FOLLOWING the Fort Hood terrorist attack in 2009, in which 13 people were killed by Islamic gunman Nidal Hasan, the US government under President Barack Obama classified the incident as an episode of “workplace violence”.
The reasons for this included concerns that obtaining a conviction may be more difficult if the attack was classified as terrorism, but it remains hard to avoid the view that there was also an element of oversensitivity involved. Obama, after all, has never been the most direct speaker on the subject of fundamentalist Islamic brutality.
In the wake of the appalling San Bernardino slaughter, which saw 14 people murdered by two Islamic extremists, Obama’s attitude seems finally to have shifted. Speaking of the two killers during his latest Oval Office speech, Obama said: “It is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalisation, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West. They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism, designed to kill innocent people.”
Obama also condemned Islamic State, the group to which at least one of the San Bernardino killers swore allegiance following the attack: “ISIL does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death.”
That final phrase will spark recognition among Australian observers, many of whom were inclined to be dismissive when it was used by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Perhaps now, when used by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, it will gain some measure of acceptability
Also worth noting is that President Obama plainly outlined that “an extremist ideology has spread within some Muslim communities”, which Obama identified as “a real problem that Muslims must confront without excuse”.
His remedy: “Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like ISIL and al-Qaeda promote; to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity.”
Again, Australian observers will be reminded of comments along very similar lines by senior Liberals Josh Frydenberg and Peter Dutton, among others, who have variously and accurately pointed out that a “problem within Islam” is at the core of ongoing terror attacks.
These remarks were not nearly as controversial as they were initially depicted. Indeed, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull should be emboldened by President Obama’s new-found clarity to himself adopt stronger and more decisive attitudes on terrorism.
Meanwhile, Obama’s speech also included a small but telling change of view on the Fort Hood attack. Following all those years defining the murderous assault as “workplace violence”, Obama said: “As we’ve become better at preventing complex multifaceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009.”
There you have it. The Fort Hood atrocity was committed by a terrorist. If Obama can change his mind and finally state the obvious, there is still hope for politicians worldwide — including in Australia.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/obama-wakes-up-to-muslim-threat/st...
Forum
Pages: 1 
