I can't supply Randy ....
but here are Selected Works of Randy Borum.
From Preventing Targeted Violence Against Judicial Officials and Courts:
Quote:
Assassination myths and ECSP findings
There are three beliefs about assassination that have been widely held and perpetuated in the popular culture: (1) there is a profile of “the assassin,” (2) assassinations are the result of mental illness or derangement, and (3) those who make threats pose the greatest risk. These beliefs, however, were largely unsupported by data from the ECSP and do not withstand critical thinking about assassination behaviors. Because these beliefs are untrue, they are now known to be myths.
Much fuller explanation in article. And some key observations:
Quote:
Key observations on assassinations and attacks
A number of key observations about assassins and their behaviors have emerged from the ECSP. The first is that targeted violence is the end result of an understandable, and often discernible, process of thinking and behavior. Assassinations, attacks, and near-attacks, almost without exception, were neither impulsive nor spontaneous acts. The notion of attacking a public official or public figure did not leap into the mind of a person standing, for example, at a political rally attended by the president. Assassins were not impelled into immediate violent action by sudden new thoughts that popped into their heads. Rather, ideas of assassination developed over weeks and months, even years. For some would-be attackers, such thinking organizes their lives, providing a sense of meaning and purpose or an ending point when they believe their emotional pain will cease. For others, thinking about assassination is compartmentalized.
Some potential assassins engage in ongoing internal discussions about their attacks while maintaining outward appearances of normality and regularity. In every case, however, assassination was the end result of an understandable process involving the attacker’s pattern of thoughts, decisions, behaviors, and actions that preceded the attack (Fein and Vossekuil 1998, 1999).
More in the article.
Place things in the proper perspective ....
not necessarily "minimize" - and definitely do not "maximize".
Mike, you gave the example of an Army O-4 (a Muslim officer).
Last nite, I listened to a Navy (ret.) O-4 (also a Muslim officer), who has formed an organization aimed at separation of Mosque and State (as he put it). More broadly, he sees American values not only in accord with Islamic values, but as providing the best way for Muslims to practice their religiion freely.
And, we have another Navy O-4 (a Muslim officer), Youssef Aboul-Enein, who co-authored Islamic Rulings on Warfare, which you will find discussed in this post.
Tim McVeigh and MAJ Hasan are good comparatives (credit: Uboat509). Whether the man hijacked the ideology or whether the ideology hijacked the man becomes a chicken-egg question. At some point, the two began working together and, in those two individuals, resulted in lethal mixes. Can lethal mixes be predicted and prevented ? I doubt it. Thousands of people read the Turner Diaries. Very few acted them out and none went so far as Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
Army Releases List of Shooting Fatalities
Army Releases List of Fort Hood Shooting Fatalities
One comment is that many of the victims were mental health care specialists. As the LE officials are studying targeting, it will be interesting to figure out if they determine the attack to be a target of opportunity, high-payoff target, or targeted assassinations.
I'm not a LE guy, but we tried to conduct the same types of investigations in Iraq in order to try to understand the enemies decision making process in order to counter these threats in the future.
Mike
Islam, Islamophobia and hijacking
When I first started arguing about these things on the internet I used to insist that no one has hijacked Islam or misused Islam. Islam (and Christianity and Judaism and whatever) are not persons or single objects, they are social and historical phenomenons which have evolved and developed over time and by now there are as many Islams and Christianities as there are Muslims and Christians. To say its been "hijacked" is to assume that there is a "correct" version which Mr. X is misusing. But there is no reference version. There are only versions. And so on.
Now, I dont take that line as much, not because I no longer believe in it but because I can see that it is itself an expression of a certain secular philosophical viewpoint that everyone simply does not share. I still regard it as "correct" but I am less dogmatic about it in debate. I think its better to focus on fair-mindedness. I see Christians whose firmly held beliefs would place them far away from my worldview, yet who are so scrupulously fair-minded I am awed. I want to try to be fair and want others to be the same and I think things can be worked out. Or not. In which case, "the law will takes its course"..not just the law on a small scale, but law as in "natural law".
Finally, a couple of quotes:
Everything is placed in pledge, and a net is spread over all the living. The store is open, the storekeeper extends credit, the account-book lies open, the hand writes, and all who wish to borrow may come and borrow. The collection-officers make their rounds every day and exact payment from man, with his knowledge and without his knowledge. Their case is well founded, the judgement is a judgement of truth, and ultimately, all is prepared for the feast. (Rabbi Akiva)
But a more pessimistic take:
Could man be drunk for ever
With liquor, love, or fights,
Lief should I rouse at morning
And lief lie down at nights.
But men at whiles are sober
And think by fits and starts,
And if they think, they fasten
Their hands upon their hearts (Housman)