Lieberman: Ft. Hood Attack Was An Act Of “Islamic Terrorism”
Frankly, though I’m certanly not opposed to calling out Islamic terrorism when I see it, I’m not sure I’m willing to go this far in the case of Fort Hood.
Sen. Joe Lieberman called the Fort Hood massacre an act of “Islamist extremism” - even as top Army brass warned Sunday against guessing at a motive, fearing backlash against Muslim soldiers.
“There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act,” Lieberman (I-Conn) told Fox News on Sunday.
“If the reports that we’re receiving of various statements he made, acts he took are valid, he had turned to Islamist extremism.”
Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential candidate, chairs the Senate Homeland Security committee.
Calling this “Islamic terrorism” implies that Hasan was acting as a part of global jihad. But all the evidence we have to date indicates that he was a very disturbed man who found validation for his problems in extremist Islam. While he was certainly a radicalized Muslim, and while his religion was intertwined with his attack, it wasn’t an attack coordinated with the jihadist movement.
And that’s an important distinction to make, I think.
