Why isn't the shooting incident at Fort Hood called terrorism?

I can admit, I'm not a terrorism expert, but on the surface I feel like the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas should have been called acts of terrorism. I am really surprised that word really hasn't been coming up.

Here's why I expected that word to be used. If the shooting had been at a base abroad, the terrorism label would have been attached. If a similar shooting, with that number of casualties had occurred at a government office building, the terrorism label would have been attached.

There are a lot of unanswered questions about what motivated this shooter to attack, including how he reconciled his religion and service to his country. Some have even said that Major Hasan, the alleged shooter, may be one of many who take issue with our country's policies, serve in the military, and wish to harm Americans.  I pray that is not the case.

The following is from a conservative writer. It makes for an interesting read. Some of the allegations have been debunked, but so little information out there about the shooter, its worth reading.

Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force


By Jerome R. Corsi
2009 WorldNetDaily


NEW YORK - Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in yesterday's massacre at Fort Hood, played a homeland security advisory role in President Barack Obama's transition into the White House, according to a key university policy institute document.


The Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University published a document May 19, entitled "Thinking Anew Security Priorities for the Next Administration: Proceedings Report of the HSPI Presidential Transition Task Force, April 2008 January 2009," in which Hasan of the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine is listed on page 29 of the document as a Task Force Event Participant.


Hasan received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University School in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.


Noting that the Obama administration transition was proceeding, the GWU Homeland Security Policy Institute report described on the first page the role of the Presidential Transition Task Force as including "representatives from past Administrations, State government, Fortune 500 companies, academia, research institutions and non-governmental organizations with global reach."


While the GWU task force participants included several members of government, including representatives of the Department of Justice and the U.S Department of Homeland Security, there is no indication in the document that the group played any formal role in the official Obama transition, other than to serve in a university-based advisory capacity.


According to the "About Us" section of the GWU Homeland Security Policy Institute, the group is a "nonpartisan 'think and do' tank whose mission is to build bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach."


The Homeland Security Policy Institute is led by Frank J Cilluffo, who formerly served in the White House as special assistant to President Bush for homeland security, and by Daniel Kaniewski, who formerly served in the White House as special assistant to President Bush for homeland security and senior director for response policy.


"Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor," Hasan said about America before he and possibly other Muslim soldiers at Fort Hood shot 43 fellow soldiers, killing 12, who were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.


"He said Muslims had a right to attack" the U.S., said Col. Terry Lee, who worked with Hasan at the Texas post, where the devout Sunni Muslim refused deployment. "He said Muslims shouldn't be fighting Muslims," he added. "He was very clear on that."


According to an explosive new book, "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," Hasan is just the tip of a jihadist Fifth Column operating within the ranks of the U.S. military which is too blinded by political correctness to see the threat.


Quoting from a classified military briefing, "Muslim Mafia" reveals that this Fifth Column has penetrated "every branch of the U.S. military." The Islamist enemy has even infiltrated the al-Qaida detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


About the Guest:


Dr. Jerome Corsi received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in political science in 1972. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality and the co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, which was also a #1 New York Times bestseller. He is a regular contributor to WorldNetDaily.com.