Jonathan Kay's editorial in Canada's National Post "A fine line between jihad and insanity," he argues that radical-Islamism (evidenced as the motivating theology behind the murder of 3,000 New Yorkers in 2001, and many acts of domestic Islamist violence since, including the current, Seattle Jewish Federation Massacre defendant, 32-year-old, Mr. Naveed Haq, (watch dramatic trial testimony here) who wounded 5 people and 
murdered Ms. Pamela Waechter, 58, a Lutheran-born, community leader) has given society enough reason to pre-emptively separate its existing acolytes from the public in the interest of public safety and ban its practice among us."Jihadi terrorists aren't WWII-style soldiers, who could be trusted to return to civilian life once their war ended. At the same time, they aren't like normal murderers -- not only because their crimes are more monstrous, but because they aren't animated by the usual criminal motivations of greed and lust. The threat of jail -- or even the gallows -- has no relevance to a jihadi. He wants to become a martyr. His crimes are motivated by the quasi-psychotic delusion that God delights in the random killing of innocent civilians."
Of course, the line between religion and psychosis has always been blurry. Let a man mutter that he hears other-worldly voices in his head, and we back away, avoiding eye contact. But let the man then specify that the whisperings he hears are God's, and we instead nod politely, and perhaps even take one of his pamphlets. It's only because of our culturally rooted respect for organized religion that we've traditionally ignored the similarities between psychosis and divine revelation.
That should have changed in 2001. Though the 9/11 killers were not technically psychotic in a medical sense, that should now be seen as a distinction without a difference.
By their own admission, sworn jihadis believe that mysterious forces beyond human control require God's servants to engage in indiscriminate slaughter. How is this different from the violent schizoid who gets locked away in an asylum for the rest of his life (with nary a protest from NGOs or the left-wing media, it might be added) for exactly the same reason, minus Allah?
(...) The United States has laws that keep dangerous lunatics behind bars indefinitely. Which is to say that Haq would be treated as a man who is neither criminal nor "unlawful combatant," but rather as a damaged human specimen who, by reason of deadly mental infection, cannot be trusted to mingle freely among his fellow humans without trying to kill them.
Bipolar or not, is this not the very definition of just about every jihadi terrorist?
Read original here.
Of course, the line between religion and psychosis has always been blurry. Let a man mutter that he hears other-worldly voices in his head, and we back away, avoiding eye contact. But let the man then specify that the whisperings he hears are God's, and we instead nod politely, and perhaps even take one of his pamphlets. It's only because of our culturally rooted respect for organized religion that we've traditionally ignored the similarities between psychosis and divine revelation.That should have changed in 2001. Though the 9/11 killers were not technically psychotic in a medical sense, that should now be seen as a distinction without a difference.
By their own admission, sworn jihadis believe that mysterious forces beyond human control require God's servants to engage in indiscriminate slaughter. How is this different from the violent schizoid who gets locked away in an asylum for the rest of his life (with nary a protest from NGOs or the left-wing media, it might be added) for exactly the same reason, minus Allah?
(...) The United States has laws that keep dangerous lunatics behind bars indefinitely. Which is to say that Haq would be treated as a man who is neither criminal nor "unlawful combatant," but rather as a damaged human specimen who, by reason of deadly mental infection, cannot be trusted to mingle freely among his fellow humans without trying to kill them.Bipolar or not, is this not the very definition of just about every jihadi terrorist?
Read original here.
I have been convinced since 9-12, that had we (US authorities) caught every one of the Jihadis responsible for 9-11, while they were on the planes, yet before they were able to implement their plans, they would have all been ajudged to be psychotic and probably would have walked after a short evaluation period.
ReplyDeleteWith this trial we will see if we (the US) have progressed in the last 6 1/3 years.
1300 years of polygamy and marrying close relatives might explain the mental problems. Genetic diseases are very high in Muslims. Jihad is simply a mechanism to dispose of extra young men, a necessity in a polygamous society.
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