Michelle Malkin says she thinks he really is just crazy.
Atlas Shrugs says she thinks he's a Jihadi.
I don't know which way to go on this. I have to wonder why, if he is crazy, there are so many different stories coming out of his camp. First they say he was distraught at an arranged marriage. Then, he's distraught because he misses his wife, or because he just returned to the U.S. from Afghanistan, where life is so different. Or, because he's been having bad dreams. Or, or, or.
Just saying, you know.
So, if we don't know, then I guess it's best to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So, take one off the books for the Jihadis. That means there have only been 5,710 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Muslims since September 11, 2001.
6 comments:
I'm sure he is crazy, but that doesn't mean this wasn't a Jihadist act - how many crazy people commit such a premeditated act against random Americans? The more interesting question is, why is he crazy and how much does Islam have to do with it? I was crazy once, and Islam had nothing to do with it, but in this situation maybe it does.
Although it was understandible to assume this was a Jihadist attack, this one REALLY was just some nutbar who went completely postal which is of course not limited to any culture or religion.
Randomness is part of life.
While we must be vigilant against the very real terroriest threat, at the same time we must be able to call a spade a spade.
This nut will spend the rest of his life in a mental asylum hopped up on Lithium.
Anonymous,
Let us hope so.
I have to side with Pamela on this one for several reasons. SJS does not necessarily equate to formal jihadist preparation and attack -- by its definition it is a sudden outbreak of violence against kufr targets inspired to a greater (reading the Quran, stewing about Israel, etc.) or lesser (more generalized anger at "infidel" society, etc.) degree by Islam-related factors. The latter seems to apply in this case. Consider:
This is a 29 year old man who was still under the thumb of his devout Muslim parents, who were so outraged at the "evils" of Western society that they sent him to Afghanistan for an arranged marriage. While there, he was almost certainly subjected to a constant drumbeat of even more intense anti-infidel pressure. Add to that the emotional impact of what may have been his first sexual experience in years (or ever?), which was frustrated upon his return to the US.
Given these pressures, does our "crazy" person snap, drive to the local mosque, and run down the first mullah he sees? No, he randomly runs down members of the infidel population, concentrated in a heavily Jewish area.
If some guy gets drunk and decides to take his pickup truck and run down the first black person he sees, he doesn't have to be caught with a library of Ku Klux Klan propaganda in his trailer to be considered part of the problem of racism. Our SUV-kamakazi may fit better into this more general category than that of a suicide bomber in Iraq, but he's still part of the problem.
Here we go again....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5307818.stm
Malkin's summary is lukewarm, but she's done her homework. The other one is more heat than light.
My lengthy response is here. (See comments, too.)
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