Unfortunately the media is not alone in its rush to assumptions that Hasan’s zealot-driven attack was not necessarily a zealot-driven attack.
President Obama warned against jumping to conclusions regarding Hasan’s motives for opening fire on American military personnel.
Before the number of victims was even known, the FBI almost immediately claimed that Hasan’s actions were not acts of terrorism.
Just last month, 19-year-old Hosam Smadi was arrested and universally described as a terrorist for plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. In May, New York police hailed the foiling of a jihad plot by four men to bomb two sites and to shoot down military aircraft in New York. The New York press referred to the four as homegrown Muslim terrorists.
In May 2007, six men plotting to attack New Jersey’s Fort Dix Army base with assault rifles and grenades were prevented before the attacks could be carried out. These efforts were universally described as terrorism.
In August 2006, terrorists were stopped before they could accomplish their plot to explode 10 airliners over the United States.
Other examples of failed terrorist acts routinely described in the press as terrorism include the 2006 plot to blow up the Sears Tower, the 2005 plan to blow up a natural gas refinery in Wyoming, the Transcontinental Pipeline and a refinery in New Jersey.
Perhaps the reticence to refer to this terrorist act as a terrorist act is fear of other types of attacks, like lawsuits inspired by political correctness.
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