Posted by
Michael J Thibodeaux on Thursday, November 12, 2009 9:53:48 PM
Technically, it was not terrorism. It was not perpetrated against civilians to demoralize or intimidate as a political weapon or policy. It was not an episode of the newly-minted-for-the-occasion second-hand post traumatic stress syndrome, either. It was not random; nor was it directed against anyone toward whom he felt a personal grievance. He did not storm into a civilian office to shoot an ex-girlfriend or ex-wife. He did not shoot a superior officer for giving him a bad review, or for scheduling him for deployment to Afghanistan, or for denying him early resignation from his commission.
What it indisputably was was a devout Muslim who believed that the War on Terror was a war on Islam; who believed that a suicidal attack on those who might kill his Muslim brothers was an act of heroism, akin to jumping on a grenade to save your comrades; and who believed that killing those who might kill his Muslim brothers was equivalent to saving the lives of his Muslim brothers. It was done in a processing center, where soldiers were assembled, but not just any soldiers, soldiers being prepared for imminent departure for Afghanistan to join in the fight against his fellow believers. It was done to his own cries of “Allahu Akbar! (God is Great!)” signifying the religious, devotional nature of his act.
It was done by a self-proclaimed Jihadist, who designated himself a Soldier of Allah on his business card. (The notion of a “card-carrying Jihadist” would be laughable to those of us of a certain generation, were it not embedded in such tragic circumstances.)
It was, therefore, an act of war made by an officer of the United States Army against the United States in the person of soldiers of the United States Army.
Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States provides: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”