Man attacks Homestead Air Base, or jihad as a mental illness
posted at 10:43 am on October 23, 2007 by Bryan
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See if you can make sense of the details here. We have a naturalized US citizen from Kuwait named Tahmeed Ahmad who, on Sunday, tried to attack a US reserve air base in Florida all by his lonesome. According to the story, he was wielding a couple of butcher knives and some bottles of vodka to use as “explosives” (Molotov cocktails?) and he rushed gate guards at the base shouting “Death to America!” and stating that he wanted to kill soldiers. He had tried to buy a gun for the attack, but hadn’t lived in Florida long enough to qualify, so he made do with the low budget stuff.
One of the guards fired at him as he rushed the base gate but didn’t hit him; he was quickly arrested and is now charged with assaulting a US government employee. Also according to the story, the man had long been on a terrorist watch list, but authorities had concluded that he was mentally ill and therefore not a terrorist threat. He had recently been in a mental institution and had told his mother that he wanted to kill himself but “didn’t know how.” He’d also been recruited to teach math at a Miami area high school.
Question: Is it standard practice to recruit mentally ill people who are on terrorist watch lists to teach high school math? Just wondering.
So here’s what else I’m wondering: How seriously do the authorities expect us to treat claims that this guy is mentally ill in factoring out whether this was a loner terrorist attack or just a weirdo trying to end it all? In the Dearborn park case, Hussein Zorkot was quickly described in the media by the police as “confused,” even though the evidence of his life clearly pointed to terrorism. Same goes for the Austrian terror plot that was thwarted — authorities described that guy as “confused” and maybe mental too. I noted the “confusion” rap in a post about the Austrian case earlier this month. He was confused, yet coherent enough to pack a backpack full of explosives and nails that would become shrapnel upon detonation.
It strains credulity to accept that Zorkot and the Austrian backpack bomber were both “confused” or mental. There’s more than enough known evidence to accept them as jihadists, and the authorities undermine their own credibility each time they trot out the “Nothing to see here” shtick when there’s obviously something to see here. This week’s case looks a little more like mental illness may be a factor, but still — the guy was a) on a terrorist watch list and b) tried to attack a US military base after c) loading up on weapons, pathetic though they might be, and d) used the standard Al Jazeera “Death to America” line as his motto.
Sounds like a jihadi to me. Or has the psychiatric profession dubbed jihadism an official mental illness without telling the rest of us?
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Good. Won’t stand for poor marksmanship.
MadisonConservative on October 23, 2007 at 10:48 AM
In some parts of Florida’s school system, that’s what we call an improvement. (Former teacher speaking here)
All kidding aside, I wonder how many cases the govt. could just rule the suspects as having a “mental illness”. The problem is it reduces the seriousness of the threat posed in general.
amerpundit on October 23, 2007 at 10:48 AM
How unhinged does one have to be to cross the threshold into enemy of the state?
bbz123 on October 23, 2007 at 10:52 AM
Well, I had a bunch of stuff typed up, but I think I had better just go with
[pre-deleted]
RushBaby on October 23, 2007 at 10:53 AM
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! Sounds like the Air Reserve in Florida needs alittle more time on the range!
Pilgrim on October 23, 2007 at 10:54 AM
ROTFL!
Poor sentence construction in the article aside, I, too, was thinking that the guard needs remedial range time.
baldilocks on October 23, 2007 at 10:54 AM
It was a warning shot. Yeah.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on October 23, 2007 at 10:58 AM
Of course, if he had hit this whackjob, you can bet the usual parade of liberal whiners would immediately come out of the woodwork claiming excessive force, racism, and every other victim card they could play. Then Jack(ass) Murtha would say this is another example of our military murdering innocent civilians in cold blood.
CurtZHP on October 23, 2007 at 10:59 AM
…because of the stress. Don’t forget that.
Bryan on October 23, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Well, there are definitely non-Muslim crazies who try stuff on/near/in the general direction of military bases. You’d have to try to track down some info on how many of those incidents there are. They don’t usually get much press, though.
OTOH, when the authorities immediately say “not terrorism, he’s crazy” within minutes of arresting someone screaming about jihad, it’s hard to not wonder if they are placating.
MamaAJ on October 23, 2007 at 11:00 AM
MadisonConservative on October 23, 2007 at 10:48 AM
heh
Spirit of 1776 on October 23, 2007 at 11:02 AM
He’s a jihadist. Everything he said and did was consistent with jihad.
If he were insane, he would have shown up at a McDonalds swinging a tennis racket while yelling about the Free Masons - or something like that.
forest on October 23, 2007 at 11:04 AM
I was wondering that too.
