Cacciaguida

2009-11-06T23:15:00.001-05:00

Fort Hood's 9/11

By RALPH PETERS

Last Updated: 2:50 PM, November 6, 2009

Posted: 1:36 PM, November 6, 2009

On Thursday afternoon, a radicalized Muslim US Army officer shouting "Allahu Akbar!" committed the worst act of terror on American soil since 9/11. And no one wants to call it an act of terror or associate it with Islam.

What cowards we are. Political correctness killed those patriotic Americans at Ft. Hood as surely as the Islamist gunman did. And the media treat it like a case of non-denominational shoplifting.

This was a terrorist act. When an extremist plans and executes a murderous plot against our unarmed soldiers to protest our efforts to counter Islamist fanatics, it’s an act of terror. Period.

When the terrorist posts anti-American hate-speech on the Web; apparently praises suicide bombers and uses his own name; loudly criticizes US policies; argues (as a psychiatrist, no less) with his military patients over the worth of their sacrifices; refuses, in the name of Islam, to be photographed with female colleagues; lists his nationality as "Palestinian" in a Muslim spouse-matching program, and parades around central Texas in a fundamentalist playsuit — well, it only seems fair to call this terrorist an "Islamist terrorist."

But the president won’t. Despite his promise to get to all the facts. Because there’s no such thing as "Islamist terrorism" in ObamaWorld.

And the Army won’t. Because its senior leaders are so sick with political correctness that pandering to America-haters is safer than calling terrorism "terrorism."

And the media won’t. Because they have more interest in the shooter than in our troops — despite their crocodile tears.

Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan planned this terrorist attack and executed it in cold blood. The resulting massacre was the first tragedy. The second was that he wasn’t killed on the spot.

Hasan survived. Now the rest of us will have to foot his massive medical bills. Activist lawyers will get involved, claiming "harassment" drove him temporarily insane. There’ll be no end of trial delays. At best, taxpayer dollars will fund his prison lifestyle for decades to come, since our politically correct Army leadership wouldn’t dare pursue or carry out the death penalty.

Maj. Hasan will be a hero to Islamist terrorists abroad and their sympathizers here. While US Muslim organizations decry his acts publicly, Hasan will be praised privately. And he’ll have the last laugh.

But Hasan isn’t the sole guilty party. The US Army’s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood.

Given the myriad warning signs, it’s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor.

Had Hasan been a Lutheran or a Methodist, he would’ve been gone with the simoon. But officers fear charges of discrimination when faced with misconduct among protected minorities.

Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don’t roll in this maggot’s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.

There’s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who’ve been assigned to his care? And he’s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?

For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I’m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.

Get ready for the apologias. We’ve already heard from the terrorist’s family that "he’s a good American." In their world, maybe he is.

But when do we, the American public, knock off the PC nonsense?

A disgruntled Muslim soldier murdered his officers way back in 2003, in Kuwait, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recently? An American mullah shoots it out with the feds in Detroit. A Muslim fanatic attacks an Arkansas recruiting station. A Muslim media owner, after playing the peace card, beheads his wife. A Muslim father runs over his daughter because she’s becoming too Westernized.

Muslim terrorist wannabes are busted again and again. And we’re assured that "Islam’s a religion of peace."

I guarantee you that the Obama administration’s non-response to the Ft. Hood attack will mock the memory of our dead.

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The above was written by Col. Ralph Peters, USA Ret., for the New York, which holds the copyright thereto.

2009-11-06T13:28:00.004-05:00

OK, I wasn't going to say anything about the name and/or religion of the principal Fort Hood shooter. I might have pointed out that these appear to have been coordinated shootings, which is not what typically happens in a "he just snapped" situation, which tend to be solo performances. But nope, I wasn't going to say anything about the main gunman being a Muslim.

Until this, from UK's The Independent:

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Bob Cone said witnesses heard Major Nidal Malik Hasan cry "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - before opening fire at the Fort Hood complex.

EDITED TO ADD: Newsmax (credible? You tell me) adds:

His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

2009-11-01T00:05:00.001-04:00

Influenza cure (via tasteful blog An Affordable Wardrobe)

2009-10-31T21:40:00.002-04:00

"Right Wins a Battle": Up in NY's far-north 23rd Congressional District, left vacant by long-time pro-life Republican James McHugh's agreement to become Secretary of the Army, and where local Republicans chose left-0f-Obama state Senator Dede Scozzafava as the GOP candidate to fill the seat in a special election next week, some dramatic news: it appears that Scozzafava has now dropped out, leaving the way clear for regular Republican voters to support Doug Hoffman, who was already mounting a strong campaign on the Conservative Party line.

