, that infiltration is "the way of the Jews and the hypocrites" (I see a bit of a contradiction here, but I digress) and that....
Hasan's eyes "lit up" when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki's teachings, according to a fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of Thursday's horrific shooting spree....[The officer] had previously argued with Hasan when he said that he felt the "war on terror" was really a war against Islam, expressed anti-Jewish sentiments and defended suicide bombings.
Our position is that we will implement the rule of Allah on earth by the tip of the sword whether the masses like it or not.Even if Hasan was a mentally disturbed individual, there is a strong possibility that his association with a particular brand of Islamist ideology that encourages violence for religious aims helped push him to murder. And according to the Cybercast News Service, Anwar al-Awlaki is continuing to encourage religiously motivated violence in the wake of the Fort Hood; he has said that he would like to see more Nidal Malik Hasans…
In a posting on his Web site Monday, Awlaki praised Hasan, calling him "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"…What message does that send to other "disturbed" individuals who might be on the edge of doing something similar?"Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan," Awlaki said. "How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done?"
"In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal."
Ultimately, if the members of the interfaith coalition are hypothesizing that the Fort Hood massacre could cause a "backlash" of attitudes of intolerance that might lead to violent acts , and that stopping the spread of misplaced rage and its potential consequences depends upon good people taking a stand in public against such attitudes, then they must also be willing to take as strong a stand against attitudes of intolerance connected to murderous acts that already have happened -- especially when the purveyors of intolerance are calling for the violence to be repeated. Different rules for different forms of religious intolerance are not acceptable, and our local clerics need to consider using their public presence to reassure peaceful people of all faiths that they do not stand alone when targeted by other clerics who encourage murder. Stopping with a dismissal of Nidal Malik Hasan's actions as definitively nothing more than the work of one deranged man, unconnected to anything else going on in the world, does not accomplish this.
I will never understand the minset of the liberal Jews.They are defending people who would like to exterminate them.
Non-radical Muslims have nothing to fear.The radical Muslims should be in fear.We don't need them in this country unless they're in Gitmo.
Anderson is becoming an ethnic pimp more every day.
He offers a statement calling for due process for "immigrants" and in fact all aliens.Legal and illegal have been afforded due process in deportation and criminal proceedings long before the good reverend was born.He refuses to let facts get in the way of his lowlife propaganda.Even something as plain as the legal definition of "immigrant"becomes an excuse for a virtual UN conference with this charlatan.
You can bet Hasan would have been sh*tcanned out of the military in a NY minute if he had been identified as a KKK member or member of an Aryan Nations type of group.and rightfully so.
In the brave new world of Napolitano and Eric Holder being associated with radical Islamic elements isn't a warning flag-well,maybe since the massacre it will have to be.
Frankly,I thouht the perpetrator was a lone nutjob with delusions-I was somewhat surprised to find out he had these connections and was still promoted to Major when he should have been separated from the service.
Pathetic attention seeking behavior from Rev. Donny and his lame choir.
If anyone knows Rev. Donny's email address please the column below to him.
Ralph Peters is a must read for every American citizen, even liberal sellouts like Don Anderson.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/call_this_horror_by_its_name_islamist_HT78Wt6NkWoCGq5HIOwlII
Posted by: Tim at November 9, 2009 3:33 PMI still think that Hasan was, as someone posted here before, "a terrorist in his own mind". His attempts to make contact with extremist groups are not proabative unless there was a meaningful exchange between them. That extremist groups may "claim responsibility" for him, and lionize him, is predictable. (who ever invented the phrase "claim responsibility"?)
It is unfortunate that many Arabs are "shifty". It may be cultural in the way that Blacks rarely look you in the eye when they shake hands. I have had several as neighbors, mostly engineers and such. I have never had one tell me what country he was from, even in response to a direct question. All I have ever gotten is "Middle East".
This lack of openess makes you wonder.
