Calling Ft. Hood attacks terrorism not simple matter for White House
By: Julie Mason
Examiner White House Correspondent
November 10, 2009
President Obama heads to Fort Hood to honor those slain last week in a shocking act of violence, as the White House continued resisting enflaming high tensions by calling the incident an act of terrorism.
"I am not a law enforcement officer," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. "I think everybody has been shocked and dismayed by what happened."
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others in a shooting Thursday at a Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood in Texas.
Many, like Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey have been adamant that the slayings were a terrorist attack. Hasan is a Muslim whose colleagues said was strongly opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The FBI is investigating his online writings and connections for possible links to radical groups.
The incident and its surrounding issues present a significant challenge for Obama, who has made outreach to Muslims a priority. Since the incident, he has urged Americans to avoid jumping to conclusions about Hasan's motivations.
Obama also has repeatedly highlighted the contributions of the military's diverse membership, in an effort to quell speculation about what role Hasan's religious beliefs may have played in the rampage.
"There here are people of many different ethnicities and many different religions that serve with great honor and distinction in our military today, and the president certainly hopes that that continues," Gibbs said.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said anti-Muslim slurs following Hasan's terrible act are nothing new and predate the 9/11 attacks.
"It only takes a pinch to bring it out," Zogby said. "Clearly, a traumatic event like the one at Fort Hood is going to provoke these folks who are both angry and have a deep-seated sense of bigotry about Muslims and Arabs."
Obama's circumspection on the issue is a sharp contrast with the rhetoric of the previous administration. President Bush frequently spoke about "Islamofascism" and warned of a planned "caliphate" in the Muslim world.
Obama has sharply altered that message in an effort to build better ties between the United States and the Muslim world -- notably, with a speech earlier this year in Cairo.
Bush showed up at Fort Hood for a private visit on Friday night, with former first lady Laura Bush. The timely arrival from their Dallas home provided an uncomfortable example to Obama about what's expected of the consoler in chief, a role that does not come naturally to the emotionally reserved president.
"I think it's important for Obama to go, in the same way it was important for him to go to Dover to see the caskets being unloaded," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. "There is something to the idea that as president, you don't want to rush down to a disaster situation before it has stabilized."
Jillson said Bush's earlier, tough rhetoric about Islamic radicalism was more politically appropriate for post-9/11, but that Obama's nuanced approach is a better fit for the current climate.
