Defining Fort Hood Massacre properly

Ann Coulter recently published an article listing all the evidence that the Fort Hood Massacre committed by Nidal Hasan was a jihadi attack and taking the mainstream media to task for refusing to call it an act of terrorism:

It’s been weeks since eyewitnesses reported that Maj. Nidal Hasan shouted "Allahu akbar" before spraying Fort Hood with gunfire, killing 13 people.

Since then we also learned that Hasan gave a medical lecture on beheading infidels and pouring burning oil down their throats (unfortunately not covered under the Senate health care bill). Some wondered if perhaps a pattern was beginning to emerge but were promptly dismissed as racist cranks.

We also found out Hasan had business cards printed up with the jihadist abbreviation "SOA" for "Soldier of Allah." Was that enough to conclude that the shooting was an act of terrorism — or does somebody around here need to take another cultural sensitivity class?

And we know that Hasan had contacted several jihadist Web sites and that he had been exchanging e-mails with a radical Islamic cleric in Yemen. The FBI learned that last December, but the rest of us only found out about it a week ago.

Is it still too soon to come to the conclusion that the Fort Hood shooting was an act of terrorism?

Ms. Coulter is of course correct in pointing that one has to be willfully blind in order not to see the action of Nidal Hasan for what it is: an attack by an adherent to violent Islamist ideology on American soldiers.  Any attempt to portray Hasan as some sort of a deranged individual is now ridiculous.  He is no more deranged than the 9/11 hijackers flying planes into buildings or the ideology they all adhere to.  I do, however, disagree with Ann Coulter and many others on the right in one thing: I would not call Hasan’s action as terrorism.  Why?  Well, because if the terrorism is defined as a deliberate attack against civilians in order to score political points, then this attack was not an act of terrorism.  The targets of Hasan’s attack were our soldiers.  Thus, this attack was an act of war, rather than terrorism.  Nidal Hasan executed a surprise attack on our military, similar to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.  This makes him an enemy combatant.  The fact that he was wearing American uniform prior to the attack makes him an illegal combatant, the kinds of which were shot on the spot during World War 2.  Finally, there is a "T" word that properly defines the actions of Major Nidal Malik Hasan: TREASON.  Here is how Section 3 of Article 3 of the United States Constitution defines treason:

Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort (emphasis mine – Eric-Odessit). No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

If the action of US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is not "levying War against" the United States, then I don’t know what is.  And there are more than 2 witnesses to his action.  The fact that he is charged merely with murder is a very sad thing.  In my opinion, treason should definitely be among the charges against Hasan.  Upon conviction he should face the firing squad, or perhaps even be hanged.  There should be no lethal injection for him.  Yes, I know that he will be dead either way, but symbolism is important for showing how serious we are in prosecuting the war to defend ourselves.

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Fort Hood’s 9/11

That’s the title of an article written by Ralph Peters for New York Post.  The article was just e-mailed to me by a friend.  Therte is nothing to excerpt.  Just read it.

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Dangerous tendencies…

… are seen not only by the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

I have a friend who is an Application Engineer for one of the major semiconductor companies whose chips I often use in my designs.  He is of German descent.  In fact, I think he was about 11 years old when he came to this country with his parents.  A couple of days ago we were having lunch and talking about the recently uncovered videos of school kids singing songs in praise of Obama.  Those videos were posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood blog and also shown on Fox News.  As a side note, most of the videos were removed from Youtube since the story broke.  But you can still see transcripts of them all.  But back to the lunch with my friend.  He told me that he was watching those videos on the news with his mother, who is in her early 70s.  As they were watching, all of a sudden his mother told him that she remembered something similar from the time when she was a little girl, 5 or 6 years old.  She told him that all the kids in her school were lined up and were taught to praise the leader of the country she lived in at that time.  Did I mentioned that my friend’s mother is from Germany?  As a little girl she was taught to say "Heil Hitler!"  Now, looking at the video of those kids, she was absolutely terrified.  Now, I have to say that, while my friend is a Republican and pretty much agrees with me politically, his mother is left-of-center and would have been a Democrat if she would get her American Citizenship.  Still, tendencies toward the Nazi and Soviet-like cult of personality terrify her.  As those of us who lived in the former Soviet Union, she too knows all too well what a cult of personality might mean.  I did ask my friend if he prompted his mom to comment on those videos in any way.  He said that no, it was totally unsolicited reaction of his mother.

I wish those Americans who do not have any personal experience with totalitarian regimes, upon seeing reaction to the news of those of us who do, would ask themselves: "What do those people with such experience know that they don’t know?"

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A Russian poem

A couple of weeks ago my cousin from New York e-mailed me a poem in Russian.  The poem was pretty good and reflected the feelings of pretty much every emigrant from the former Soviet Union I knew: the old country, in the form of Obama administration, is catching up with us.  The poem was signed by someone named Alex Matlin of New Jersey.  Although I like the poem, I was disappointed that it was in Russian and, thus, I could not share it with my non-Russian-speaking friends.  So, I forwarded it to a bunch of my friends and suggested that they try translating the poem into English, if they were so inclined.  One of them, Diana from Los Angeles, took a first crack at it.  She sent me her version, and I improved on it the best I could.  Then I googled the authors name and came up with his web site and contact information.  I e-mailed Alex Matlin Diana’s and mine translation attempt.  He tweaked it some more and sent it back to me along with permission to post it on my blog along with the picture of himself at the 9/12/09 rally in Washington, DC.  Here is that picture below, along with both Russian and English versions of the poem.  Note that if any of you, dear readers, decide to forward this poem to any of your friends, be sure to include the Russian version as well.  It does not matter that you or your friends might not be able to read Russian.  The fact that it was written in Russian originally makes it much more meaningful.

