FBI officials cautioned Congress not to jump to conclusions about 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez’s Chattanooga massacre of four marines and one seaman at unarmed recruiting centers July 17. Looking into emails of the now deceased AK-47-wielding terrorist, the New York Times reported an incriminating email allegedly sent by Abdulazeez. “Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him,” read Abdulazeez email, showing the arcane language used by pedantic terrorists like al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden or, more recently, the late Yemen-based al-Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki. Reading the tea-leaves, Abdulazeez refers to “enmity” against a “friend of Mine,” with a capital “M,” referring to perhaps “Allah,” or “I have declared war against him,” referring to the Western armies at war with Islam, like the U.S. military.
FBI officials want to make the point like they did with the Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarneaev brothers that federal law enforcement haven’t yet determined a motive. Yet reading Tamerlan or Dzhokhar’s emails, or the last statements scrawled into a boat-hiding place in Watertown, Mass., they all talk about jihad, punishing the U.S. for killing innocent Muslims. Attention now focuses on Abdulazeez’s mental health history showing signs of depression or other forms of mental illness. Contrary to the media or FBI’s conventional wisdom, terrorists frequently have mental health issues, in addition to their twisted beliefs of various secular and religious cults. Questioning whether or not Addulazeez was a terrorist or a deranged young man is a bogus dichotomy. Abdulazeez was deranged an inspired by radical Islam calling on youth for jihad and martyrdom.
If Abdulazeez were only a deranged mass killer, he wouldn’t have targeted two U.S. military recruiting centers for his lethal acts. Young adult mass killers don’t target military venues unless there’s an undeniable political statement. “Every one of our resources are being devoted to this investigation,” said Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke. Rep. Micheal McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called Abdulazeez’s attack “an ISIS-inspired attack,” referring the renegade Islamic terror group that’s taken over 30% of Iraq and Syria. FBI officials cautioned McCaul against jumping to conclusions. “At this time, we have no indication that he was inspired by or directed by anyone other than himself,” said FBI Special Agent Ed Reinhold, showing the same reticence following Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s Nov. 5, 2009 attack at a Fort Hood, Texas Army deployment center.
White House and federal law enforcement officials wouldn’t admit for months that Hasan was personally influence by Yemen-based al-Qaeda chief Anwar al-Awlaki. Hasan’s email exchanges with al-Awlaki were known within days. After the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, the White House and federal law enforcement were equally reluctant to admit the Tsarnaev brothers were a Boston-based Chechen terror cell. Looking at Abdulazeez’s attack, it’s equally obvious targeting U.S. military recruitment centers were exactly the soft targets encouraged by ISIS, al-Qaeda or a host of other radical terror groups. White House officials just got another fat black eye, unable to prevent a new act of terror on U.S. soil. While it’s difficult to be sure to stop lone-wolf terror attacks, the White House and Federal law enforcement dropped the ball for yet another time.
Letting ISIS mushroom out of control, the Obama administration has emboldened lone-wolf terror attacks on U.S. soil. If the U.S. military had gone and crushed ISIS—as many hawks in Congress led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) urged—ISIS would not continue to inspire recruits all over the globe. Making ISIS a death trap for jihadists would damage its PR and recruiting value. Letting ISIS jihadists run wild in Iraq and Syria emboldens the hoards of weak-minded, vulnerable and psychotic recruits seeking identity, structure, power and paid work offered by foreign terror groups. White House officials must face the music that their law enforcement-oriented counterterrorism strategy isn’t stopping lone-wolf terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. No matter how embarrassing, White House and federal law enforcement officials know that their counterterrorism strategy has failed.
Uncovering a history of mental illness doesn’t for one second rule out Abdulazeez’s calculated Chattanooga terror attack. Picking unarmed military recruitment centers shows his motive was driven to punish the U.S. military for its attacks on Islamic lands overseas. Abdulazeez’s carefully orchestrated attack on U.S. military recruiting centers speaks volumes about his terrorist motives, whether or not inspired by al-Qaeda, ISIS or any other terror group. While more comes out about his troubled past and mental illness, it in no way rules out terrorism. U.S. media and law enforcement need to remind themselves that terrorists are often mentally ill, leading to easy recruitment by clever terror groups. “My name causes national security alerts. What does yours do?” asked Abdulazeez in his high school yearbook, hinting at what was eventually to come, if anyone cared to look.
