Nick Cohen's column in today's Observer can't be taken seriously. First, he asserts that the New York Times is reluctant to call the five Americans arrested in Pakistan terrorists because they're American. What? If the five were part of some extremist group operating out of Idaho the Times would not shy away from calling them terrorists.
Next, hes says the FBI's failure to take seriously the threat posed by Major Hasan was because they were "blinded by the belief that an American could not be a jihadist and thought Hasan was simply conducting research." Not a chance.
They're blind because they're afraid. Afraid of putting a foot wrong and slipping on a politically correct banana skin. Afraid of conceding that those on the political right might have a point.
The funny thing is, I can tell from reading Cohen's column that he really knows why the Times and the FBI did what they did, but he's decided to look elsewhere for an explanation.
