Sunday, July 30, 2006
MORE BROAD STRATA TROUBLE
Mark Steyn – arriving in Australia shortly – on freelance jihadism:
Here we go again. This time, it’s a fatal shooting at a Jewish organization in Seattle, but to the authorities it’s yet another inexplicable incident characterized every which way except as what it is: freelance jihadism. My radio pal Hugh Hewitt has a great summation here. One is surprised only that this time the cops didn’t redeploy the Mounties’ line from Toronto the other week and describe the killer as representing the “broad strata” of society. The notion that a fellow isn’t a terrorist unless he’s got a machine-readable al-Qaeda membership card is pathetic: The fact that you don’t need deep sleepers controlled by hierarchical structures is one of the principal characteristics of Islamism.
See also Michelle Malkin’s roundup of random unconnected lone gunman incidents that have no common theme, no common theme at all that anybody could possibly identify. Meanwhile, a disproportionate response in Sydney:
A synagogue in Sydney’s west has been attacked overnight, with blocks of concrete thrown into the building and onto nearby cars.
A 32-year-old man living in a house adjoining the Parramatta Synagogue on Victoria Street contacted police about 9.10pm yesterday when he heard the sound of breaking glass.
A block of cement had been thrown through a glass door and the windows of two cars parked on the property had also been smashed.
Shortly after the incident, witnesses told police they saw a group of about ten men of Middle Eastern appearance laughing and running down a nearby street.
These smash-and-run pixies are learning; the last time they tried something like this, St Andrew’s Cathedral ended up getting trashed.
UPDATE. The Sheikh’s take:
Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali today said those responsible for the attack were not religious people.
“This is a very bad action. I condemn any terrorism attack. Australia is the land of peace,” he said at Sydney’s Lakemba mosque.
UPDATE II. The LA Times just can’t work out why that Muslim guy shot at all those Jews.
UPDATE III. Seattle shooter Naveed Haq converted to Christianity before his apparent re-adoption of Islam last Friday:
Haq was frustrated at his lack of friends and female companionship. He told friends he felt alienated from his own family, in part because his career had disappointed his father and also because he had disavowed Islam last year, converting to Christianity.
Also from the above report: Haq recently won an essay contest for a U.S. Institute of Peace scholarship.