And yes! AGAIN with the “confusion” line. One thing, it sure is going to get interesting watching the MSM tie itself in a pretzel as this stuff continues.
4shoes on October 23, 2007 at 11:04 AM
The crazy label has been a convenient tool to excuse personal responsibility. Quite simply, some people need to be restrained or executed for the safety of everyone else. Most labels–racist, theologic, political–are cowards’ devices to avoid personal confrontation. To dismiss a guy like this as simply crazy (which he may in fact turn out to be), dismisses us from dealing with the reality that there are people living in the United States who would gladly repeat 9/11.
windbag on October 23, 2007 at 11:07 AM
It wouldn’t surprise me that Florida recruited him to teach. They are desperately short on Educators in Florida. A recruiter tried to coax my wife and I to move from Tennessee to teach there. Apparently the insurance costs (as well as cost of living) are driving folks out of the state.
As far as the whack-job jihadist goes…huh? Lordy.
robblefarian on October 23, 2007 at 11:09 AM
So, what rule is it that says crazy people can’t be jihadists?
BDavis on October 23, 2007 at 11:18 AM
This guy may or may not be a whack job but he does represent a much larger problem, that being the import of people and even turning into citizens those who hate us and are more than willing to encourage our downfall.
Speakup on October 23, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Is this the shaheed version of suicide by cop?
trubble on October 23, 2007 at 11:19 AM
He sounds a bit overqualified.
Nosferightu on October 23, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Don’t give them any ideas.
Numenorean on October 23, 2007 at 11:20 AM
I have to admit, he could be a real suicide bomber. It wouldn’t be the first time someone has threatened military personel or law enforcement with the intent of ending their own lives.
Any way I look at it, the guys mental enough to be a menace to himself and others, thus should be locked away for a very long time (if not permanently). I don’t think he’s crazy enough that he didn’t understand what he was doing and the potential repurcussions of his actions.
taznar on October 23, 2007 at 11:27 AM
He’s just tryin’ to emulate his heroes, the Fort Dix Six.
Tony737 on October 23, 2007 at 11:30 AM
I’m going to make a prediction here: If the jihadists do something major again in this country (would have to be even worse than 9/11), the so-called moderate islamists will join in, possibly by the hundreds of thousands, causing additional real damage and mayhem.
If this happens, our only courses of action will be 1) to surrender, or 2) to resort to racial profiling and detention camps, not unlike the interment camps for Japanese Americans during WWII.
Anyone else see this coming?
stonemeister on October 23, 2007 at 11:31 AM
Terrorist watch lists aren’t exactly public information. So they likely had no idea.
Mark Jaquith on October 23, 2007 at 11:34 AM
I spent 3 years teaching school, and yes they will take anyone. They probably didn’t aggressively recruit him, but if he was able to get a teaching certificate nothing else mattered. I am not sure how he passed the background check, but if he self reported everything the certification board probably gave him a pass on it.
Buford on October 23, 2007 at 11:36 AM
That would also qualify him as a Ron Paul supporter.
ReubenJCogburn on October 23, 2007 at 11:39 AM
I call this SJDS.
Sudden Jihadi Denial Syndrome.
It is pathetic how much effort is spent spinning these jihadi stories into ‘mentally ill’, ‘not terrorist’, ‘move along, nothing to see here’ cases.
Even when they clearly say DEATH TO AMERICA, or similar variations on a them, law enforcement officials (for whatever stupid dhimmi reason) insist on shoving down our throats that these are isolated, disturbed, criminal events that have nothing to do with Islam, Allah or Mohhammad.
Seriously-it is getting very predictable, boring and stupid.
WriterMom on October 23, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Ahem. I would like to reiterate that this armed & dangerous nutjob was a government school teacher.
Nothing follows.
locomotivebreath1901 on October 23, 2007 at 11:42 AM
NO. Absolutely not what you are describing. Remember how CAIR was exposed to have shrunk to only 1700 members? IMO, Muslims in this country just want to be left alone and have no interest in identifying with radical political Islam, and with violence even less so.
RushBaby on October 23, 2007 at 11:43 AM
Bryan, I think you have identified the real conundrum here. It is obvious to many people that jihadism is a mental afliction-but they won’t say it. They want to have it both ways. They want all the jihadis to have the excuse of mental illness, without identifying what the “common denominator” is of all these mentally deranged people.
This kind of pussy footing behaviour is rampant regarding all things Islamic. We are just supposed to tollerate it-the ‘having it both ways thing’. Just like the Muslim claims that the GLORIOUS 19 MARTYRS OF ALLAH (amongst their own folk) are NOT REALLY MUSLIMS AND THE JOOOS DID IT (to the outside world).
