Deadly, But Islamist Terrorism? Perish the Thought

Rescue crews tend to the injured in the intersection outside the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino  Photo: Reuters

"There was obviously a mission here. We don’t know why."
"We do not yet know the motive; we cannot rule anything out at this point. We don’t know if this was the intended target or there was something that triggered him to do this immediately."
FBI Assistant Director David Bowdich, head, bureau’s Los Angeles office

"There appears to be a degree of planning that goes into this."
"Clearly they were equipped and they could have done another attack. We intercepted them before that happened, obviously."
"The suspects are believed to have fired 76 rifle rounds at the officers. Law enforcement fired approximately 380 rounds at the suspects."
San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan 

"It is possible this was terrorist-related, but we don’t know."
"[However], it is also possible this terrible event was workplace related."
U.S. President Barack Obama

Needless to say, if it was indeed terrorist-related, it had nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. No such thing as Islamism, Islamists, jihadis, Islamic terrorists. If terror-related, these would be unfortunate people whom stress had driven to act out irresponsibly, and their actions do not, ever, represent anything relating to Islam. Any who claim otherwise are Islamophobic. And, typical of such events, where Islam is involved when Islamist fanatics ply their deadly trade of conquest, the sentinels of Islam portray Muslims as victims.

Who can blame them? Though those officials in various Islamic groups may quietly express solidarity with terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the like, they hide their links with the Muslim Brotherhood, even though the Brotherhood is in very good odour with the White House, and promote the fiction that Muslims are to be protected from the backlash of angry non-Muslims who take umbrage at their country being turned into a reflection of the charnel house that the Middle East has become.

"There absolutely is a fear that there could be a backlash and that's the reality we live in."
"We need to stay cautious given the atmosphere and what happened in Paris a few weeks ago and the fallout from that."
Abed Ayoub, legal and policy director, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Fallout? What fallout 'from that'? The search for additional suspects? The arrest of a number of Islamist Belgians thought to have been involved? Did fallout express itself in San Bernardino, California? Mr. Ayoub's organization, it seems, is preparing to meet with authorities from Homeland Security to assess safety measures in the wake of the atrocity that killed 14 and wounded 21 people, one a Jewish colleague who worked closely with the man identified as Syed Rizwan Farook.

The city of San Bernardino has now been inducted into the Islamist Hall of Infamy, a city with a large Arab and Muslim population, a city where Syed Rizwan Farook lived with his wife, Tashfeen Malik. Both of whom possessed an enormous arsenal of weapons and knew how to use them. Both of whom carefully garbed themselves on Wednesday in clothing and gear appropriate to their mission. A mission which remains a puzzle to investigative authorities who cannot understand how a well-integrated Muslim-American could become such a deadly berserker.

Armed with two .223-caliber assault rifles and two 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistols, they slaughtered fourteen innocent people, co-workers of Mr. Farook, leaving behind at the service center an undetonated explosive comprised of three pipe bombs. Using a rented Ford Expedition with Utah plates, the couple was found to have had 1,400 rounds for the rifles and 200 for the handguns with them at the time of the shootout.

Wait; that's not all: at the home where they lived in the nearby city of Redlands, more than 2,500 rounds for the assault rifles, over 2,000 for the pistols, along with several hundred rounds for a .22-caliber rifle, and 12 pipe bombs were discovered. And then, there were also supplies to produce an infinite number of additional pipe bombs. But these were not Islamist terrorists; heaven forfend.

Because, you know, Islam is a religion of peace, and the Koran makes no mention of slaughtering co-workers, necessarily.
San Bernardino shooting suspect Syed Rizwan Farook.  Photo: DMV

Other hints? Their extensive arsenal, their recent travels to the Middle East, along with evidence that one of them at least had been in touch with people with Islamist extremist views, both in the United States and abroad, appear, confoundingly, to suggest that the initial investigation be reconsidered to include at least, the possibility of terrorism related to Islamist jihad. In due time, perhaps, but not quite yet, evidently. 

Did anyone hear them shout "Allahu Akbar!" That might clinch it. And perhaps not.

According to law enforcement officials, the F.B.I. had revealed evidence that Mr. Farook had been in contact over several years with extremists domestically and abroad, including at least one person in the United States who had been investigated for suspected terrorism by federal authorities in recent years, but had not been charged. Yet there was no suspicion-by-association, it seems, and why not? 

Well, there are so many leads and so many potentials and so many individuals to track that the system loses itself in a confusion of just who is responsible, it seems.

"You don’t take your wife to a workplace shooting, and especially not as prepared as they were", offered one senior law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. "He could have been radicalized, ready to go with some type of attack, and then had a dispute at work and decided to do something." Oh, think so? 

They were wearing masks when they charged into the Inland Regional Center at 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, armed with four guns. Initial reports held they were wearing body armour.
Not so, said Chief Burguan, the 'suspects' had been wearing "tactical vests" complete with ample pockets, to store spare magazines and other handy items, useful for exterminating kuffars.
 
    TV pics show: San Bernadino shooting, Californina  Photo: Pixel8000