The New Reality
They caught the sniper suspect and his sidekick. Turns out he's an American. But not the kind the gun-control groups and the news media had been suggesting he would be. They figured he probably was a domestic white male, perhaps with military traing, and possibly tied to "white supremacist" groups. That's the reality they hoped was true. It would fit their world view that the real threat to America is right-wing Americans.

But the alleged sniper, John Allen Muhammad, is a black Muslim. Not a white male/white supremacist but - if this Seattle Times report is accurate - a homegrown Islamic terrorist sympathetic to al Qaeda: Interviews with law-enforcement sources, former wives and acquaintances created an emerging portrait of Muhammad: A Muslim convert and former Fort Lewis soldier sympathetic to Islamic terrorists.

Now, perhaps, you fully understand the war we're in. The Beltway sniper shootings are a harbinger of our future. Islamic terrorists are here among us and they look like us. Welcome to the new reality.

The sniper looks to be a freelancer rather than an al Qaeda operative, but that hardly matters for al Qaeda and the rest of the Islamic terror axis most certainly is watching and learning. The sniper terrorized millions of people in a way Sept. 11 never did. Most of us know deep down we aren't likely to be targeted by a Sept. 11 attack. That day, the Islamikazes hit symbolic buildings. Most of us don't work in symbolic buildings. But all of us stop at gas stations, go to the mall, and do many of the other ordinary things the snipers' victims. al Qaeda saw this play out on television. Killing 3,000 on Sept. 11 made us angry. But a sniper killing ten people at random made us afraid. That's why, I fear, you'll soon see al Qaeda snipers and Islamic freelancers bringing this new tactic of terrorism to a town near you.

It's getting harder to swallow that "Islam is a religion of peace" tripe.