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L.A. Times Editors: We Just Cant Solve the Mystery of Why that Muslim Guy Shot at All Those Jews
Filed under: General, Dog Trainer Patterico @ 10:18 am
What was the motive of the guy who shot up the Jewish Center in Seattle? L.A. Times editor Dean Baquet says:
Baque
You got me!
Yes, if you ask the editors of the Los Angeles Times, its an utter mystery why the shootings occurred. At least, if you look at Page One. Here is a graphic from the papers front page today, teasing stories appearing inside the paper:
Mystery.JPG
The teaser leads to a story on Page A22, which contains the following clue to the mystery of the shooters motive:
Haq reportedly shouted about his anger toward Jews, toward Israel and its war in Lebanon, and toward U.S. policy in Iraq.
Hmmmm. Yes, its a head-scratcher. Further clues to this impenetrable conundrum appear further down in the story:
According to [Seattle Police Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske], Haq said he wanted the U.S. to leave Iraq, that his people had been mistreated, the U.S. was arming Israel, and he didnt care if he died.
The official police report, released Saturday and based on interviews with witnesses in the office and on the transcript of the 911 call, quoted Haq as saying: Im not upset at you people; Im upset at your foreign policy. These are Jews, and Im tired of getting pushed around and our people getting pushed around by the situation in the Middle East.
Then he repeated his name and gave his Social Security number, adding: I just want us to get out of Iraq. Im an American too, but I want our people out of Iraq.
By Jove, Watson! I do believe we are getting closer to the solution of this indecipherable enigma!
Lets look at some other news reports to see if we can get to the bottom of this brain-teaser. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:
He said, I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel, before opening fire on everyone, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a database coordinator for the center. He was randomly shooting at everyone.
Jot that down, Watson! He said he was angry at Israel. I do believe that could be a clew.
The AP gives us further leads in this story:
Seattle police said Haq picked up the two handguns and spare ammunition just days earlier, and appeared to have targeted the federation after a cursory Internet search for Jewish organizations.
Remember that, Watson! Jewish organizations. Why, I do believe that was the very type of organization that ended up being targeted! Yes, I believe we may be onto something here.
The games afoot!
Well examine what the paper may have really meant using the papers own style of burying context: by placing it below the fold.
[Extended entry]
OK, lets pause the clowning for just a moment to examine what the editors would say if we called them on it. My guess is that they would point to this passage:
Law enforcement authorities, Haqs friends and his parents friends all said Saturday that Haqs inner motivations remained a mystery. Some speculated he might have sought to cloak an animus toward women by acting as a self-appointed warrior against Israel or against Jews.
Thats the entire basis for concluding that Haqs motivation was a mystery. There is abundant and overwhelming evidence leading to an obvious conclusion: Haq killed Jews because he was a fanatical Muslim who hates Israel and hates Jews. Yet the paper labels his motivation a mystery on the front page based on speculation from family friends and unnamed law enforcement officials, no doubt pontificating through a mouthful of kruller.
Now, Im perfectly willing to believe that Haqs buddies and family friends are baffled by his actions. Thats a pretty common reaction among those close to people who commit a horrific crime. But Im not sure I buy the idea that law enforcement would claim to be perplexed by his motivations. The law enforcement authorities who supposed say this are not identified. Id sure like to know who they are, so I can call them up myself and ask them what the big mystery is. Maybe theyre like L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca, mouthing off to the press without having read the police reports.
Because if you look at the actual evidence, its not a stumper, L.A. Times editors. Its really not. Haq killed Jews because he was a fanatical Muslim who hated Israel and Jews. Its OK to put that on your front page. Because its the truth.
Good find, it's the reason that it is good to find the local papers. I gotta wonder though, all these lone, crazy, Muslim gunmen, that aren't terrorists. The FBI seems to know that, even before they remove the shooters from the premises.5stringJeff said:The Seattle PI ran a story trying to make him look like a maniacal Christian. But, if you read the story, it shows that this guy was dissatisfied with religion in general, and left the Christian church he was attending a few months ago.
So as much as I hate to side with the Liberal Ass Times, it's not quite so cut-and-dry.
Posted: August 2, 2006
7:49 p.m. Eastern
By Les Kinsolving
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Presidential press secretary Tony Snow today refused to answer whether a Muslim man's deadly attack on a Jewish center in Seattle should be considered terrorism.
At today's White House daily briefing, WND asked Snow: "Last Friday, a Muslim American denouncing Jews and Israel took a 13-year-old girl hostage at the Jewish Federation Center in Seattle and shot six women, one of them dead. Yet, the FBI and other law enforcement authorities refuse to call this terrorism. The president says we're in a war on terrorism. Can you or the president better define terrorism so the American people can understand just who or what it is we are fighting?
Snow replied: "I hate to use the murder of innocents as an attempt to make a debating point about terror. And I'm not going to do it."
Last Friday, Naveed Afzal Haq of Pasco, Wash., broke through security Jewish Federation Center in Seattle and announced to staff members: "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel." The 30-year-old immediately began shooting randomly with a semiautomatic 9-mm handgun at the 18 employees and visitors in the offices.
FBI spokesman David Gomez said officials believe the suspect acted alone and is not affiliated with a foreign organization. Haq's father was a founding member of the Islamic Centre of Tri-Cities in Richland, near Pasco in southeastern Washington.
According to a former neighbor, Haq said he was planning to go to Pakistan; spoke often about guns and politics; and didn't like President Bush.
The FBI has labeled the shootings a "hate crime" based on what the gunman told police in a 911 call.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51359
