Identifying Terror

posted at 12:38 am on February 25, 2010 by Doctor Zero

Today marks an important milestone, as reported by Fox News:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has become the first Obama Administration official to publicly describe last year’s deadly shootings at Ft. Hood, Tex., as a terrorist act, according to a search of news clips and transcripts.

“Violent Islamic terrorism … was part and parcel of the Ft. Hood killings,” Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning. “There is violent Islamic terrorism, be it Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen or anywhere else, [and] that is indeed a major focus of this department and its efforts.”

The Ft. Hood shootings occurred on November 5, 2009. Elapsed time until the member of the Administration who supervises your protection from terrorism identified it as such: 111 days. Well, maybe that’s a little unfair, because the Fox report says an “official who did not want to be named publicly” was willing to call it “an act of terrorism” last month. Napolitano is merely the first official willing to call it terrorism without using a stocking mask and the Cone of Silence.

On the same day a nameless official was willing to mutter the T-word in the cold shadows between two SUVs in a Washington parking lot, Defense Secretary Robert Gates “declined to characterize the attack as terrorism” because he didn’t want to “disrupt an ongoing legal case.” That’s a rather stark illustration of why it’s insane to treat terrorist attacks as legal cases.

I wonder if similar delicacy will be displayed when handling the fine legal china of Najibullah Zazi, the man at the heart of a conspiracy to blow up New York subway trains during rush hour. Zazi has already admitted he was recruited by al-Qaeda, after an unsuccessful attempt to join the Taliban, so we can probably expect Janet Napolitano to identify him as a terrorist no later than the Fourth of July.

Several other men were implicated in Zazi’s terror ring. One of them was his father, who was apparently in charge of disposing of the evidence. He was released on bond last week, and allowed to return home to Denver. Another conspirator, Adis Medunjanin, was charged with conspiring to kill U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan.

These cases illustrate the difficulty a free society faces against an international terrorist enemy. Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan and Zazi’s little subway club are citizens of the United States, and yet they served as volunteer operatives of a foreign enemy. There are valid civil liberty concerns to be observed when pursuing these villains, but the task is made impossible when we need three months to identify them as terrorists, or drop them into a legal pachinko machine that can deposit them on a plane back to Denver.

There’s nothing ambiguous about the allegiance of these creatures to Islamic terrorism. No one is pointing fingers at Zazi because he spent time at a few questionable web sites, or added all the pro-terrorist Hollywood bombs from the Bush years to his Netflix queue. When the link is this firmly established, we should not hesitate to use the word “terrorist”… or the word “treason.” Every nation has the right to swiftly expel its declared enemies, and once they’re not lodged in civilian courts, deal with them as unlawful military combatants.

The current administration is doing the opposite, extending the protection of civilian courts to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad - who should be swiftly and economically disposed of, if we’re finished with him. If you can stomach a few graphic images, take a look at this presentation dealing Muhammad’s confession, and ask yourself what purpose it serves to let him strap on a rubber nose and become the alpha clown in his own billion-dollar legal circus. It does serve a purpose… but one that has nothing to do with national defense, or the safety of the American people.

The Left made a lot of noise about the impending thunder of jackboots during the eight-year Bush Terror. Anyone concerned with balancing the needs of law enforcement against civil rights should applaud the swift removal of military enemies from the civilian sphere. On the other hand, a determined terrorist enemy loves nothing better than to see his operatives handled like civilian criminals. What battlefield enemy wouldn’t love his opponents to suffer under rules of engagement that require them to fire warning shots, read Miranda rights to their targets, and take exquisite pains to avoid the slightest hint of excessive force?  Moving the battlefield into the hearts of our cities, and providing terrorist footsoldiers with expensive legal protections, provides the enemy with a similar advantage.

Before we can pluck terrorists from their civilian cover, we must see them clearly, and call them by their proper name. This Administration understands the power of names perfectly well. As Jammie Wearing Fool reminds us, they’re very quick to slap labels like “teabagger” on domestic political opponents. They’re vicious toward their enemies, but negligent in dealing with distractions. They would have been mightily inconvenienced by bombs ripping through the New York subways.

We are at war. When people with the will and means to commit murder announce their allegiance to al-Qaeda, they require the services of combat infantry, not lawyers. We can only respect the rights of Americans by dealing effectively with those who have declared themselves to be something else. To do otherwise is to guarantee endless war, layered with endless court hearings.

Janet Napolitano infamously claimed “the system worked” because the passengers on Northwest Flight 253 managed to overpower the Underwear Bomber. The passengers on subway trains may soon find themselves serving as components in Napolitano’s marvelous “system.” Fox News ends its report on Zazi with this uncomfortable assessment:

Fordham University School of Law Professor James Cohen said Zazi represents a cautionary tale. He said Zazi, like other Muslims, felt isolated and unhappy with the actions of the United States around the world and its perceived favoritism of Israel.

“They are feeling left out and are very angry about it,” Cohen said. “That’s what we have to come to grips with. An identifiable part of the Muslim population is willing to do just about anything in terms of suicide bombings. Believe it.”

I believe it. It’s long past time to replace Napolitano, and the apparatus around her, with someone who can identify the enemy.

Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.

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