When Army Major Nidal Hassan murdered thirteen people at Ft. Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009, the media, as well as the FBI, searched for answers as to why this American-born military officer would commit such an unconscionable act – the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001. While myriad theories and opinions were offered, few in the Administration, the media, academia or the rest of the elite seemed capable of comprehending the killer’s motives – even as he expressly stated them for years leading up to the event.
In fact, Hasan fully articulated his intentions to senior officers in the U.S. Army Medical Corps years before his rampage, and the warnings were ignored when brought to higher ranks. In a fifty-slide briefing given to his medical school class in 2007, entitled “Koranic View as it Relates to Muslims in the U.S Military,” (41) Hasan articulated the requirement that Muslims under Islamic Law conduct Jihad against non-Muslims, and he specifically defined the parameters within which Muslims must act. For Hasan, the relevant parameter was being deployed to the Middle East as this would put him in a status where he could be required to “kill without right.” As can be demonstrated in detail, Hasan’s presentation tracks exactly with Islamic Law (42) – and he should know since, at the time of his massacre he was the acting Imam for Ft. Hood.
Had anyone in the audience been taught the Enemy Threat Doctrine (i.e., shariah on jihad), Hasan’s amazingly candid presentation, which thoroughly explained his concerns given the fundamental concepts of shariah, would have alerted authorities in time to prevent his attack. Furthermore, the briefing contained an explicit declaration of Hasan’s allegiance as a Muslim soldier in the Army of Allah. And yet, seemingly, none of the audience of senior medical officers recognized the threat that Hasan posed to his fellow soldiers. Hasan announced himself an enemy combatant and no one was either able or willing to process that information properly.
I either never knew or had forgotten Army Major Nidal Hasan was an Imam. It remains an amazing thing to me that this story disappeared so quickly. The fact that everyone―including the military―was embarrassed by this event is a good reason to keep it in the front of the news.
This entire document is a serious analysis of the Islamist threat and an attempt to explain to the Western reader the thought process of the Jihadists, their associations, tactics and strategies. It's not alarmist, neither is it easy reading. But I advise everyone to try to slog through it.
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