Fort Hood & the Al Q'aeda Fallacy

The trial of Nidal Hasan continues. For those who do not recall the name, he is on trial for the murder of 14 people and wounding 32 others in a terrorist attack on Fort Hood, TX.

If you are seeking any amount of respect for him, you won't find it here. He took an oath of commission then violated it. He attacked our nation. He is a US Citizen that did so.

Hasan has, since, claimed he did so when he changed sides in the "war on terror" to the side that most aligned with his beliefs. In other words, he betrayed and murdered his fellow US Soldiers (plus an unborn child) in order to show his support for the enemy. That isn't a "freedom of speech" issue. It is another clause from the US Constitution. In fact, it is the only capital crime listed in the US Constitution:  Treason. Should Hassan be found guilty in his current trial, that should be the next step.

So far, it appears Hassan wants to turn the trial into a flying circus that would make Monty Python cringe. He appears to be mocking the system. His "on call" legal assistants have appealed multiple times to the judge advocate to allow them to recuse themselves. She gave them a direct order to do their jobs and stick by Hassan despite their ethical dilemma. See, Hasan appears to want to lose and be executed. He believes it will make him a martyr and hero to Al Q'aeda's cause.

While seeking his anticipated role as a martyr, he wants to disgrace and discredit the US judicial system, especially the US Courts Martial process. That is another target, one of propaganda, set for mockery on the world stage. Such would bolster Al Q'aeda's claims of their Shariah system's superiority and the illegitimacy of any US court system in which one of their members may be tried.

His per se legal defense and cross-examination of his surviving victims indicates these efforts. Hasan is not crazy nor is he unintelligent.

The man has a doctorate degree in psychology. It is disgusting to consider that troubled soldiers, including those with Post-Combat Stress, have sought this monster's counsel in treating their conditions. It leaves some Iraq and Afghanistan veterans wondering how much other damage he may have inflicted upon others while posing as a compassionate mental health professional.

Meanwhile, there are still some who claim this was just another case of "workplace violence". They act as though Hassan's crime is no different than Patrick Henry Sherrill's. One key difference, however, is that Hassan sided with a specific threat organization against whom our country had declared war. Sherrill acted because he was angry that the Post Office had, a second time, fired him for incompetence.

If we back up our zoom-lens to that "world view" so many want US Citizens to take, things become a bit more clear. This was not a random event. It was planned. It may not have been planned for that specific date. However, the named target availed itself and the opportunity had to be taken.

Al Q'aeda has a history of attacking US military and diplomatic targets. In fact, many of their claims prior to the attack on the World Trade Center were that they exclusively attacked military targets. The embassies in Kenya and Tanzania housed US Marines. The USS Cole was a US Naval vessel. Some of their propagandists even claimed the September 2001 attacks were "legitimate military targets". The WTC is seen as an economic/financial multinational diplomatic trade mission. That fit Al Q'aeda's criteria for a 'military target". The Pentagon was the other target hit that day, an obvious military target despite the number of civilians who work there.

The Fort Hood attack was just another high-profile attack against a military target. In fact, on the world scale, it is rather high profile. The continued international media coverage, including the blogosphere, demonstrates that fact. It was a change in tactics. Al Q'aeda has been known to change tactics quite often. They have used truck bombs, boat bombs, and passenger jets as cruise missiles. They used improvised long-range rockets in Iraq. Using a "lone gunman" on US soil conducted by a sleeper is more than plausible. Because of how unexpected or "Hollywood" it seems, it fits how they operate.

With the recent threat streams concerning US Diplomatic Missions, Consulates and Embassies throughout Asia and the Middle East, it's more than obvious what many intelligence and counter-terrorism professionals said when Osama bin Laden was taken out. That one person was not Al Q'aeda. He was a primary financier. He was a figurehead. He was a leader. There have always been others in the group, though. Their organization has always been a loose network of cells and organizations working towards a common goal. They do not have a centralized command structure like the US Military. Heck, even if an enemy army killed one of the Joint Chiefs, the SecDef, or a seated president it would not defeat our forces. It is naive to believe that taking out bin Laden would defeat Al Qaeda. All it did was enable them to reorganize and redeploy.

No, kids, the War on Terror is not over. Those expecting a 50 yard dash were surprised it turned into a decathlon. Then they thought it may be a half-marathon. It's more like a double-header of the Nijmegen leading directly into the Bataan Death March Memorial Foot March. Once completing those, the remaining participants need to do the Spartan Run, an Olympic decathlon, and two Iron Man races. Those left standing will face off in the Octagon. No US personnel are merely spectators. You are participants, willing or unwilling.