Trigger-Happy Muslims and Deluded Infidels in the Happy Land of Make-Believe

GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary
By Don Feder
11-19-09

Let me tell you about the Happy Land of Make-Believe. It‚s a magical place where ideology trumps reality, evidence is irrelevant, and illusion reigns supreme.

Liberals are permanent residents of the Happy Land of Make-Believe. Some conservatives are not immune to its allure.

The Happy Land of Make-Believe is populated by journalists, academics, Democrats (and some Republicans), feminists, gay activists, pacifists, isolationists, socialists and other refugees from the real world. A resident of the Happy Land of Make-Believe may be identified by his blind faith in the following propositions:

 That after marching 20 miles with a full pack, a 90-lb woman is every bit as effective in combat as a 190-lb. man

 That two men living together sodomizing each other are now a family rather than two men living together sodomizing each other

 That we can provide health insurance for millions who are currently uninsured and it will neither increase insurance costs, result in rationing or necessitate a general tax increase

 That we can solve the problem of illegal immigration by bestowing amnesties on an estimated 12 million to 15 million of them, which it goes without saying won't send millions more heading for our borders.

 That a man who‚s had himself mutilated and takes regular doses of female hormones is now a woman, his chromosomal makeup not withstanding

 That criminals, psychopaths and jihadists obey gun laws

 That a Palestinian state won't look like Dodge City on a Saturday night with everyone on crack cocaine

 That we can keep brutal regimes from acquiring nuclear weapons by confessing our sins and sending diplomats to sit around a conference table with them

The Happy Land of Make-Believe is built on one part wishful thinking, one part political correctness and one-part fear. In Make-Believe Land, acknowledging reality is insensitive and a crime against diversity. Unpleasant truths are ignored and cherished dogmas go unchallenged. Conceding the existence of evil admits that the world is a dangerous place and monsters must be confronted or the innocent will suffer.

Nowhere is the Happy Land of Make-Believe more manifest than in the matter of Islam, Moslems and terrorism. Hence, the reaction to the Fort Hood murders.

This we know of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man charged with 13 counts of murder:

While he was shooting fellow soldiers, Hassan shouted "Allahu Akhbar!" (Allah is the greatest). Interesting, it's always cries of Allah-this or Allah-that which accompany acts of terrorism, never "Jesus saves!" or "Mazel Tov!"

Despite having been born in the United States, Hasan listed his nationality as Palestinian.

He was an avid proselytizer for Islam. At Walter Reed Hospital, where Dr. Hasan was a psychiatric intern and a psychiatrist for six years, he was reprimanded for trying to win converts to the religion of peace. Since, by definition, his patients all had mental problems, it's surprising he wasn't more successful. He also handed out Korans prior to the killing spree, thereby exemplifying cause and effect.

While at Walter Reed, Hassan attended the radical Dar al-Hijrah mosque, in Falls Church, VA, at the same time as two of the 9/11 terrorists. Hasan became quite attached to the mosque's jihad-preaching imam, Anwar al-Awlaki, and stayed in touch with him via the Internet when al-Awlaki relocated to Yemen.

Over the course of years, Hasan told his fellow officers that he believed the U.S. Army is at war with Muslims, that suicide bombers are like soldiers who throw themselves on live grenades to save their buddies, and that "Muslims have a right to rise up against the U.S. military." He also spoke approvingly of individuals who would "strap bombs on themselves and go into Times Square."

Had an evangelical Christian serving in the military expressed the same sentiments (say by declaring that killing abortionists is justifiable homicide or that the U.S. government is at war with Christians) he would have been cashiered in no time flat. Other than mild reprimands, no disciplinary action was taken against Hasan. As another staff member at Walter Reed explained, "You don't want to close him down just because" his views are "different." Now, shut your eyes tightly and repeat after me: "Militant Islam is just different" and "you don't want to close down jihadist ravings."

In 2007, Hasan did a show-and-tell for other personnel at the hospital, in the form of a slide presentation on "The Koranic World View As it Relates to Muslims in the Military." Slide #11 observed, "It's getting harder and harder to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims."

None of this alerted his colleagues, the brass or the FBI to Hasan's potential to go Islamic. Their answer was to order him to take comparative religion courses, which was supposed to encourage him to love Christians and Jews.

All that was missing was the good doctor wearing a name tag that said: "Hi, I'm Major Nidal Hasan. Where the infidels at?"

The commander in chief, the media and the generals are in deep denial about Hasan's motivation.

"It is unclear what might have motivated Major Hasan," The New York Times declared in its initial report. ("Allahu Akhbar" wasn't a dead giveaway?) A follow-up story was headlined "Told of War Horror, Gunman Feared Deployment" a sort of pre-post-traumatic stress syndrome. Yes, Dr. Hasan would have been in the thick of things. A lot of shrinks come back from Afghanistan missing a clipboard or a prescription pad.

