http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060806-094912-4955r.htm
<http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060806-094912-4955r.htm>
White washing Islamists
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
By Joel Mowbray
August 7, 2006
Hiding behind potted plants, Naveed Haq laid in wait for a
14-year-old girl he could use as a hostage. With a gun in her back, he
pushed his way past security and through the door. He coldly,
deliberately shot six women. When a wounded Pamela Waechter tried to
flee up some stairs, he followed her, leaned over a railing and killed
her.
Are these the actions of a crazy person?
A crazy person might cause harm to himself, maybe even someone close
to him. Mr. Haq, though, did not know anyone at the Seattle Jewish
Federation. He traveled some distance late last month from central
Washington, getting there after determining his target following an
Internet search for "something Jewish."
That wasn't all of his planning. Because of Washington law, Mr. Haq
waited to purchase his two semiautomatic handguns, picking them up one
day earlier.
Premeditation is the antithesis of crazy. So why is it that the
mainstream media has either ignored or played down this story? The New
York Times has written only one story. Ditto for The Washington Post.
Both papers buried what little coverage they did offer on page 22 and
page 13, respectively.
Most of those outlets that publicized the shootings have focused on
Mr. Haq's history of mental illness, the most serious of which was
bipolar disorder. Great attention has been paid to his apparently having
acted alone. And some have reported that sometime last year, the accused
murderer was a practicing Christian.
In other words, media outlets have spent fantastic energy exploring
every possibility -- except the obvious one. Moments after spraying
bullets across the offices of the Jewish Federation, he announced, "I'm
a Muslim-American; I'm angry at Israel." So while Mr. Haq's short-lived
apparent conversion to Christianity might be interesting, it neither
inspired the murderous rampage nor serves as evidence that something in
his Islamic environment did not.
Where is the investigation into what messages Mr. Haq heard in his
hometown mosque, which was founded by his father? Or how about a look at
the culture and attitudes of his hometown Muslim community?
No doubt the sensitivities and hang-ups in part prevent such
inquiries, but isn't it possible that those issues are ignored out of
fear? Having one case of homegrown terror wouldn't just be about the
single incident. With over 1,200 mosques in the United States -- and
that's not counting the thousands of makeshift ones in homes and
storefronts -- the enormity of the potential threat becomes terrifying.
How many would need to be bad seeds for another 19 to line up for the
"glory" of killing another 3,000?
None of this is to suggest that any mosque is presumptively suspect.
That's just one possibility. Incendiary Islamic teachings can be
downloaded in the click of a mouse. In the case of Naveed Haq, isn't
there just cause to wonder where his mind was poisoned?
What Mr. Haq almost certainly would not have heard in a mosque is any
call to wage violent jihad or chants of "Death to America." Almost no
imam would do so after September 11. But what if he had been told that
U.S. soldiers were regularly committing atrocities against innocent
fellow Muslims in Iraq? Or what if his imam told him that Israel was
ethnically cleansing his Muslim brethren?
From the records of terror suspects arrested since September 11, a
clear pattern emerges: Operatives are inspired most by the belief that
Islam or Muslims are under attack. It is indisputable that Mr. Haq was
acting in response to perceived wrongs committed against his fellow
Muslims in Iraq and Lebanon -- and he blamed Jews.
The leader of the now-arrested Canadian terror cell, Imam Qayyum
Abdul Jamal, reportedly did not preach violent jihad to his
congregation, but he did tell them, among other things, that Canadian
soldiers were going to Afghanistan "to rape women." Not only does this
dehumanize non-Muslim Canadians, but it leaves the clear implication
that killing them is not just moral, but obligatory.
Someone who digests and accepts such propaganda -- about "ethnic
cleansing" in Lebanon, for instance -- can have one of three possible
reactions: 1) becoming tolerant or even supportive of Islamic terror, 2)
deciding to join al Qaeda or its ilk in order to defend his Muslim
brothers and sisters, or 3) snapping after being overcome with rage at
what is happening, and then taking matters into his own hands.
Recent college graduate Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar slammed a rented
SUV this March into a crowd of students at the University of North
Carolina, hitting nine. The Iranian-born 22-year-old told the 911
dispatcher that he was attempting to "punish the government of the
United States for [its] actions around the world." In court days later,
he said he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of
Allah."
While Naveed Haq's mental problems might have lowered his
inhibitions or impaired his judgment, there is little else that
distinguishes his actions from those of Mr. Taheri-azar -- except that
he was successful. He clearly had become consumed with the malicious
belief that Jews were committing atrocities against his fellow Muslims,
and he saw it as his duty as a Muslim to do something.
Calling Mr. Haq "crazy" is comforting, but hardly congruous with
known facts. Avoiding necessary questions is not the answer. Ignoring
the simmering threats won't keep them from boiling over.
Joel Mowbray occasionally writes for The Washington Times.
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