Earlier, I suggested that one reason Joe Lieberman may be anxious to have a hearing on the Fort Hood attack is to serve up Nidal Hasan as a “Lone Wolf” that would require further erosion of the Fourth Amendment.
Well, Lieberman’s not the only one rushing to label Hasan as a “Lone Wolf.” So is Michael Mukasey–at least, he’s describing Hasan as a member of a “leaderless jihad.” (h/t Main Justice)
Michael Mukasey, the U.S. attorney general from 2007 to 2009, criticized an FBI spokesman and a New York Times article that said the gunman, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is not connected to terrorist groups, saying that Osama Bin Laden has sought to create a “leaderless jihad” that promotes solo attacks.
“In that respect, there certainly are very close links to terrorism,” he said during the event’s main address.
“In that respect, this is, in fact, the worst terrorist act carried out on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
“And to tell us to believe that someone has to have a membership card in al-Qaida or any other organization in order for them to act as a terrorist, and in order for us to call what he does an act of terrorism, is to tell us to refuse to look facts in the face, and to refuse to believe what we see and hear with our own eyes and ears.”
And, as a side note, can I just say what a tribute it is to our criminal justice system that the former Attorney General is willing to get up and make these broad declarations without, presumably, any first hand evidence himself?