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"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32
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Author:  David M. Huntwork
Bio: David M. Huntwork
Date:  February 22, 2007
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The Salt Lake Shooter and Sudden Jihad Syndrome

Evidence suggests that the Salt Lake City mall shooting was an act of terrorism.

If you only read the news as reported by the Main Stream Media, you would never know that we had just recently experienced another Jihad style attack by a Muslim on American soil.

On Monday, Feb. 12th, one time Bosnian refugee Sulejmen Talovic (age 18) walked into the Trolley Valley shopping mall in Salt Lake City and in a six minute rampage killed five people and severely wounded several more. The dead were identified as Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24.

My initial (blogged) reaction was:

“Any guesses as to whether he's a Muslim or not? I may be going out on a limb here, but I sense another follower of Allah and the Religion of Peace.... And might I add that this is a great example of how having a large section of the population allowed to conceal carry is a good idea.”

Sure enough it turns out Sulejmen Talovic was indeed a Muslim and that little nugget of information has fueled a firestorm of speculation among bloggers and unleashed accusations of ‘cover up’ directed towards the Main Stream Media and law enforcement investigators. The media showed an interesting and obvious reluctance to initially disclose, let alone discuss, eighteen year old Talovic’s religious persuasion.

A nearby wedding videographer was able to videotape the initial police response and capture audio of some of the shootings as well as the shouts of the shooter before police gunned him down. The chilling tape can be viewed at: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8dbc5_4507 .

On the video, the Islamic battle cry of "Allah-hu Akbar" (God is great) is heard two times at 1:38-1:40 as the officer identifies himself. There appears to be a third one at 1:47.

So it appears that a Bosnian Muslim shooting his way through a mall killing Americans and shouting Allah-hu Akbar in the post 9-11 era is apparently not newsworthy. Am I missing something here? According to the Associated Press, FBI agent Patrick Kiernan has reassured us that the bureau has no reason to believe Talovic "was motivated by religious extremism" or intended "an act of terrorism."

Thank goodness. I know I feel better.

Instead, investigators insist “Mr. Talovic's motive remains a mystery.”

We can only assume that the politically correct, multiculturalist dogma has struck again. The shouts of Allah-hu Akbar do kind of give it away, but the mainstream media has pretty much balked at saying the “M” word. When it comes to this attack, the news is something to be spun, not necessarily reported. They also went out of their way to assure us (incorrectly) that the latest Islamic martyr did not attend any mosques in the area.

This was quickly refuted:

“Although he quit school at 16, Sulejman Talovic often attended Friday prayers at the Al-Noor mosque on 700 East in Salt Lake City" - Salih Omerovic (a relative). The mosque is two blocks from the mall where the shooting took place.

Charles Johnson over at LittleGreenFootballs.com put it this way after coming under fire by Utah's Deseret News for daring to mention the fact that the killer happened to be a Muslim.

”And we’re supposed to believe, apparently, that there is absolutely no connection between Islam and terrorism, and anybody who suspects one is either a racist or an ultraconservative.”

Bloggers have adopted the term 'Sudden Jihad Syndrome' (coined by Daniel Pipes) to describe this type of incident where otherwise normal appearing Muslims abruptly become violent. Leaderless resistance and lone wolf martyrdom operations are both preached and praised by the global jihadists. There have been several such incidents in the last few years.

FrontpageMag.com published a column entitled Salt Lake Jihad? :

”In October 2006, a pro-jihad internet site published a “Guide for Individual Jihad,” explaining to jihadists “how to fight alone.” It recommended, among other things, assassination with guns and running people over. Is it possible that Sulejmen Talovic and some of these others were waging this jihad of one?”

An editorial entitled Sudden Jihad Syndrome at Investors Business Daily lists eight other recent examples of young Muslim men launching individual attacks in the United States. (http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=256521423294106)

The shooters family is extremely shocked by their son’s act of terror and suspect the possible encouragement and involvement of others. From KLS.com:

“The father of Trolley Square shooter Sulejmen Talovic apologizes over and over for the ordeal. Suljo Talovic says no one who knew his son saw this coming and he believes someone pushed him to do it. Suljo Talovic doesn't know where his son got the guns or how he learned how to use them. Suljo Talovic, Father of Shooter: "Somebody got (the guns)…and maybe (they were) training him and tell(ing) him (to), ‘go shoot somebody.'" Question: So you think that somebody influenced him maybe to do this? Suljo Talovic: "Yeah. I think somebody." Talovic says the tragedy is taking a toll on his family. Repeatedly, in a lengthy interview with KSL Newsradio, Talovic expressed the sentiment that someone trained and pushed his son to kill. He apologizes for the ordeal, saying it makes him feel horrible, like killing himself.”

The fact the father suspects someone recruited and trained his son is significant. We need answers as to who supplied the guns and the ammunition and who instructed him in their use. We can only hope that law enforcement has cast aside the chains of political correctness and is vigorously investigating and interrogating all those who interacted, and attended mosque, with young Talovic.

Once again it has been left to the blogosphere and Internet outlets to lead the investigation and uncover the motives of this latest terrorist attack on the Homeland.

David M. Huntwork
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Biography - David M. Huntwork

David Huntwork is a conservative activist and freelance columnist in Northern Colorado where he lives with his wife and three young daughters. He is the author of the book No Apologies: In Defense of Common Sense and the Conservative Ideology which can be purchased at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3576295. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions at DaveHuntwork@juno.com. You may also view his bio and past columns at: http://DavidHuntwork.tripod.com.


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