Knowing terrorism when we see it: Joseph Farah on FBI's refusal to tag airport killer with 'T' word

Do you get the feeling America is having trouble defining who the enemy is in this war on terror?

How else can you explain the FBI's continuing refusal to characterize the actions of the Los Angeles International Airport shooter as "terrorism"?

Now, I know I've been over this ground before. Don't worry, this is not one of those rerun columns. I just keep thinking that I'm going to wake up one of these days, and the government is going to be operating in the same plane of reality as the rest of us.

Once again, it's important to review the facts: On July 4, a day the government warned terrorist attacks were likely, an Egyptian Islamist, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a man with a grudge against America and a man we now know met earlier with Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, shot up the El Al counter at the airport – killing two and injuring four.

Sure it's an isolated incident. Thank God. The destruction of the World Trade Center was an isolated incident, too. It doesn't happen every day. It hasn't happened since. What does that mean?

Allen Iverson, the leading scorer in the NBA for the last two years. Now, I'm not an Iverson fan, and I don't really like the Philadelphia 76ers. I'm much more partial to the Lakers and Kobe Bryant. But that's beside the point. I don't think Iverson is a terrorist.

But the Philadelphia district attorney's office evidently thinks so. It has charged the basketball superstar with 10 counts including "making terroristic threats." Who was he threatening? Apparently his wife. Some sort of domestic dispute. Yet, after the incident that sparked the charges, news cameras found Iverson playing basketball with friends outside his home and helping his smiling wife carry groceries inside.

It gets worse. In Vernon, Vt., a newspaper photographer was threatened with arrest for (are you sitting down?) treason. What did he do? He tried to take pictures of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

Under a little-known Vermont law, it is illegal to take photographs of a nuclear power station during times of war or threat of war. The charge? Treason.

Do you see what I mean? Is our sense of priorities straight? Do we know real danger when we see it? Would our civil authorities know terrorism or treason if they bit them on the buttocks?

Allen Iverson is a terrorist, but Hesham Mohamed Hadayet is not. ... Does this make sense to anyone but the FBI and the Philadelphia cops?

Jason Henske, the photographer for the Brattleboro Reformer, is a "traitor" for doing his job, but we can't even suggest that Hesham Mohamed Hadayet is what we all know – a miserable, murdering, cowardly little Islamic terrorist punk.

Forgive me if I get carried away with my emotions here, but I feel like the inmates are running the asylum.

If the FBI can't figure out Hadayet is a terrorist, are there any crimes they could ever solve? How could any American ever have confidence in this joke of an agency again? I didn't think it could get any worse than it was under Louis Freeh. I was evidently wrong. It has gotten worse – much worse.

When you look up the word "terrorist" in the dictionary, the definition could very well be illustrated with a picture of Hadayet. But the FBI will not go down that road. Oh no. They need to investigate first. Do some lab work. Interview some sources. Does anyone really expect this band of clowns to protect the United States of America?

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Twice I have called the FBI in recent years regarding terroristic threats – on my life. Once before Sept. 11, and once after. I provided the FBI with 11 written death threats all received by e-mail. Many of them had names attached. I never got as much as a follow-up call.

Later, I tipped the FBI off regarding some suspicious Muslim Arabs in my neighborhood seen celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks. This time they expressed more interest. But, again, no follow-up.

Who are these guys? From where do their directions come? Why isn't anyone in Washington scratching their heads about the way the agency is embarrassing itself in front of the whole world? What will it take to shake it up?

Do you get the feeling America is having trouble defining who the enemy is in this war on terror?

Yes I do.

Here's a happy thought from Middle East expert Daniel Pipes:

Islamists constitute a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the population. Many of them are peaceable in apearance, but they all must be considered potential killers.

How does 400,000 to 800,000 -- in our country -- potential killers sound?

Pipes article here...

Muslim population in America

Meet an Islamist

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

The FBI won't know a terrorist until he dropped in their laps and they weren't all that interested a case of three Arabs detained a little later in Texas by the State authorities. "No federal charges" have been filed responded the Feebs. Most of us know a terrorist when we see one. All the FBI sees are "isolated incidents." The more things changed after 911 the more they remained the same. It looks as if the FBI is operating as though 911 had never occurred. Terrorism? What terrorism? Even its Director Robert Mueller thinks nothing of lending his personal appearance before an Islamist front group to give them an address. As I said, the FBI won't know a terrorist and that's scary.

Come on, everyone knows it was W who ordered that this event not be advertised as a terrorist event so as not to alarm the people.

The director of the FBI would not be the one making that decision in such a high profile case.

This has W written all over it.

So then... If the LAX attack wasn't terorrism, then why is the FBI the lead investigative agency? If it wasn't terrorism, per 18USC113B, then it was a homicide per §187 of the California Penal Code. The FBI investigates the former while the LAPD should investigate the latter. But if the former has been all but ruled out, then why is the FBI investigating a violation of California law?

Come on, everyone knows it was W who ordered that this event not be advertised as a terrorist event so as not to alarm the people.
The director of the FBI would not be the one making that decision in such a high profile case.

This has W written all over it.

Sure enough. Why, there's even a picture of Bush with Joe Czyczk of Mercury Air service, identified by the Israelis as being gunman Hayaded's previous employer at LAX, who seem to be nervious about having hired a future terrorist as one of their employees, given their responsibilities in fueling and maintaining Air Force One....

Mercury Air Group/ AF1 Operations

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