Even as we struggle to understand yet another deadly public shooting spree - this one at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater - many of us wonder why deranged Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan hasn't been brought to justice nearly three years after he allegedly killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas.
I write "allegedly" because he hasn't yet been convicted of a cowardly act of domestic terrorism - domestic terrorism, not workplace violence. Have we become so politically correct that we can't recognize these horrific massacres for what they are? I'm afraid that's the case in a PC world; at least that's the conclusion former FBI Director William Webster reached after studying the Fort Hood massacre at the request of current FBI Director Robert Mueller.
"It shows you the length of the political correctness stuff going on," U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told the Associated Press after he was briefed on the Webster Report. According to McCaul, the FBI was concerned about investigating an American Muslim, and that's why an investigation wasn't pursued. Well, that's not very reassuring for the grieving families of the victims of Maj. Hasan's shooting rampage as they wait for the militant Muslim's court-martial, scheduled to begin at Fort Hood next month, if it isn't postponed until after the November election for political reasons.
McCaul told the AP that Maj. Hasan expressed his support for suicide bombings and the killing of innocent civilians in emails to the late al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in an American drone strike in Yemen last fall. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving fellow. Here's a persuasive argument for drone strikes: You don't have to read Miranda rights to dead terrorists.
"It boggles the imagination that contacts between a U.S. Army officer and a radical Islamic cleric didn't sound alarms with the FBI and Army intelligence," the Austin Statesman concluded in an editorial. "While the events of Nov. 5, 2009, (at Fort Hood) are no mystery, it is puzzling that the military could have concluded that Hasan did not represent a threat despite his communication with al-Awlaki."
So true, because alarm bells should have gone off everywhere after those emails were discovered on Hasan's computer. But, somehow, the Army managed to ignore a ticking time bomb because he was a Muslim-American.
"Whether the Fort Hood shootings could have been prevented is a matter of conjecture," the Statesman added, "(but) preventing future attacks is a matter of necessity." Amen!
In the politically correct Obama administration, domestic terrorist attacks are classified as "workplace violence" and the War on Terror is known as "overseas contingency operations." This PC language is promoted by the president and his embattled attorney general, Eric Holder, who sues states that attempt to help his department enforce U.S. immigration laws. In other words, when it comes to border enforcement and domestic terrorism, the fox is guarding the henhouse.
We have an opportunity to do something about this troubling situation in November. I'll see you at the polls.
• Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, is the Appeal's senior political columnist.
