Not surprisingly the FBI is doing its best to minimize last week’s beheading in Oklahoma. Consider the commentary on Alton Nolen’s Facebook page.
From The Washington Post:
The Moore police said that Nolen had tried to convert several co-workers to Islam. Two federal law enforcement officials told The Washington Post that Nolen was a recent convert to Islam with a “provocative” Facebook page that included a photo of Osama bin Laden.
Yet these officials also said that the FBI had found no link to terrorism. They also said there was no indication that Nolen was copying the beheadings of journalists in Syria carried out by the Islamic State. Instead, the officials said, they are treating this as an incident of workplace violence.
And from CNN:
While his Facebook page included images of Osama bin Laden and an apparent beheading, there’s no indication that Nolen was motivated by terrorism, a second law enforcement official said
Later in the same piece:
The Facebook page where Nolen posted under the name Yisrael — confirmed by police to be his — features a cover photo of fighters holding a machine gun and a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
It also features numerous messages related to Islam but offers no hint he was planning an attack or that it had anything to do with his religion.The law enforcement official who spoke to CNN on Monday said Nolen had watched beheading videos, but it was unclear if they were linked to ISIS.
So let’s see if I have this right. The FBI acknowledges Nolen’s Facebook page includes a picture of bin Laden, photos of jihadists holding weapons and he was watching videos of beheadings (although they can’t be sure these were videos made by ISIS). Nolen then proceeds to behead a woman at his former employer where he tried to convert his fellow co-workers to Islam. The FBI concludes he wasn’t motivated by terrorism, wasn’t planning a terrorist attack much less copying the beheadings by ISIS and other jihadist groups.
Nope, the FBI says it’s an open and shut case of workplace violence. Nothing to see here folks.
