Obama

“If we’re going to ask why did he do it, knowing full well that he’s in the same mosque in 2001 with the radical preacher going nuts, we’re going to also [laughter] have to believe that the guy was just like Obama, and didn’t hear Rev. Wright’s words when he was in his church.”
– Rush [...]

At this point, following investigators’ lead, it’s probably fair to conclude that the Fort Hood shooting suspect was motivated by religious extremism:
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case [...]

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week urged Iran to stop stalling and accept a proposal formally put forward in Vienna by the so-called P5+1 nations to enrich Iranian uranium in Europe to a form unsuitable for nuclear weapons. “We are not altering” the deal, she said. Well, maybe-maybe-not.

Speculation about the Ft. Hood shooting suspect’s motivations may be overtaken by events. The Austin American-Statesman:
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is awake and talking, a Brooke Army Medical Center spokesman said Sunday.
Dewey Mitchell, public affairs chief at the hospital in San Antonio, said he did not know if the man accused in Thursday’s mass shooting at [...]

After writing my last post, I feel compelled to point out that while investigators may believe so far that Ft. Hood shooting suspect Nidal Malik Hasan acted alone, those who knew him say that he did exhibit what in retrospect are warning signs of religious-extremist behavior. Via Andrew Sullivan, this NPR report is a case [...]

Despite the appalling argumentative tactic of implying that Muslim American soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are future Nidal Hasans, the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. George Casey, made this argument eloquently on the Sunday shows:
General George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said on Sunday that he was concerned that speculation about the religious [...]

Josh Rogin at Foreign Policy thinks he sees light at the end of the Obama administration’s strategy and resource review tunnel:
Reliable sources tell The Cable that the review has entered its final stages, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor Jim Jones now taking the lead and putting on the final touches.

Just released from the White House press office:
Our Nation’s thoughts and prayers are with the service members, civilians, and families affected by the tragic events at Fort Hood, Texas. The brave victims, who risked their lives to protect their fellow countrymen, serve as a constant source of strength and inspiration to all Americans. We ask [...]

This is starting to make the veins in my forehead throb. Sarah Posner finds Vision America’s Rick Scarborough untethering himself completely from reality to opine on Maj. Hasan’s murders in Ft. Hood. Here’s what the former pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pearland, Texas, had to say:
We know that Dr. Hasan is a devout [...]

The Hill reports that Allen West, a former Army lieutenant colonel promoted by the National Republican Congressional Committee as one of its “young guns,” has come to some conclusions about the meaning of Maj. Hasan’s murders at Ft. Hood:
“This enemy preys on downtrodden soldiers and teaches them extremism will lift them up,” West said in [...]