Murder in Little Rock; Silence in the White House (Updated)

Two young soldiers, straight out of Basic Training, are standing outside the Army-Navy recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas, when a vehicle pulls up and shots ring out. One soldier, William Long, 24, of Conway dies. The other, Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville falls seriously wounded but able to crawl to the recruiting station door. A short time later, police stop a vehicle on the interstate and arrest Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammed, 24, formerly known as Carlos Bledsoe, a convert to Islam. He is later charged and pleads not guilty to first degree murder and fifteen (15) counts of engaging in a terrorist act.

The young soldiers had not been deployed anywhere. They were assigned as "hometown recruiters" for two weeks. Soldiers dying in a combat zone is unremarkable. Soldiers being targeted in Little Rock because they are American soldiers seems remarkable to me.

Muhammed had reportedly gone to Yemen on a Somali passport to study jihad in a religious school. Once back in the states, he apparently decided to put his training in the "religion of peace" to use. This, too, is unremarkable.

What is remarkable to me is the utter silence about these murders, this act of domestic jihad, from the White House. The same President who decried the murder of Dr. Tiller, a late-term abortion specialist in Kansas, hasn't said a word about young soldiers being murdered in Little Rock, hasn't said a word of condolence to the families, and hasn't condemned the actions of this thug acting in the name of Allah. I guess in his eyes, the soldiers and their families aren't worthy of the same concern as an abortionist.

While we haven't heard from the President or Attorney General, Daris Long, the father of the fallen soldier, a former Marine, spoke eloquently to KATV, Little Rock, of the pain his family has suffered and the goodness of others. With his father as an example, William Long should have proven to be a fine soldier.


ECS