U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.
The latter is just amazing, and on top of the flying imams case, yet another indication that the idea that Moslems in America face a backlash here is just ridiculous. A known al Qaeda sympathizer could remain in the Army for months after suspicions were raided.
And this tolerance can be contrasted with our DHS worry that returning Army veterans could be recruited into domestic terrorist groups even as Hasan may have been trying to contact actual terrorists!
We have to stop avoiding the obvious conclusion that religion plays a role in the terrorism we fight. We don't have to condemn all Moslems to face the fact that our enemies justify their murder sprees as an expression of their Islamic faith.
We have to insist that Islamic leaders control their wild men. Which means that one day we'll have to have a day of reckoning with the Saudis who fund the jihadi-firendly version of Islam that motivates the killers we fight.
