The Marine recruitment station that was attack. Note the gun-free sign. Yahoo News/April Grimmett.
A gunman has attacked two military instillation in Chattanooga Tennessee, killing four Marines before getting killed himself. Yahoo News. The suspect, 24 year old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, has been identified by the FBI. Abdulazeez is a suspected radical who had a blog that routinely posted in favor of radical Islam. His father had also been under investigation for suspected ties to terrorists organizations, but was eventually cleared. Abdulazeez started his rampage by shooting at a National Guard office, firing 20 shots but hitting no one. He then traveled seven miles to the Chattanooga Naval recruitment station and opened fire there from his Mustang convertible. Police then shot the suspect dead.
My Comment:
Looks like yet another ISIS inspired lone wolf terror attack. Given the nature of the targets and the fact that Abdulazeez ran a radical blog in support of Jihadism, I think it's a safe bet that this was motivated by radical Islam. From what I understand the suspect was a naturalized citizen and his family was fairly radical. The women in the family were forced to cover their hair and the father was investigated for radical ties.
Of course the government is reluctant to call this Islamic Terrorism. To be fair, it is still early in the investigation and there is always a chance that something else was the motivation. But at this point it is incredibly unlikely to be anything else. So why not call it what it is? Political correctness. You can't suggest that one Muslim is a terrorist or those who have more time and outrage then common sense will accuse you of blaming all Muslims for terrorism.
My post last night touched on the issue of attacks on military bases. France just broke up a plot targeting their military which had the goal of decapitating a high ranking officer. In that post I said that military bases aren't really "hard targets" but they are more difficult to attack then other places. Recruitment stations are even less defended then military bases. I think I was still right though to call military bases semi-hard targets. At least at the military bases you have people trained to fight, even if they don't have any weapons.
And of course this shooting happened at a gun free zone. I'm not sure if the military had guns at this station, but their "no guns" sign is clearly visible in the picture up there. There was no chance of the civilians in the area having a gun to defend themselves and it seems like the Marines didn't have any weapons either. I know back when I talked to the Army about maybe signing up, there were M-4 rifles just sitting around, though I'm not sure if they had any ammunition. I don't know if that is the case now though. It is true though that nobody that was their to sign up had a gun though.
It just seems crazy to me that after so many attacks on military instillation that there isn't better security. You would think the government would trust troops that have been specifically trained to handle firearms to handle firearms. Even if they don't trust the enlisted to carry firearms, you would think they would let officers and NCO's to carry sidearms. After all, this isn't the first time someone has attacked military facilities. There was the Fort Hood shooting, the Washington Naval yard shooting and more then a few shootings at recruiting stations. If it were up to me I'd lift the ban on firearms and force NCO's and Officers to carry sidearms whenever they are at work.
I don't think this will be the last attack on military bases in the United States and abroad. This attack and the others have shown how bad security is at these places, making them relatively soft targets. And attacking them is a huge propaganda coup. After all, shooting up a recruitment station shows that even the military is vulnerable to terrorist attacks. And ISIS has called for attacks on U.S. soldiers (and Marines, Sailors and Airmen), so there is even more motivation to attack these bases then there would be normally.
The attack also shows that ISIS does not need to actually be in America to attack America. Much like many of the recent terror attacks, Abdulazeez self-radicalized. He didn't even need to read ISIS propaganda because he was making his own. The fear is that this attack, which was more successful then other recent attacks in America, will inspire more of the same...
And of course this shooting happened at a gun free zone. I'm not sure if the military had guns at this station, but their "no guns" sign is clearly visible in the picture up there. There was no chance of the civilians in the area having a gun to defend themselves and it seems like the Marines didn't have any weapons either. I know back when I talked to the Army about maybe signing up, there were M-4 rifles just sitting around, though I'm not sure if they had any ammunition. I don't know if that is the case now though. It is true though that nobody that was their to sign up had a gun though.
It just seems crazy to me that after so many attacks on military instillation that there isn't better security. You would think the government would trust troops that have been specifically trained to handle firearms to handle firearms. Even if they don't trust the enlisted to carry firearms, you would think they would let officers and NCO's to carry sidearms. After all, this isn't the first time someone has attacked military facilities. There was the Fort Hood shooting, the Washington Naval yard shooting and more then a few shootings at recruiting stations. If it were up to me I'd lift the ban on firearms and force NCO's and Officers to carry sidearms whenever they are at work.
I don't think this will be the last attack on military bases in the United States and abroad. This attack and the others have shown how bad security is at these places, making them relatively soft targets. And attacking them is a huge propaganda coup. After all, shooting up a recruitment station shows that even the military is vulnerable to terrorist attacks. And ISIS has called for attacks on U.S. soldiers (and Marines, Sailors and Airmen), so there is even more motivation to attack these bases then there would be normally.
The attack also shows that ISIS does not need to actually be in America to attack America. Much like many of the recent terror attacks, Abdulazeez self-radicalized. He didn't even need to read ISIS propaganda because he was making his own. The fear is that this attack, which was more successful then other recent attacks in America, will inspire more of the same...
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