Killing 14 and injuring 21 Dec. 2 at a holiday party in San Benardino, California, local, state and federal law enforcement groped for answers for the latest massacre perpetrated by 28-year-old Sayed Rizwan Farook and his 27-year-old wife Tashfeen Malik. Dressed in combat gear, Farook and Malik’s massacre with AR-15 assault rifles, together with unexploded pipe bombs, shows a degree planning not seen in ordinary ballistic killings where deranged killers get their hands on handguns to commit mayhem. Farook and Malik’s massacre was the deadliest event since 20-year-old Adam Lanza massacred 28 children and adults, including his mother Dec. 13, 2012. But unlike the deranged Lanza, deriving his inspiration from 17-year-old-Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Kliebold who massacred 13 students April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, Farook and Malik’s attack was different.
Searching for motives isn’t rocket science in today’s terrorist-rich environment where Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]-inspired terrorists lashed out in Paris Nov. 13 in six locations, killing 130, injuring hundreds more. While no one expected an attack in San Bernardino, the new breed of terrorist attacks are inspired by the Internet and social media. When 39-year-old career Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan massacred 13 soldiers Nov. 5, 2009 at a Fort Hood, Texas deployment center, it took the Obama administrations weeks before they admitted that Hasan was radicalized by al-Qaeda’s Yemen terror chief Anwar al-Awlaki. White House officials insisted for weeks that Hasan was a garden variety ballistic killer. Today’s new age of Internet-based social media-driven terrorism requires very little for terrorist-sympathizers to amass weapons, plan and commit violence.
While the media searched for a motive for the Inland Empire Regional Center massacre, Farook’s brother-in-law Farhan Khan, married to Farook’s sister, made an impassioned plea at the Anaheim office of Council on American-Islamic Relations, denying any prior knowledge of the attack. “I am very sad, deeply sad and shocked something like this happened here in my community. I love this country. I’m living in this community for a long time and something like this happened here,” said Khan, letting law enforcement know he had no information. Whether or not Khan knew anything about his brother-in-law’s radicalization is anyone’s guess. What’s known is that relatives don’t go public with statements of regret unless they knew the episode was linked to Islamic extremism. Law enforcement no doubt has searched Farook’s computer and knows the motive.
Going public so soon by a relative left little doubt about Farook’s links to Islamic terrorism. President Barack Obama was reluctant to admit a terrorist link calling for more gun control legislation. “It is possible that this was terrorist-related. But we don’t know,” said Obama. “It is also possible this was workplace-related,” repeating the same line after Hasan’s Fort Hood massacre. Obama’s savvy enough to know that Farook’s wife, Tashfeen, wouldn’t have participated in a workplace vendetta. It’s never happened before. Barack knows that Farook tried to kill everyone at a holiday party, not just targeting a select few related to his job. FBI records indicate that Farook traveled to Pakistan in July 2014, perhaps Saudi Arabia, returning to the U.S. with his fiancée Tashfeen, receiving a K-1 visa. FBI Asst. Director David Bowdich confirmed that Farook had ties with extremists on the FBI’s watch-list.
When the Chechen-born Tsarneav brothers detonated pressure cooker bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon April 15, 2013 killing three and injuring 264, the media asked the same question of whether it was an act of Islamic terrorism. When information about the older brother’s, Tamerlan, trip to Chechnyna and Dagestan in 2012 came out, it became clear he was radicalized, returning to Boston to commit jihad. Whether or not he or his surviving younger brother Dzhokhar were directed or assisted by a foreign terror group was never proven. Federal and local law enforcement were convinced that attacks were inspired by Islamic terrorism. Notes at the crime scene proved Dzhokhar harbored hatred for U.S. Mideast wars. While Obama wants to talk about gun control, the debate has shifted to the White House’s questionable counter-terrorism strategy.
Allowing ISIS to spread like the plague over the Mideast and North Africa gives its Internet-based media wing irresistible recruiting tools around the globe. Whether or not Farook’s attack was inspired or directed by some low-level ISIS or al-Qaeda operative is of little consequence. When Hasan murdered 13 U.S. soldiers at Fort Hood Nov. 5, 2009, six years later history repeated itself. As long as the White House lets ISIS flourish with impunity in the Mideast and North Africa, the terror group will continue inspiring disgruntled followers, longing for identity, purpose and grandiosity. Murdering 13 and injuring 21, Farook and Malik proved, once again, the reach of Islamic extremism. Unless the White House changes its passive counter-terrorism strategy, more attacks can be expected. Only taking the battle to the enemy, rooting out existing safe havens, can the U.S. discourage future attacks.
