A Marine wounded during the terrorist attack on a recruiting center in Chattanooga has died, raising the death toll to 5.
I just referred to what happened on Thursday as a “terrorist attack.” No doubt, most of you would refer to it as a “terrorist attack” also.
In fact, I would guess that about 95% of Americans would refer to the incident as a “terrorist attack.”
The other 5% are liberals in denial, the FBI and Obama administration officials.
We know that Abdulazeez visited the Middle East a couple of times over the last few years. We know he was a devout Muslim. And we now know that he texted a friend just before the attack with a link to a verse from the Koran that suggested the motivation for his actions.
Hours before the Tennessee shooting that killed five U.S. servicemen, the suspected gunman texted his close friend a link to an Islamic verse that included the line: “Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him.”
The friend, who requested anonymity, showed the text message to Reuters on Saturday. He said he thought nothing of the text at the time, but now wonders if it was a hint at Thursday’s attack.
The suspect, Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, was killed in the gunfight in Chattanooga on Thursday.
Abdulazeez’s friends said he returned from a trip to Jordan in 2014 concerned about conflicts in the Middle East and the reluctance of the United States and other countries to intervene. He purchased three assault rifles on an online marketplace that he used for target practice, the friends said.
“He expressed that he was upset about (the Middle East). But I can’t imagine it drove him to this,” said the friend who received the text message.
U.S. investigators are focusing on Abdulazeez’s travels to the Middle East. The FBI is investigating the Chattanooga shooting as an act of domestic terrorism, though law enforcement officials said it was premature to speculate on the gunman’s motive.
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Abdulazeez’s friends, who asked not to be identified for fear of a backlash, said he was upset about the 2014 Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza and the deteriorating civil war in Syria.
“He felt Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia were not doing enough to help, and that they were heavily influenced by the United States,” said the friend who received the text message.
Another friend said, “He had always talked about it, but I’d say his level of understanding and awareness really rose after he came back.”
Abdulazeez, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, purchased three guns on armslist.com after returning from Jordan including an AK-74, an AR-15, and a Saiga 12, his friends said.
Over the past few months, Abdulazeez and his friends practiced shooting in the Prentice Cooper state forest near Chattanooga, sometimes two or three times a week.
It’s incredibly worrisome that Abdulazeez was not in any “terrorist database” according to the FBI. Breitbart reported yesterday that he failed a background check to work at a nuclear plant. Why did a private company realize the potential danger and not the FBI?
It’s almost as if the government is willing to accept a few attacks in order to maintain their delusions about Islamic terrorism. The FBI didn’t keep tabs on him despite at least two trips to the Middle East, and a sudden interest in guns. What else does the FBI need to get a little suspicious?
There are almost certainly a lot more Adbulazeezs out there not on the FBI’s radar but who are potential terrorists. While we can sympathize with the FBI’s dilemma in deciding who to keep track of, this attack points up the need for the FBI to do a better job.
Failure isn’t an option.
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