Posted by Tina
Tarek Fatah, commenting on the murders at Fort Hood last week, has asked a pertinent question. It seems that Maj Hasan was wearing specific traditional clothing on that fateful morning as he purchased coffee in a local convenience store. The images captured on the surveillance camera show a man looking very much like he had just arrived from Dubai. The broader significance of the clothing can be found in Tarek Fatah’s article in the Ottawa Citizen…here’s the question:
I have lived a decade in the Arab world and not once did I see an Arab wearing the shalwar-kameez. ** Having said that there is one particular group of Arabs who did embrace the garb of the Pashtuns. They were the “Afghan Arabs” who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad alongside al-Qaeda and the Taliban. ** The question that needs to be asked is this: Where did Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American-born Arab, get hold of a shalwar-kameez? Did Hasan visit the Pakistan-Afghan region, or was he in touch with the Arab Afghans in the U.S. and Canada who wear the Pashtun attire as a sign of solidarity with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri?
Some things we can simply ignore by looking the other way in our society; live and let live is a traditional American response. There are things about which we Americans find ourselves in heated, lengthy debate; a natural part of the human condition. But obvious clues are not the kind of thing we can simply ignore. There should be no room for debate. It is our obligation to be vigilant and forthcoming about suspicious behaviors and speech because a laissez-faire, PC attitude can cost lives. This is the kind of thing that requires our full “high alert” attention if we are going to prevent more killing and death. One way to do that is to become better educated and stay informed…now, go read the article:
You can’t ignore the role of radical Islam,” by Tarek Fatah – Ottowa Citizen
HT: Weekly Standard – The Blog
“This guy was walking around a U.S. military installation dressed like Osama bin Laden and nobody said anything, yet the Army is being accused of intolerance and anti-Muslim bias.” – Michael Goldfarb