Posted by: Warrington Faust at November 9, 2009 3:51 PMI don't know,Warrington-I had a senior resident doctor at the VA who told me he was from Damascus and it turned out we had similar interests and even the same hobby.We had some nice conversations.Plus, he was really good at his job.A very open and friendly young man.I blame it on the radical element.Most Moslems in the US are very well integrated into society and that is not the case in Europe and the UK,hence the worse problems there.
We can't condemn a people,but we can't let political correctness get us killed either.We need to use common sense above all.Obama never heard of it.
Warrington,
I don't see where race or ethnicity is part of the discussion here, and I have to honestly say that my personal experiences don't match yours. The problem wasn't Hasan's ethnic background, it was his apparent belief in an intolerant Islamist ideology that let him view people of a different religion as not worthy of life.
I can see where the interfaith-coalition has the beginning of a point, that even people and societies that have for the most part risen above a violence-against-the-other-tribe-is-no-big-deal mentality need to be reminded that we must be vigilant in fighting against some of our darker human impulses, particularly in stressful times. But it is wholly inapproriate to deliver that message while turning a complete blind-eye to the probability of overtly intolerant Islamist ideology contributing to the massacre at Fort Hood, hoping that this particular brand of intolerance will quietly vanish without it having to be directly challenged.
Something is defiantly wrong here!
For one I think the RI interfaith coalition's feel good statement towards Muslim community was misguided and a rush to be leader of the pack
According to a new AP news report;
“The officials also say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan communicated 10 to 20 times with a radical imam overseas who in the past came under scrutiny for possible links to terror groups. They say the communications began last year and continued into this year between Hasan and the imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, and that U.S. officials had been aware of them since last year.”
Story Link:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FORT_HOOD_SHOOTING?SITE=WIJAN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Why was he still in the Army?
There were red flags flying all over the place and he had a big red bulls eye on his back and no body took the shot.
So much for Homeland Security and Counter Intelligence!
Posted by: Ken at November 9, 2009 8:30 PMGuess what folks, you can expect more of this from the America-hating Obama administration. In fact, here is more evidence that these a-holes hate America:
"Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization."
Remember Obama's Reverend Wright - "God damn America!!!, God damn America!!!
Is everyone starting to get it, now?
And you let the stupid treasonous liberals get away with painting YOU as the racist scum. This is exactly what I expected to see from Obama. It is your worst nightmare confirmed.
The Fort Hood shootings are a direct result of the Obama administration laying down on the job. Don't act surprised when more of this same crap is allowed to happen by this traitorous administration.
Posted by: Mike Cappelli at November 10, 2009 9:56 AMEric Holder was a known quantity as an enabler of terrorists(FALN)and international criminal swindlers(Marc Rich)when he came before the Senate.A good number of Republicans voted to confirm his appointment.Shameful.He is a rabid racist and gun grabber.He is also a rodent faced creep who seemingly can't wait to dismantle this country from the inside.
He didn't mind being on the payroll of Chiquita Banana(the United Fruit Company,perennial villain for the RIF crowd)when it came to lining his pockets by acting as an intermediary with Colombian Marxist terrorists.
He's as bad or worse than the infamous Ramsey Clark and the less well-known,but equally nefarious Benjamin Civiletti.
Mike,
The PC culture in the Federal government that led to Hasan getting the nothing-to-see-here treatment predates the Obama administration.
Casting the word traitor around too loosely obscures how easily the enemy is defined -- they're the ones who really want to impose Islamic law through the use of force. It's safe to say that the Obama administration doesn't believe in that. They may not fully comprehend the threat that the country faces, or comprehend how attending an official function that is connected to an organization with Islamist ties gives legitimacy to a belief system that needs to be stigmatized by every civilized person in the world, but that doesn't make the President a traitor.
Andrew,
Obama and many people around him do indeed hate America. Recall what his wife said, and again, listen to his racist Reverend Wright. There's plenty more.
Further, the liberals had no problem blaming Bush for 9/11, even though he was in office for what, 8 months??