Conclusions

World Trade Center I (1993).

World Trade Center II (2001).

September 11, 2001.

Richard Reid, Shoe Bomber, December 2001.

El Sayid Nosair (assassinated Rabbi Meir Kahane, November 1990)

John Muhammed (Beltway sniper, 10 murdered, 2002).

Abdul Muhammed (Little Rock, Arkansas, Army recruitment center, one person murdered, 2009).

Nadil Hassan (Fort Hood, November 5, 2009, twelve murdered).

President Obama, November 6, 2009: “Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Now, what conclusions could we possible come to ? That each of these terrorist murderers was a Muslim ? That Americans should be on guard against a fifth column that might number in the thousands, that is not reluctant to kill or to die, that serves a master that loves death more than we love life, that is part of a new world jihad ? Certainly no sane person would jump to any of those conclusions.

So the New York Times eight hours after the incident preferred to report that the shooter had “expressed no religious preference,” attempting to conceal his Muslim identity. And others – often Muslim apologists but not exclusively so – will pretend that this was an anti-war act having nothing to do with Islam, or the result of the stresses of serving (poorly) in the combat zone of Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington or his forthcoming deployment to the Middle East.

And people will find fault with the Army – why didn’t they foresee these horrific crimes given Hassan’s anti-American rants in the last year or two ? – to which the answer is: had he been discharged, or prosecuted, or demoted, or treated, he would have cried “anti-Muslim discrimination!” and “freedom of speech!” and his discharge would have been a cause celebre, and the anti-American and anti-Jewish haters at CAIR would have wrapped themselves in the flag and the Constitution defending his rights and lamenting his mistreatment. And most Americans would have joined them, and like sheep continue to tolerate the spectacle of old women with arthritis having to remove their shoes at airport security lest “good people” be accused of profiling the only targets.

These arguments – much like the Goldstone Report that is attempting to deny Israel any right of self-defense (more on that next week) are not serious arguments but ploys, rhetorical tricks that are seducing an entire generation – including politicians – that does not want to ever jump to conclusions, or, better said, just report the obvious.

And those who warn constantly of the threat of the home grown jihad will continue preaching to the few who will listen, unable to attract the attention those will not even crawl to conclusions, much less jump to them.

Hassan’s profile appears much like Israel’s bulldozer terrorists – people who exhibited no prior signs of violent behavior, and “appear” to have snapped. But “appearances” deceive. We will never learn, but can suspect, that there are sleeper cells among us that are activated at the will of the terrorists – that seem then to be random attacks but are not random at all.

Certainly we cannot jump to conclusions. But if we did, we could state the glaring and obvious reality that the last 25 years has banged us over the head with: not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. And when all terrorists emerge from one group, then measures can be taken within that group – if the will is there – and from outside that group in order to protect society from their madness.

We can choose to see, or choose to not see. Americans who avoid conclusions choose not to see, and when those Americans are in positions of power and influence, we are all in danger.