An investigation is underway in the Oak Creek Sikh Temple Massacre where a shooter by the name of Wade Michael Page allegedly murdered 6 people on Sunday before being shot and killed by a responding police Officer. FBI is investigating the tragedy as a possible Domestic Terrorism incident, but Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano stated:
“I think that what’s playing here is politics. I think that there’s a political ramification to calling something terrorism. It scares people. We look at it more closely. But if you call something ‘workplace violence,’ as horrific as it is, it doesn’t scare us as much as it does with the word ‘terrorist.”
Mr. Napolitano went on to compare the Sikh Temple shooter, who is a known White Supremacist, with Ft. Hood shooter [Nidal Malik Hasan], a Muslim. The Analyst told Fox News and Friends today that if the Ft. Hood shooting wasn’t Domestic Terrorism, then nothing is.
Under the USA Patriot Act, domestic terrorism occurs when a person intends “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.”
Napolitano seemed angry that the violent act of an American Military Muslim was labelled “Workplace Violence”, while the hate-filled attack of a White Supremacist is being investigated as Domestic Terrorism.
“Page appears to be — appears, he’s dead — appears to have been a disgruntled nut job who hated Muslims, didn’t know the difference between Sikhs and Muslims and thought by killing the Sikhs he was somehow going to eliminate the Muslim population.”
“On the other hand, the Ft. Hood shooter [Nidal Malik Hasan] who killed military in the place where they worked while damning and condemning the behavior of the government — the employer of the people that he killed — the government refuses to call that an act of domestic terrorism.”
Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade chimed in with “While hailing Allah.”
Pat Rowan, a partner at McGuireWoods LLP, a Washington law firm who headed the U.S. Justice Department’s national security division under President George W. Bush says that by giving the Oak Creek Shooting the label of Domestic Terrorism, Federal and local law enforcement can tap the resources of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Forces. Quoting him:
“These multi-agency teams have access to past investigations and databases that may prove useful in the probe.
Additionally, anyone who conspired with Page in this massacre will find themselves charged with the crimes he committed, as though they had committed them themselves. Considering the fact that Page was a member of several White Supremacist bands, and one witness believes reporting seeing him dropped off at the Temple by an unknown person, the label of Domestic Terrorism could lend towards ultimate justice in the shooting.
Prompted by an increasing number of attacks on Sikh members and other hate-crimes, 90 members of Congress sent a letter in April to Attorney General Eric Holder and Robert Mueller urging the FBI and the Justice Department to monitor those incidents as hate crimes.
It seems that a White Hategroup member being labelled a terrorist, while a Muslim was not, is unacceptable to the folks at Fox News.
