I had a cousin who, when faced with a situation (or person) she didn’t want to deal with, would simply close her eyes and pretend it didn’t exist.  It was cute and naïve because she was two years old. 

This week’s horrible massacre at Fort Hood has once again presented us with a hard truth that too many Americans are unwilling to face.  The enemy who screamed Allahu Akbar before opening fire at Fort Hood was of the same religious philosophy as those who flew airliners into the World Trade Center.  He was a kindred spirit with those who rammed a fishing boat filled with explosives into the U.S.S. Cole, who bombed the London subway, blew up embassies in Nairobi and Beirut, and have committed hundreds of similar atrocities across the globe. 

ABC World News Tonight had what they called an in depth report on the shooting that opened with the question of what possibly could have driven this man to shoot dozens of unarmed fellow soldiers in cold blood.  Really?  They can’t figure this one out?  The guy was an Islamic jihadist.  Google it.   

The rest of the special news report included graphics of the event, descriptions of the weapons used, profiles of victims, and conjectures about what sparked such a violent event.  Reporters made tip-toed references to the fact that he was Muslim but managed to leave out the fact that witnesses reported him shout the jihadist battle cry Allahu Akbar before opening fire.  The focus of this and other reports I’ve seen in the mainstream media was limited to the effects rather than on the religious cause. 

Islamic jihadists are the enemy of freedom, democracy, women’s rights, and progress both here and everywhere.  They’ve sworn to attack and kill as many Americans, including civilians, as possible with the ultimate goal of causing the world to submit to the rule of Allah under their fascist leadership.  It doesn’t take an investigative reporter to figure this out, although apparently the ones at ABC are still searching for clues while a neon billboard flashes over the crime scene. 

The press can spare us the psycho babble about the stress of being a soldier making him mentally disturbed.  The guy was a non-combatant—a psychiatrist, who had never deployed to a combat zone.  He was disturbed by what he believed, not by the rigors of military service.  Anyone who believes that his god will give him seventy virgins if he’ll kill himself in a suicide attack is deeply deranged.  And those who think scrapping democracy in favor of an Ayatollah-run theocracy do not share our American ideals and have no place in our military.    

Unfortunately there are tens of millions of young men just like him on battlefields and in mosques, madrasahs, universities, and marketplaces around the world.  Perhaps after what happened this week we can all stop pretending it’s not a problem.  The massacre at Fort Hood follows a clear pattern of behavior practiced by devout Islamic terrorists, and until we recognize the enemy for who he is and what he believes, we won’t be able to prevent senseless tragedies like these from happening again.  



Craig Ziemba is a pilot who lives in Meridian. To have him speak at your event, email craigziemba@aol.com.