My comment about the Secret Service was to force the point about prior knowledge and you answered that with your response. I could not agree more with your comments, other than the Nixon time line but the point was made nevertheless.

I am not certain how to respond to your post. While well written, I believe you misunderstand the role of the Secret Service. Quite simply, there is not any of this incident which would fall under their jurisdiction. The other agencies you mention, to be certian, but not the Secret Service. As for other agencies, It is more than possible for the ball to be dropped, and not raise eyebrows before the fact. Nixon held up an investigation in Watergate for 3 full years, until a curious press were able to complete the dots. Clinton was able to stifle an investigation into soft money being brought into American politics from China.

No, I don’t believe that the Zero had prior knowledge of this man being involved with AQ. I do believe that he is dangerously naive. His political correctness is going to do irreperable harm to the U.S. His track record to date shows an alarming neglect for any kind of a vetting process. Known terrorists and subversives are replete within his Administration. This particular man was not an official member of the Administration, but it does show an eagerness to hold political correctness above practical security matters. I hope I answere your question.

I look forward to Obama’s early retirement from public “service” as much, if not more, than most fellow conservatives but your comment would imply that Hasan’s views, terrorist mindset and AQ contacts were known to the Administration. Forgive me if I’ve overreached but if that is what you intended to imply, then how do you suppose the Secret Service could stand by and allow that?

Obama will be put to the test as this attack at FT Hood will be recognized as having AQ links and a clear example of our government, including my beloved Army, failing to act in the face of clear threat indicators on his watch. Given his poor performance with the economy and the reckless manner in which he is attempting to “reform” our health care system, the failure to protect American lives on American soil coupled with his weak leadership regarding Afghanistan will do great, if not irreparable harm to his efforts to be reelected.

To me, the external contacts with al Qaeda are conclusive proof that this was not just a murderous rampage carried out in the same vein as the shootings at Virginia Tech not long ago, though it did share some of the hallmarks of that vicious criminal act. Until Hasan’s efforts to communicate with al Qaeda were made public, we could only speculate, despite our strong suspicions. Hasan may have eventually made statements after his arrest that would have been enough to conclude that he acted as a terrorist but with what we know now, it doesn’t matter what he says. Malik Nidal Hasan is a terrorist.

As for the “lone wolf” label applied to Hasan, I think it is still appropriate but once he reached out to al Qaeda’s Anwar al-Awlak, this became an issue for the FBI and other organizations. It is no longer sufficient to say that the attack at FT Hood could not have been prevented. By the very nature of the isolation of the perpetrator, “lone wolf” attacks are almost impossible to prevent. The classic example of a “lone wolf” is a single actor operating without contact or prior endorsement of an organized terrorist organization. AQ can be a proxy or inspiration for smaller, independent cells or lone wolf Jihadists and we’ve seen that happen before. A person like Hasan would only need to share sympathy for the AQ cause to be a lone wolf but now we’ve learned that his terrorist attack was something more. I believe we only really need to confirm the motivations behind the act but now we’ve got more than that.

This was another savage act of blood-letting in a very old yet evolving war.

THFR, are you saying that if he didn’t have contacts with known terrorists elsewhere, hasan isn’t a jihadist terrorist? IF that is the what you are saying, I would disagree. A lone wolf, home grown terrorist is still a terrorist.

I could not agree more with your first paragraph. You summed it all up very well.

We may have slightly different views on Hasan but in the end, the threat is the threat and that is violent Islamic fundamentalists/fascists and their supporters around the world.

Until we know exactly how and what Hasan communicated with al Qaeda or other jihadist organizations, the question of his involvement in a greater war with the United States is not resolved. It appears that the Intelligence Community and the Army were both aware that Hasan was a problem but we do not yet know what they had on him or what they intended, if anything, to do about it.

In the meantime I think we should all get uncomfortable again with the fact that we are at war.

Yes, the IF’s are in the minority, but they are a rabid and significant minority due to the sheer numbers of Muslims around the world.

Lastly, I will say it again. Islamic fascism WAS RESPONSIBLE and there is NO debate over this. A damning number of facts are in. He was a jihadist who hated America and rather than go to Afghanistan to help in the fight against his “brothers”, he declared war on America.

Here’s a link to some very eye opening sites. FYI, one or two are on the athiest side of belief.

http://www.apostatesofislam.com/

http://www.islam-watch.org/IW/aboutus.htm

http://www.faithfreedom.org/

http://Thereligionofpeace.com

Shoot yourself and answer the question.

Why not?

Who is trying to defend Hasan? I’ve heard people on the left attempt to turn this into a BS PTSD argument but that’s ridiculous and we all know that but for those still afflicted with BDS, I guess it was an opportunity to dust off the old dementia.

What has happened is that far too many people have blamed Islam for this atrocity when the responsibility falls on Hasan’s shoulders. We’ll learn more about what the Army and the Intelligene Community knew about Hasan before he chambered that first round. Culpability will be established but in the end the decision was Hasan’s alone unless we can establish a link with a Jihadist organization.

We live in a very dangerous world but if we are to win our fight for survival we have to know exactly who poses the threat because we simply cannot kill everyone.