But that's not what this is about, actually. No, in a way, it is about the concern a number of us have that Egypt might now fall into an Islamic theocracy run by the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sharia Law supporting organization, which sees jihad as its way. Many in the US, including the "esteemed" Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, have minimized who and what the Muslim Brotherhood is.
Why is that? Why would someone at his level minimize this organization, about which I have written a fair amount recently, whose last campaign slogan was, "Islam Is The Solution"? This unwillingness to name the reality likely can be chalked up to political correctness. (Updated - I removed a citation here though that does not imply it was faulty, rather I prefer to find one with more substance. It does not alter the theme of the post, though.)
And that is about what this post is. It was just that kind of political correctness that is being blamed for Major Hasan still being in the Army, despite the blatant, glaring, massively huge, red flags waving back and forth for all to see. Yes, the reports are in, and they are scathing indictments of the US Army, and the FBI, for not removing this ticking time bomb.
This man, Hasan, was in touch with the man now believed to be the BIGGEST threat to the United States, Anwar Al Awlaki, and nothing. Nope, not investigated further, not brought in for questioning, nothing but promotions and "Hail fellow well met." That is just absurd, and clearly, dangerous.
Debra Saunders had a very good piece on just this issue, the title of which says it all, "PC Military Fails To Detect Fort Hood Shooter." The tale her article tells is disturbing on so many levels, it is practically emetic. Lives were lost that day, 13 to be exact, and over 30 were wounded. Families were torn apart, a military base was under attack from one of its own.
And it all could have been, SHOULD have been, avoided. To Ms. Saunders' piece:
When he was in his residency, studying psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 2003 to 2009, Nidal Hasan gave a lecture in which he defended Osama bin Laden, justified suicide bombers and suggested that Muslim Americans in the military - like him - could be prone to fratricidal attacks against fellow troops.
He was "a chronic poor performer," who often failed to show up for work and was often on probation. His program director considered him "very lazy" and "a religious fanatic."
His superiors described the first draft of a presentation needed to complete his residency as "not scientific," "not scholarly" - but a rehash of Quoranic verses with no mention of a single medical or psychiatric term. Another presentation - in which he charged that U.S. operations abroad were part of a war against Islam - so angered his colleagues that an instructor stopped the speech. And yet the Army consistently gave Hasan positive evaluations and promoted him to major in 2009.
So says the Senate Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee in a report released last week by Chairman Joe Lieberman and ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.[snip]
Is this not startling? How in the hell does this happen? We have people being kicked out left and right for being gay, but this lunatic was not only KEPT in the military, he was PROMOTED, even though they knew he was a religious fanatic. And why? Under the misguided (and unevenly applied) concept of "political correctness.
Can someone explain to me why it is the United States is bending over backwards to not give offense to the very kinds of people who attacked us on 9/11, attacked the USS Cole, and attacked Marine barracks, to name a few? Why we are playing nice with the same kinds of people who tried to attack us in New York City? In a plane over Detroit, to name a couple?
Saunders continues:
[snip] The Senate report also slams the FBI for failing to interview military superiors and colleagues when intelligence revealed that Hasan had been in touch with Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Sadly, the committee found, the Defense Department and the FBI "collectively had sufficient information to have detected Hasan's radicalization to violent Islamist extremism but failed to understand and act on it."
By the way, the emphasis of the report is not to marginalize Muslims, but to alert the military to the signs that an officer was radicalizing. The right policies, the report notes, will protect "the thousands of Muslim Americans who serve honorably in the military from unwarranted suspicion arising from their religious practice."
[...]
Political correctness clearly reigns in the military after this bloody lesson. Last year, the Pentagon released a report, "Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood," which never once referred to Islamist extremism. The report instead concentrated on workplace violence, even touting the U.S. Postal Service's program to end workplace violence as the sort of program that could prevent another attack. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)
I'm sorry, but HOW was "Islamist Extremism" NOT mentioned in the Army's report? What kind of sweep-under-the-rug stick-your-head-into-the-sand (or someplace else) kind of BS is this? Of COURSE it was Islamist radicalism! Despite the host of very glaring clues the Army and FBI failed to address, the shouting of "Allah Akbar" as Major Hasan was attempting to obliterate as many fellow soldiers as he could is a bit of a hint. For crying out loud - this isn't "political correctness." This is delusion, something we are seeing way too much of these days.
I am reminded of a comment I saw today while reading this article, "A Child Bride In Sudan." The commenter, Sophia, had this to say:
[snip] Since 9/11 in particular, many people have been trying to learn about Arab and/or Muslim culture. There is also opposition to the war in Iraq and also the whole idea of Israel - Intifada II paralleled the war in Iraq and has gotten confused/conflated with it. So there is fashionable interest in the Palestinians as well with Israel assuming a mirror image of the "brutal" US. The Left in particular has a habit of supporting the perceived underdog no matter what and that is also clouding perceptions.
Much of this interest in Middle Eastern people and culture is a well-meaning attempt to learn about "the other" but all too often it has taken the form of idealizing people and cultures simply because they appear to oppose the US. Also, we see "cultural relativism" wherein human rights are ignored because the value of so-called indigenous culture overrides that of actual people. [snip] (Click here to read the rest.)
Well said, and spot on analysis, I think.
This commenter goes on to say a great deal, very eloquently, about the treatment of women in these cultures, and why so many liberals are okay with that. She specifically mentions Phyllis Chesler who has been writing great posts about Egypt, Islam, and the treatment of women, who has been attacked by the Left for daring to acknowledge the realities of life for women under Islamic regimes (if you haven't signed up for Chesler's posts, I recommend them).
It's all about the political correctness, which enabled this religious fanatic to carry out his horrifying plan for jihad against fellow Americans, and soldiers. It is what allows people to downplay the realities of the Muslim Brotherhood. Ironically, political correctness doesn't extend to how women are treated, which sure makes it easier to turn a blind eye/deaf ear to how women are treated under Sharia Law. But it also allowed someone who should never, ever have still been in the US military to be there (and that makes it harder for the Muslims in our military who are not religious fanatics).
Just in case there is any confusion, the next time someone is spouting anti-American rhetoric, threatening harm, and generally sounding crazy in their radical religious beliefs, even if someone might dare call you Un-PC, do the right thing: say something. Just a thought.
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