By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--January 28, 2016
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First the good news: Earlier this week, the FBI foiled a would-be terrorist attack against a Masonic center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the Journal Sentinel reports:
A terrorist-style plot intended to kill dozens of people with automatic weapons at a Masonic center in Milwaukee was foiled this week by FBI agents, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Samy Mohamed Hamzeh discussed his plan to attack the center with two others, detailing how they would quickly and quietly kill the first people they saw and then methodically move through the building, "eliminating everyone" they encountered, according to a federal criminal complaint.Those two others turned out to be federal agents. Hamzeh was arrested, and lives were saved. The bad news is that most people don't seem particularly interested in the story, and Hamzeh has yet to be charged with any terror-related crimes.
Hamzeh, 23, has been charged with possessing a machine gun and a silencer. Despite indications of an attempted act of terrorism, Hamzeh is not charged with any terrorism counts.It's possible that the gun charges are simply a way to keep Hamzeh in jail and that terror charges will be filed later, but it's hard to understand why they weren't part of the initial booking - especially when you read what's in the criminal complaint.
"We are Muslims, defending Muslim religion, we are on our own, my dear, we have organized our own group," Hamzeh said, according to the criminal complaint, adding he was confident it would trigger more attacks in the United States. "Such operations will increase in America, when they hear about it. The people will be scared and the operations will increase, and there will be problems all over,... this will lead to people clashing with each other. This way we will be igniting it. I mean we are marching at the front of the war," he said, according to the complaint. Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad called it a "detailed plan to commit a mass shooting intended to kill dozens of people." "(Hamzeh) also said that he wanted this mass shooting to be 'known the world over' and to 'ignite' broader clashes. It is difficult to calculate the injury and loss of life that was prevented by concerned citizens coming forward and by the tireless efforts of the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force."Yes, there have been a few blurbs here and there - including brief mentions on Fox, CNN, and ABC, but so far, it all seems designed to downplay the terrorism angle and play up the "guns are scary" narrative. Maybe it's not getting wider exposure because the firearms in question are already illegal, so the story doesn't fit the gun control game plan. Perhaps it's because the 'religion of peace' is on the media's politically correct list of protect groups, or it could be that the incident has been pushed to the back burner because there was no bloodshed. It didn't bleed, so it doesn't lead. The bottom line is it’s hard to deny that the media would be giving this far more attention if the terrorist in question had been a white teenager with a legally purchased weapon. Possibly, the fault is ours. After all, this was only an intended terrorist attack. We're probably making too much of it. The press is busy with the important stuff - like Trump skipping a debate.
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