2009-10-27T17:04:00.005-04:00

Cardinal Peter Turkson, Bishop of Ghana

Phil Lawler says "Cardinal Turkson: one to watch." In the good sense, that is. (I mean, Cardinal Kasper is "one to watch" too -- with a listening device and a butterfly net.) And John Allen says "Ghanaian cardinal destined to be an ecclesiastical star."

God grant Pope Benedict many years -- fifteen more wouldn't be too much to ask -- but a Next Pope is gonna happen sometime, and it may as well be a dynamically orthodox African! (And no, Arinze is way too old, and besides, while he was for counter-reforming the O.F., I don't get the impression he ever gave two hoots about the E.F.)

2009-10-27T15:21:00.003-04:00

An American Eastern Orthodox writer objects to the current Ecumenical Patriarch's equivocal stance on abortion. "Equivocal" is the charitable way to put it; "pro-choice" might be more accurate.

2009-10-26T21:36:00.002-04:00

see more Epic Fails

2009-10-21T17:40:00.005-04:00

Vatican in Bold Bid to Attract Anglicans!

Ignatius Insight explains the "personal ordinariate" concept. Apparently this will be "like the military vicariates" (and therefore not -- in case anyone was wondering -- the second personal prelature).

Commentary: Fr. Dwight Longenecker (ex-Ang); Damien Thompson, of The Daily Telegraph: Pope Opens Gates of Rome to Disaffected Anglicans; The Times (London): Anglican clergy in London and Yorkshire queuing up. John Allen catches Cardinal Kasper saying, pre-announcement, "We are not fishing in the Anglican lake." Nice being in the loop, isn't it, Friendly Ghost? The "bishop" of something called ANiC (Anglican Network in Canada; no, I haven't heard of it either) says: "I need not become a Roman Catholic to be a Catholic Christian. As an Anglican, I am a Catholic Christian." And I'm a tree; have fun. Fr. Z. posts, and comments on, the estimable ex-Anglican Fr. Rutler's commentary.

Robert Moynihan, fellow Yale grad student and indefatigable Inside the Vatican editor, explains it all, tempting your appetite with:

Rome is hoping to reunite with all those elements of the Anglican Church which still feel a deep connection with Rome and with the Catholic faith -- and is willing to take considerable pains to make those Anglicans feel comfortable when they "come over to Rome."
That is what is happening.
And quite a few people don't want that to happen....

And finally, an editorial page writer in Kansas City:

Seems as though it may be just as likely that the move to pack the Catholic church with even more conservatives just might send more liberal members of the flock looking for the nearest Episcopal sanctuary.

Ya think?

2009-10-14T21:02:00.002-04:00

Latest SSPX non-news: iPope still iNtransigent. I still say the Holy Father is way too patient with these people (though obviously some of the fruits of the effort have been worthwhile, Summorum Pontificium-wise). Wake me whenever.

2009-10-14T20:54:00.002-04:00

CAIR (you know who they are) placing interns to spy in Hill offices?

2009-10-13T17:58:00.001-04:00

Notre Dame student-activity fund dispenses $$ for students to participate in DC gay rights march. "They haven't always been supportive of us in the past, but we're thrilled."

2009-10-08T11:23:00.001-04:00

Phantom sequel? I'm not optimistic. Please, Lord L.W., prove me wrong. (And please, Your Majesty, ixnay these life peerages for figures from the entertainment world: knighthoods are quite enough, and "Sir Andrew" was much more fitting that "Lord Lloyd Webber.")

2009-09-11T00:16:00.001-04:00

Forgetting? I'm not forgetting. You forgetting?

2009-09-09T23:15:00.002-04:00

Oh great: now Bible-carriers and trinitarian believers get added to the terrorist profile....

2009-09-05T19:50:00.001-04:00

Also on Sept. 25 (see post immediately infra): Alasdair MacIntyre will lecture at CUA on the topic "Ends and Endings."

2009-09-05T17:52:00.002-04:00

Gregorian "chant camp" (as we say in my family) at the JPII Center in Washington. Suitable for beginners. Closing event is Solemn High Mass, Extraordinary Form, with chant, celebrated by Fr. McAfee. $110. Registration deadline is Sept. 14.

Sponsoring organization is the Church Music Association of America, which also offers plainsong settings for the New ICEL translation of the Mass ordinary.

2009-08-21T22:21:00.000-04:00

Upcoming changes in the English version of the Ordinary Form -- almost too good to be true...!

2009-08-19T10:46:00.003-04:00

Daniel Hannan, MEP, rising Conservative (UK) star so outspoken, he sometimes annoys party leader and presumptive next PM David Cameron, writes from summer holiday: The Middle Ages were far from dark. Eh now, Cacciaguida, he always say....