Russian:                                                    English:

Прощай, страна моя родная! Прощай, Америка! Вот-вот Над континентом засияет Социализма небосвод. От Сан-Диего до Детройта От Айдахо до Теннеси Мы наш, мы новый мир построим, Как на советской, на Руси. Долой капитализма рабство! Мы без сомнений и помех Перераспределим богатство, Чтоб было поровну у всех. Получат равные зарплаты Все дети солнечной страны. Не будет бедных и богатых, Бедны все будут, но равны. Мы к цели рвёмся неуклонно Уж наши чаянья близки, Уже построены в колонны Acorn’а славные полки. Звучит сигнал: вперёд, к надежде! Народ ликует: Yes, we can! И скромный ОН в простой одежде, Нас к горизонту перемен Ведёт. Раздумывать не нужно: ОН руку держит на руле. А мы протянем руку дружбы Венесуэле, Хезболе, Хамасу, Северной Корее, Ирану, Кубе – всем подряд. Мы извинимся, покраснеем, И нас, наверное, простят. Мы их накормим – всех, конечно, (Ведь больше нет у нас врагов), И будет нас любить сердечно Весь мир голодных и рабов. Не будет нам пути обратно, Мы, как один, пойдём вперёд. Мы будем всех лечить бесплатно, Чтоб здоровел у нас народ, Мы будем все любить друг друга, ЕГО, родного, – обожать. Мы запретим и нефть, и уголь, Планету чтоб не засорять. В своём стремлении упорном Убить капитализма зло Мы остановим global warming – Преступных бизнесов тепло. И будут дети повсеместно Стихами хором говорить, Родного лидера за детство Счастливое благодарить. Не станут поклоняться люди Неузаконенным богам. В особенном почёте будет ЕГО религия – ислам. Ни христианство, ни еврейство Не будут более в ходу. А ЦРУ, гнездо злодейства, Мы просто предадим суду. А следом – мы в победном звоне Врагов начнём крушить вразнос, Засевших тайно в Пентагоне И на TV, в канале Fox. Партийных разногласий раны Пройдут, как сон, сойдут, как снег, И все республиканцы станут, Социалистами навек. Все будут счастливы, до страсти Себя и ближнего любя. А если кто не будет счастлив – Пускай пеняет на себя. Темнеет небо, блещут звёзды Сковал мороз теченье рек. И бьёт озноб: неужто поздно Остановить безумства бег? Как мы ни прятались, опять нам Грозит социализма зверь. Всё так знакомо! Так понятно! Опять бежать? Куда теперь?

Good bye my dearest land of freedom! Good bye America! At last The shining star of Socialism Is quickly rising over us. From Florida to Oregon, From San Diego to Detroit We will build our very own, The Soviet style, brave new world. Good bye, the chains of Capitalism! Without doubts and regrets We’ll re-distribute country’s riches, So everyone gets equal share. And each, as country’s perfect cure, Will be receiving equal pay. There will be no rich and poor. We’ll all be poor, but all the same. We will achieve our final aim, And our success is coming on. Already standing at attention Those brave soldiers of ACORN. We’ve got our signal: On, to Hope! The people shout: “Yes, we can!” And humble HE, in simple coat, Is leading us to hope and change. He is leading! No time to waver: HIS hand is firmly driving us. We will extend our hand of friendship To North Korea and Hamas. Iran, Venezuela, Cuba — They’ll be our friends from now on. We will apologize profusely And be allowed to move on. We’ll feed them all, yes, everybody, We won’t have enemies any more, And everyone will be our buddy, They all will love us evermore. No turning back! Move forward only! We won’t be charging for health care, So our people will be healthy And fit and happy everywhere. We’ll fall in love with everybody, The dearest HIM we will adore. We will forbid both oil and coal – No polluting any more! We will achieve our noble goal To kill Capitalism’s wrath. We will stop evil global warming That wicked business pushed on us. And our children everywhere Will sing together every day To praise and thank our dear leader For happy life, for joyful way. We will discourage all religions, Or maybe we’ll allow some. Perhaps there will be one exception: The peaceful practice of Islam. The old Judeo-Christian values Will no longer hold their sway. And pretty soon we’ll put on trial The evil folks of CIA. With our victorious devotion We’ll stop our enemies’ abuse. We’ll crash all right-wing opponents In Pentagon and at Fox News. All the old quarrels of two parties Will disappear, like a bad dream, As all the members of both parties Embrace forever Socialism. With love and passion we’ll be happy, We’ll spread our love without shame. But those who will not be happy Will have only themselves to blame. The sky gets dark, the stars are shining, The rivers covered up with ice. And we are cold, confused, and frightened: Is madness overcoming us? We tried to run, to hide, but no: Again the beast of Socialism’s near. For us it’s all so well known. Where do we now run from here?

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