DADvocate

Following the Ft. Hood shooting, much has been said about Nidal Malik Hasan contacts with questionable persons with terroristic leanings including an imam, Anwar al Awlaki. Awlaki, an American citizen born in New Mexico in 1971, is identified as a jihadist.

Apparently, for some, jihad means to "struggle in the way of God" or "to struggle to improve one's self and/or society." Doesn't sound much different than much of what is taught in Christianity. But, for Awlaki and others like him, jihad takes a much more sinister meaning.

An essay by Awlaki, 44 Ways to Support Jihad, tells us pretty much all we need to know.

Point 2 is: Praying to Allah to award you with martyrdom.

Some other highlights:

...encouraging others to participate in Jihad was an act of worship we were specifically asked to do.

What Jihad needs is mujahideen who have the ability to walk for long hours, to run for long distances (important for guerrilla warfare), to sprint (important for urban
warfare),...

Arms training is an essential part of preparation for Jihad.

Our children need to be raised up with the love of Jihad and the mujahideen. ... They need to be taught to be proactive rather than passive. Al Zubair bin al Awam – one of the ten given the glad tidings of Paradise – used to take with him to the battlefield his son Abdullah when he was still a child. But since Abdullah was still a child and therefore couldn’t fight, his father would have him carry a small knife and go around the battlefield searching for injured disbelievers in order to finish them off.

To me any military person and certain others having unauthorized contact with a person espousing such beliefs need checking into.

The FBI is now performing full fledged cover our asses procedures.

But the bureau has hit back, arguing that since the Hasan-al-Awlaki exchanges were "explainable by [Hasan's] research and nothing else derogatory was found, [investigators] concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning." (Hasan had been conducting research into the attitudes of Muslim soldiers at war with other Muslims.)

It appears the FBI, and probably others, are stuck in the "it must fit the traditional definition of terrorist activities or terrorist planning" mode. The idea of someone influencing others to commit acts of violence and others committing violence without actual collusion seems beyond their scope of comprehension.

General Casey might be more interested in preserving "diversity" than stopping killers. “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” Tell that to the families of the victims.

What functional purpose does diversity serve the Army? Except for having a few interpreters plus people capable of communicating with and understanding the culture of natives of lands in which the Army may be, I can't think of any particular benefits. (Of course, this diversity doesn't include gays.) Casey's words give a hint of the PC world that probably helped Hasan fly under the radar.

We need to consider the possibility that individuals who act alone can be influenced into this action by others such as persuasive imams like Awlaki.