Sudden Jihad Syndrome?

Maybe his defense will be Sudden Jihad Syndrome?

By shooting a couple of basic training soldiers outside a Little Rock, Ark., recruiting centre, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad apparently was registering his disapproval of what the two victims were doing to Muslims.

Of course, Pvt. William Long, 23, killed by gunshots, and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, wounded, had probably never ever met a Muslim, much less done anything to one.

But Muhammad, who was born and raised in Tennessee as Carlos Leon Bledsoe until he converted to Islam after a visit to Yemen where apparently he was arrested for carrying a false Somali passport, is now in jail without bail after being arrested soon after the shooting.

The 23-year-old is quoted as saying he hoped to shoot a lot of other soldiers at the recruiting station, but only spotted these two as they were smoking. Perhaps, on the other hand, he disapproved of smoking.

While Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is sometimes a defense for soldiers who get into trouble after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan’s battlefields, it’d be hard for a Muslim convert to claim this. Hence a possible claim of SJS (Sudden Jihad Syndrome).

From what one can tell, Muhammad, as Bledsoe calls himself, seems unfazed by his circumstances. Then again, perhaps in his Islamic convert status, he thought his actions might give impetus to President Barack Obama’s address in Cairo on Thursday to the Muslim world.

The president, in recent times, has traveled to Europe and South America where he seems bent on apologizing on behalf of America in an effort to appease those who disapprove of the U.S.

It remains to be seen if he will now apologize to Muslims everywhere for America’s actions. