Allen West: 'Governed by your inferiors'

In a letter to his supporters, retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West quotes Plato -- "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors" -- and talks about the problem of "impostors" in politics:

We are all quite familiar with the Bernie Madoff case which devastated many people here in South Florida, quite a few in Florida Congressional district 22. So many people placed their trust in what we now know was an elaborate “ponzi scheme”. The life savings of countless individuals was lost.
Just recently we have experienced another such case in the Ft Lauderdale area with a local lawyer named Scott Rothstein. The dollar amounts are not in the same strata as Madoff, only $1Billion, but that is still a pretty substantial number. One would think that we would be more attuned after the realization of what Madoff had executed.
But on an even greater scale we see the future and legacy of our Republic being stolen away by those who truly are our inferiors, impostors. . . .

Read the whole thing. You can also visit the Allen West campaign site. I first interviewed Col. West last year for the American Spectator. Given my notorious Hayekian tendencies, I was a fan as soon as the colonel started quoting Frederic Bastiat.

Last year's failure of the NRCC to spot West as a potential superstar -- they actually tried to recruit other candidates to run against him in the FL22 primary in 2008 -- was a harbinger of the problems that subsequently developed in NY23 this year. Small wonder that West singled out Doug Hoffman for praise:

The candidacy of Doug Hoffman in NY-23 portends the direction the elections of 2010, a true conservative providing an answer to the wasteful, arrogant spending of the Democrats in charge of Congress.

Fortunately, the NRCC has now awakened to the "Go West" phenomenon, so maybe things are moving in the right direction.

(Cross-posted at Hot Air Greenroom.)

Allen West: 'It is what it is'

The retired Army lieutenant colonel on Fort Hood:

We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable. The fact that there are some who have now created an entire new classification called "pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" is unconscionable.
This is not a "man caused disaster". It is what it is, an Islamic jihadist attack. . . .
What we see are recalcitrant leaders who are refusing to confront the issue, Islamic terrorist infiltration into America, and possibly further into our Armed Services. Instead we have a multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on steroids.
Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood, matter of fact he should have been Chaptered from the Army. His previous statements, poor evaluation reports, and the fact that the FBI had him under investigation for jihadist website posting should have been proof positive. . . .

Read the whole thing. Meanwhile, there's also this:

The official said investigators were looking into Hasan's association with the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., in early 2001, about the same time that a radical Islamist prayer leader and two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were there. . . .
Authorities were focusing aggressively on whether Hasan more recently had been following the fiery online sermons and blog postings of that imam, Anwar al Awlaki, the official said.
Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, left the United States in 2002 and is believed to be in Yemen. He is actively supporting the Islamist jihad, or holy war against the West, through his website.
Early this morning, after Awlaki's name was publicly linked to Hasan's, a posting on Awlaki's site was titled "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing."

Jihad? What jihad? Nothing to see here. Move along.

UPDATE: ABC News reports:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

But don't start "jumping to conclusions" or anything.

Allen West on the Fort Hood massacre

Press release from the Iraq hero's congressional campaign:

Lt. Col. Allen West (Ret) is a former Fort Hood commander, most recently leading troops there in 2007. West has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and says the horrible tragedy at Fort Hood is proof the enemy is infiltrating our military.
"This enemy preys on downtrodden soldiers and teaches them extremism will lift them up," West said. "Our soldiers are being brainwashed."
West served more than 20 years experience in the United States Army and although he is waiting for more information to be revealed on Thursday's tragedy, West is certain the military must look at this broader issue on how to prevent Islamic extremism from penetrating our bases.
West has worked closely with the investigation of the planned attack on Fort Dix, New Jersey as well as the bombing of a soldier's tent in March 2003 while stationed in Kuwait. Both have been linked to Islamic extremism.
"The most importantly thing right now is that we objectively assess this situation," West said. "But it is imperative that we take steps to make sure this does not happen again."

Michelle Malkin has more on the massacre, including the news that the killer had come to the attention of law-enforcement six months earlier.

Jihad? What jihad?