Or, rather like The Hairy Stinky Persian Nazi, who can is the world’s Holocaust Denier In Chief, except for when he wants to nuke the Joooos into a better, more complete nuclear Holocaust.
WriterMom on October 23, 2007 at 11:46 AM
Perhaps someone Muslim scholar knows better than I do:
He told his mother he wanted to kill himself but “didn’t know how.”
Quiet suicide at home = No virgins.
Feeble attempt to attack Air Force base ending in gunshot death = martydom, thus 72 virgins.
I mean, that would count, right? Toward martyrdom?
saint kansas on October 23, 2007 at 11:47 AM
In addition to the committed religious fanatics, I think Jihad just naturally attracts muslims who are f’ed-up-in-the-head criminal types.
infidel4life on October 23, 2007 at 11:50 AM
I wish you were right, but the moderate islamists’ silence about this whole world situation is deafening. And speaks volumes.
stonemeister on October 23, 2007 at 11:52 AM
The Dutch guy of Moroccan ancestry who was shot while attacking the police in a Amsterdam police station is also being described as mentally ill by the official media. This has led to nearly a week of car fires/riots in a part of Amsterdam by muslims who object to the police killing a muslim. He wasn’t mentally ill either. He’s another enraged, lunatic, suicidal, maniacal jihadi. Now he’s a dead one.
JiangxiDad on October 23, 2007 at 11:56 AM
Actually, Robert Spencer suspects that the rioters object to the suspect being killed by an infidel woman. LOL. That is apparently more offensive than the actually deadness of the guy.
WriterMom on October 23, 2007 at 12:02 PM
A Kuwaiti islamist plotting jihad on the military, while teaching public school? This man have embraced all the true tenets of liberalism. Start printing the Free Ahmad t-shirts.
Ha..ha..
RMR on October 23, 2007 at 12:05 PM
How about both? The two are not mutually exclusive.
He was a jihadist for attacking a military base, and he was crazy for attempting it with just what he could scrounge up at the last minute.
James on October 23, 2007 at 12:06 PM
Wha…?!
Jaibones on October 23, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Of course, the guy was obviously nuts, and had nothing whatsoever in common with the various sane, normal, well-balanced, productive, thoughtful Muslims who launch suicide attacks while screaming “Death to America.”
morganfrost on October 23, 2007 at 12:20 PM
True radicals are not going to join such a high-profile organization as CAIR. I doubt any of the 9-11 hijackers were members.
I’ve said this before: I’m concerned that it could be an actual majority of Muslims who would do nothing to help stop radicals. In 1990, police could not get any help from the Muslim community concerning an assassination at the Tucson mosque. They were told: “The people who did this were Muslim. The Qur’an teaches us ‘Better the worst Muslim than the best unbeliever’. We are therefore forbidden to do anything which could cause a Muslim to come to harm at the hands of an unbeliever.” Same reaction with the Ontario jihadis.
Oh, and saint kansas at 11:47 - Even if his ineptness got him docked most of his virgins, he’d be doing better than he likely is here.
eeyore on October 23, 2007 at 12:41 PM
So…. we’ve been assuming all along that folks with suicide bomb belts are sane?!?
uhm…. Ho-kaay.
Claire on October 23, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Wanting to kill yourself and others is not a mental illness?????
docdave on October 23, 2007 at 12:52 PM
2 observations:
a) He was carrying a couple of vodka bottles. Are we sure he wasn’t drinking? Maybe this is the reason why Muslims don’t drink.
b) Maybe he listens to Limbaugh and really believes he can get sent to Club Gitmo for relief from the stress of jihad.
Kini on October 23, 2007 at 1:05 PM
Crazy jihadist is redundant.
4shoes on October 23, 2007 at 1:08 PM
I think we are missing a lot of detail here. So this crazy charges the guards, one shot is fired (and misses) and then what? Did he stop and hold up his hands? Did the guards charge him and tackle him to the ground, bad idea tackling a crazy with a knife, close combat should ALWAYS be the last resort. What are the guards armed with that they only got of one shot, a musket?
I remember what our local sheriff said when asked why the cop killing SOB was shot 64 times (after he raised his stolen gun in direction of the officers). “Because they ran out of bullets”!! I did not vote for him in the election but you can be darn sure that I will if he runs again!
CloneTrooper on October 23, 2007 at 1:14 PM
Of course jihadis are mentally ill.
As are the majority of people who submitted questions on the “10 Questions” website.
What is happening to our country?
