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From the Austin-American Statesman, "At Fort Hood, Preparations for a Presidential Visit: Focus Shifts to Counseling, Healing." Also, at the Dallas Morning News, "Obama's Fort Hood Visit Part of Presidential Tradition of Offering Comfort":
When Barack Obama stands today before the mourning children, spouses and comrades of those cut down last week at Fort Hood, he will confront one of the most delicate and painful duties a president undertakes.
Only a president can offer the condolences of a nation. In a moment of crisis and sorrow and anger, only a president can soothe raw emotions, allay fears, elevate a senseless act into a call to action, and offer the assurance that – as his aides put it Monday – no stone will be left unturned.
This is by far the biggest test of Obama's ability to fulfill the role of consoler in chief.
The Fort Hood massacre is the worst single tragedy on his watch. And – because the victims and the shooter were soldiers, and because the suspect is Muslim and Obama has put such a premium on repairing relations with the Muslim world – the expectations on him, as commander in chief, are especially high.
But see the New York Daily News, "Fanaticism Hits Home: Blame Islamic Extremism for the Carnage at Fort Hood":
It is increasingly apparent that the mass murder at Fort Hood by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is the latest in a line of attacks or attempted attacks by Americans radicalized by fanatical Muslim ideology.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is not just a man troubled by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, traumatized by veterans' wrenching stories and unhappy about being deployed to the war zone.
Although he may have been all those, Hasan is also a man who followed twisted religious beliefs into revolt against the nation of his birth.
That Hasan began his rampage, according to witnesses, by saying "Allahu Akbar," or "God Is Great," is relevant to his crime.
So is the fact that Hasan's classmates say he had expressed anti-American views, justified suicide bombings and contended that Islamic law trumped the Constitution.
So is the fact that Hasan reportedly appeared pleased by the shooting death of a recruiter in June and was heard saying, "Maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Times Square."
Hasan is the latest dot to connect in a picture of homegrown radicalization.
Check the examples at the editorial, and here's this from the conclusion:
There has been no rush to judgment about Hasan's demons. But it has become clearer that he was swept along by the perversion of Islam - repeat, perversion - that has justified violence.
America must wrestle with these realities, lest naivete leave us vulnerable to more of the same.
The president needs to address these realities, or else the visit will do nothing to prevent further attacks of the same kind.
God bless to all those who are grieving and recoving in this time of crisis and danger.
4 comments:
I hope Obama doesn't screw this one up.
Obama at least needs to admit that militant Muslims are far more dangerous than the militants of any other religion.
Thanks Donald for bringing the Daily News editorial to my attention.
There are actually two things wrong with this editorial that seems on a superficial glance to 'get it'.
1) Naivete plays very little in th reactions of Muslim organizations and those on the Left. The vast majority of both groups are playing down the FACT that Hasan IS a Jihadist because this truth being accepted is not in the interests of their causes. Their actions are not the result of ignorance, but are part of a deliberate strategy to hide the fact that Jihad is being carried out within the United States.
That small group of people who are, in fact, naive are useful idiots of the Jihadists and the Left.
2) Hasan was not a believer in a 'perversion of Islam - repeat, perversion'.
If you read The Koran, it sees Islam as in a perpetual state of war with the rest of the world until such time as every infidel is either dead or converted to it. It is a religion based on an idea that there is one, and only one, way to serve God, and no other ways of worship can be tolerated because it's version of God is as a bloodthirsty tyrant who shows mercy only when his followers show total submission to his will and power [the word ‘Islam' means ‘submission'].
Therefore, even if America in the 20th Century had not begun to get involved in foreign affairs, the Muslims would still hate and despise us, and, most importantly, would still actively seek to destroy us. They are commanded to do so by their holy book-every Muslim is charged with performing Jihad.
Hasan was merely carrying out the commands of Allah that are at the core of Islam. The Editors of the NYDN are being cute here: trying to seem like they're with those of us who have Common Sense, but at the same time trying to undermine the facts in our case.
Linked to at: THE FORT HOOD MASSACRE REACTION
Only a president can offer the condolences of a nation. In a moment of crisis and sorrow and anger, only a president can soothe raw emotions, allay fears, elevate a senseless act into a call to action, and offer the assurance that – as his aides put it Monday – no stone will be left unturned.
Good grief! I know the name of the blog is "American Power," so some emperor worship from the old Bush days is inevitable, but the president of the United States is supposed to be the chief cook and bottle-washer of Congress, not a Pharoah or a Dalai Lama.
Yuck.
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