By: Dan Weil
The White House isn’t facing up to the fact that the U.S. faces domestic terrorism, as evidenced by the Fort Hood attack last week, says Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Interview Saturday, November 14, 2009
“There is an offensive, an attack against U.S. military sites and organizations in the U.S.,” he told Newsmax.TV.
Top administration experts have declared that there’s no domestic jihadism, Phares says. Without an understanding of that issue, it’s impossible to act against the domestic terrorists, he says.
“That’s what I think is the major problem. The second problem is that the advice we are getting that this isn’t terrorism, but that this is frustration, reaction to foreign policy, that analytical advice basically seems to be compromised.”
Two investigations are necessary, Phares says. First, a criminal investigation, “which is going to tell us details such as where did he (Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan) get the weapon, who are his contacts and all sorts of other material issues related to this specific act.”
See Video: "Jihadists Have Infiltrated Military," Phares Says - Click Here Now
Second, a national security investigation is needed to look at the big picture, Phares says. “Who produced this jihadist? Is he in fact with other cells? And most important for all of us: are there other cases like Maj. Hasan in the U.S.?”
He may have ties with al-Qaida, Phares says. And there may be other individuals and cells targeting the U.S. military at home.
He hopes for an investigation similar to the 9/11 commission, “which brought about the concept that America was under attack and didn’t know about it,” Phares says.
“And I’m sure today . . . we’re going to look at the situation whereby America is under attack by home grown jihadists and didn’t want to admit it.”