2009-08-18T12:51:00.004-04:00

Robert Novak, 1931-2009

Hard-hitting conservative reporter and columnist, also Catholic convert.

2009-08-13T17:31:00.001-04:00

Netherlands: Minister for Youth and Families attends pro-life/pro-marriage/pro-natalist conference; gets slammed for "legitimizing" a "right-wing religious gathering."

Is there any gratitude? Then Rouvoet for EU President, if we have to have one.

2009-08-12T13:12:00.001-04:00

Santorum dips toes in 2012 Iowa waters

Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists who dominate the state GOP’s key presidential caucuses....

2009-07-08T21:02:00.004-04:00

Media are overplaying the "Holocaust denial flap" angle, naturally -- but it is one of the angles to the story, and, on the whole, I think it's a good idea to bring the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as the Holy Father has now done.

For one thing, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, though a devoted and energetic friend of the re-mainstreaming of the Extraordinary Form, was also a little bit like a 13-year-old boy with a laser-blaster. More than once he articulated the status of SSPX-adherents as more legit than it actually is, and if he wasn't actually responsible for the under-vetted action in re Williamson (the fact that no one in the Curia of the rank of archbishop or higher is aware of Google, or else thinks it's a number, probably had more to do with it), he sure didn't do backflips of regret over it.

Also he's 80. Five years past retirement age.

The CDF under Cardinal Levada has been doing a good job (contrary to some people's fears when this, Pope Benedict's first appointment, was made). Time to let CDF supervise PCED.

2009-07-06T01:38:00.002-04:00

USA Today says: Top Republicans puzzled by Palin's abrupt resignation.

You know somethng? Top Republicans puzzle easily.

Besides that, the article simply doesn't back up its hedder. It devotes its second and third grafs to Sen. Chuck Grassley -- who has been puzzling top Republicans since he first took his Senate seat in 1979. After that, it cites various Republicans who are backing Palin up and seeking her out as a campaigner.

Only at the end does the piece find three Republicans whom it can quote as something other than Palin backers. Only one of them -- Karl Rove -- is credible, as speaking from a detached point of view (he hasn't been hired by any other candidate yet, has he?) The other two are Mike Huckabee, Palin's obvious bitter rival for the Evangelical vote, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a scratch-your-eyes-out Palin-hater ever since Palin beat Murkowski's daddy in a gubernatorial primary.

But of course, we sophisticates all know to laugh when Sarah blames the media....

2009-06-24T15:59:00.002-04:00

Great Catholic conspiracies maybe you missed, from Shrine of the Holy Whapping:

I've always had a soft spot for tacky Church consiracy novels, what I call "Cathsploitation." For once, the Church gets to be secretive, majestic, powerful, arcane, and something other than felt banners and Marty Haugen....

And so on, proceeding to a list of suggested overlooked conspiracies. Highly recommended!

2009-06-23T00:37:00.004-04:00

These Eastern Orthodox, man -- there's no talking to them. All I did was say to this one Oriental Schismatic priest online -- and he was, like, totally patronizing me: assuming, since I had been writing candidly about weaknesses I perceived on my own side as well on his, that what I wanted most in the world was for some kindly O.S. priest with a twelve-foot beard to take me under his wing and explain the "problems" with the Filioque to me. He even suggested the Church should change its creed -- "again"!

Well I mean really. All I did was point out that we don't change our creeds to suit factious sectaries animated by the schismatic spirit of Photius and Cerularius -- we don't, right? -- and they start going all Rikios Rikardos on me! What can you do with such people?!

A few months ago I asked my spiritual director: who's doing for Eastern Orthodoxy what Catholic Answers, Envoy, et al are doing for Protestant Fundamentalism? He said -- no one is, b/c we're cultivating good relations with the E.Os.

That won't do. Yes, I know there are high-level ecumenical talks and events, and even the occasional minor breakthrough. But at street level, Easterners -- many of whom are Protestant Fundamentists, only now they've got a few icons in their pockets (seriously: an ex-Prot E.O. I once met, a blazing anti-Catholic bigot, told me he liked Orthodoxy b/c it's "Fundamentalism with pictures") -- are out there sheep-stealing just as hard as Jack Chick, Christians Evangelizing Catholics, and all the other folks that Karl Keating et al, God bless them, have done so much to teach us about and arm us against.

So we need an Eastern-directed Catholic Answers. "Envoy to Constantinople." "Focus on the Photius." "Sail Beyond the Sunset." "When You Care Enough to Send the Very West." "1204 'n' More." I don't now, you pick the name. But somebody's got to do it.