By now, you’ve heard about the tragic shootings at Fort Hood. Obviously such things are not my normal topic for discussion here, but after hearing that the shooter may have had tried to contact someone within Al Qaeda, it certainly got my interest.
As posted on NY Daily News, it appears that Nidal Hasan, may of attempted to contact this Anwar al Awlaki, how he attempted to contact him is unreported, also I would like to point out that the intentions of this attempted contact are also unknown.
It is not known whether the agencies informed the Army that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had attempted to connect with Anwar al Awlaki, a radical mosque leader who runs an English language anti-American web site that promotes jihad, U.S. officials briefed on classified material told ABC.
Anwar al Awlaki On-Line
But, this had me curious, as a geek mainly. Where does he host it? Does he have his own server? What provider is he using? So I did what any of you would do. I opened up a terminal window and fired up a trace route. But, what I found next shocked me.
Seriously? I couldn’t believe it. Dreamhost, they’re a US company, right? Why would they allow an anti-American web site that promotes jihad, in English even. Why would they take money from someone that has ties to Al Qaeda? This makes no sense to me… I mean, I understand the right to free speech, but there has to be some other explanation… Anyone?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That's what free spech means – the right for anyone to express an opinion, especially when it doesn't match yours.
Also, the hosting company would have no idea that this person was about to commit a criminal act. You are innocent until proven guilty. You are making the mistake of assuming that this guy was guilty before he had done anything. The fact that this guy was a Muslim is no different from a Democrat / Republican political division.
However, your intention is correct. how can a society not see that this guy was going off the rails. How the can the military have missed that this guy was not completely sane ?
I agree, the hosting company may have no clue, that's exactly what I was trying to get at when stating that at a glance the site appears to be nothing more than a politically charged blog. As for the assumption I am making, I am only assuming that they are printing something close to the truth. They mentioned in the story that this Anwar al Awlaki had ties to Al Qaeda, although I guess my assumption could be what those ties were… That is never made clear.
<pre><q>Counterterror agents intercepted messages between the Army shrink who killed 13 at Fort Hood and a radical imam in Yemen with ties to Al Qaeda – but decided they were harmless, U.S. officials said Monday night.</q></pre>