Associated Press, The Washington Post and National Public Radio initially hadn't a clue as to why a swell guy like Hasan would open fire on fellow soldiers. (Hint: It was Major Hasan, in the Soldier Readiness Center, with a Koran and a 5.7-millimeter handgun, shouting "Allah is Groovy!")

Interviewed on "Meet the Press," on November 8, Army Chief of Staff General William Casey (who missed his calling as a sensitivity trainer) pleaded: "Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."

Here is the ideal warrior for the Age of Obama. Casey should demonstrate his commitment to diversity by offering to lead a squad of randomly picked Muslim GI's on a mission in Afghanistan all of whom are behind him with loaded weapons.

Barack Obama is the mayor of the Happy Land of Make-Believe. Speaking at a memorial service at Fort Hood on November 10th, President My-Job-is-to-Fight-Negative-Stereotypes-of-Islam told mourners that the "twisted logic that led to the tragedy" was "too hard to comprehend."

Now, if Major Hasan had been a follower of Mother Theresa or Mahatma Gandhi, whose teachings he interpreted as a license to kill, that would be twisted logic.

As a Moslem who takes his faith seriously, what Major Hasan did is perfectly comprehensible. The U.S. Army is killing Moslems. Members of the religion of peace have a sacred duty to protect their co-religionists. America is evil. Suicide bombing is justified. Oh yes, and, as Hasan explained to his colleagues during his slide presentation, "We (Muslims) love death more than you (infidels) love life."

In the Happy Land of Make Believe, Islam is a warm and cuddly creed, worthy of respect bordering on reverence --1,500 years of evidence notwithstanding. Moslem militants don't understand their own religion. Jihad really means a spiritual struggle, not the slaughter of unbelievers. The scholars and religious authorities of Cairo's Al Azhar, the citadel of Sunni orthodoxy, are pulling our legs when they proclaim, "Jihad means to war against non-Muslims" to establish the supremacy of Islam.

Thus, every act of terrorism becomes a misunderstanding or a symptom of mental illness. Would that Moslems only understood their religion as well as Obama, Casey, Condolezza Rice (who once dubbed Islam "the religion of love and peace"), George W. Bush, and The New York Times.

In all likelihood, our president also finds the following just too hard to comprehend:

 The 2005 Kuwait grenade attack by U.S. Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar, killing two officers and wounding 14 others. The delusional Hasan, who clearly was ignorant of the wonderful teachings of the Koran, told investigators that he launched the attack to keep servicemen from killing his fellow Muslims in Iraq, where they were about to be deployed. Sound familiar?

 The plot by five Moslems to attack Fort Dix in 2007, and kill as many soldiers as they could

 That, according to FBI counter-terrorism officials, jihad is preached at one in ten of the 2,000 mosques in the United States. (And that's what they know about.) We need a federal program to teach Islam to imams.

 The June shooting spree at an Arkansas recruiting station by misinformed Moslem Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, that left one serviceman dead. Did Muhammad fear deployment to Afghanistan?

 Four Moslems arrested in Newburgh, N.Y., in May, charged with plotting to blow up synagogues and a Jewish community center in the Big Apple. When they were arraigned in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder said the defendants were "eager to bring death to Jews and the Jewish community."

 D.C. sniper John Muhammad, who was executed last week for 10 random homicides in 2002. Why is it those who kill for their religion are never named Jimmy Jesus or Milt Moses?

 Muzzamil Hassan, founder of Bridges TV whose mission was to showcase the many examples of "Muslim tolerance, progress, diversity, service and excellence" arrested on February 12 and charged with cutting off his wife's head after she threatened to divorce him. Perhaps it was a peaceful decapitation.

 Khalid Kelly (I kid you not), an Irishman living in Pakistan, who told the London Times that he wanted to wage jihad (not the spiritual-struggle kind) against U.S. and British troops. "I'm already on the path to jihad. I've already picked up a gun and done target practice to make myself familiar with weapons," Paddy O‚Dynamite Belt declared in a November 15 interview. "Next week, inshallah (Allah willing), I could be in Afghanistan fighting a British soldier." Kelly also told The Times he hopes his son Osama, age 3, will become a martyr "before marriageable age."

 All of the hijackings, suicide bombings, beheadings of captives and honor killings committed in the name of the peaceable faith, including the 9/11 attacks and the estimated 24,879 Indians murdered by Islamic terrorists during 1994-2005.

In the happy Land of Make-Believe, when 13 American heroes are murdered in cold blood, we may pause to shed a tear, then obsess about how this might threaten diversity, our new national credo.

We should be thankful that the Happy Land of Make-Believe was as yet uncharted territory in 1941. Imagine Gen. Douglas McArthur worrying about how Pearl Harbor might negatively impact on the German-American Bund, and President Roosevelt telling Americans that Nazism and Bushido were all about tolerance, brotherhood and love.


Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.