The mass shooting at Fort Hood must be considered an act of Jihadi-based terrorism until proven otherwise--beyond reasonable doubt.
The alleged perpetrator (Army Maj. Hasan) is Muslim, is known to have opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (no problem in itself as millions of Americans agree), said he was "a Muslim first and an American second", was reported to have been strongly opposed to being sent to Afghanistan/Iraq, is alleged to have supported suicide/homicide bombing in internet postings and apparently shouted "God (Allah) is Great" in Arabic just before commencing with mass-murder.
Based on the act allegedly committed it is inconceivable that the suspect was a peace-loving devout Muslim as has been suggested by some. Muslim Jihadist's on the other hand routinely invoke the name of Allah in the process of instigating their murderous acts of carnage. The fact that the alleged perpetrator was a physician and worse yet an army psychiatrist of officer rank (Major) is extremely unfortunate. The US armed forces should be able to properly screen their officer corp for the presence of homicidal tendencies. Hasan was recently promoted to Major.
I fear that political correctness--and the strong desire not to find any evidence of Jihadi-based terrorism at Fort Hood--has already begun to affect media coverage and official pronouncements.
The question which begs to be answered now is whether Hasan's actions were based on his personal/religious commitments alone (which obviously contradicted his US military service) or whether they were in addition part of a coordinated Jihadi-based attempt to terrorize the US populace and military.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