Wingo on October 23, 2007 at 1:45 PM
Revoke citizenship now!
xler8bmw on October 23, 2007 at 1:55 PM
“Or has the psychiatric profession dubbed jihadism an official mental illness without telling the rest of us?”
You’re mistaking jihadism with “patriotism” — a real, genuine, bonafide mental illness, according to official MoveOn.org documents and MediaMatters(not!) internal documents.
georgej on October 23, 2007 at 2:14 PM
“authorities had concluded that he was mentally ill and therefore not a terrorist threat”
Your government at work.
SoulGlo on October 23, 2007 at 2:25 PM
Confused? What he thought he was attacking a Naval Base?
- The Cat
MirCat on October 23, 2007 at 3:07 PM
Since “Death to America” is the Democrats new campaign slogan, he may not be a jihadi at all. He could be a run-of-the-mill nutroot, one of Hillary’s fundraisers, or this could be just a campaign stunt to draw attention to his congressional race. Look for him on the Florida ballot next election. He should do well among South Florida Democrats.
lonesomecharlie on October 23, 2007 at 3:12 PM
Attacked a reserve base on a Sunday?
They don’t call them “weekend warriors” for nothing!
idiot! Next time just cut your wrists!
derka derka!
Black Adam on October 23, 2007 at 3:39 PM
F4 Phantom on the main page. Brrrings back memories.
And mostly they’re all Good.
Texyank on October 23, 2007 at 4:07 PM
Those who can, attack the nearest US military installation. Those who can’t, teach.
Tantor on October 23, 2007 at 5:30 PM
For what it’s worth, I trained at Homestead to fly F-4s as a navigator/weapon system officer. We flew C models, like the one in the photo, which had flown in Vietnam. A lot of them had red stars painted on their splitter plate for the MiGs they shot down in Vietnam.
The Michigan Air National Guard maintained two alert birds to intercept intruders into US air space. The Cubans occassionally sent a MiG north to test our reaction time. The F-4Es on alert would also intercept the multitude of drug smugglers trying to fly into Florida, often from the Bahamas.
One time a confused drug smuggler landed on base. When the security police raced out to meet him, he realized his mistake and ran off into the swamp on the far side of the runway and made good his escape. They found a million Quaaludes in his aircraft, which they towed over to the tarmac where they had dozens, maybe a hundred, of captured drug aircraft. There were everything from Cessna 150s to Learjets with a few DC-3s. They all probably got blown away when Hurricane Andrew swept through and nearly squeegeed the base off the map.
Most of the time, the alert birds were scrambled to intercept clueless doctors and lawyers who had enough money to fly but not enough sense to bone up on the flying regulations. You’d often find them lumbering along in restricted areas. They didn’t realize that the Bahamas were outside the US and you really, REALLY needed to file a flight plan to enter US airspace from a foreign country.
While I was there a family was flying back from the Bahamas in bad weather without a flight plan. The alert birds were scrambled and hunting for them down in the soup. Light planes don’t show up well on radar. While attempting an intercept, one of the F-4s collided with the light aircraft, putting its wing through the cockpit. There was a hot complaint from the victims’ family that no search was made for survivors. However, the Air Force knew there was no point in making a search, though it didn’t say so publicly. The scalp of one of the passengers was wedged in the leading edge slats of the F-4E which collided with the plane.
Tantor on October 23, 2007 at 6:14 PM
Nope… nothing to see here but ‘random acts’ by ‘mentally unstable’ individuals with no ties to international terrorism.
But after 116 of these guys… is it still ’sudden Jihad syndrome’?
Every terrorist act prevented is a defeat because the apologists immediately claim that terrorist would not have committed the crime and was ‘entrapped’.
Every successful terrorist attack is a defeat because the apologists claim it is a ‘response’ by powerless victims no matter how absurd those claims might be.
DANEgerus on October 23, 2007 at 6:24 PM
In the 90’s when we were hit by terrorists the media kept saying nothing to see here, move along… (Cole, WTC, Embassy) Then came sept 11 which was a surprise to everyone after they spent a decade downplaying these problems.
With all the work the media does downplaying these “lone jihadi” scenarios you have to wonder if in a decade it will to the unfortunate point where they will be common.
Resolute on October 23, 2007 at 7:17 PM
He needs to hold his head in shame.
Tim Burton on October 24, 2007 at 12:34 AM
Someone comes at me with a pair of knives will see how I handle stress. I’ve kept my cool in more stressful situations than a knife and vodka attack.
Texas Nick 77 on October 24, 2007 at 8:38 AM
Trying to keep the sheeple in a 9/10 frame of mind.
Texas Nick 77 on October 24, 2007 at 8:40 AM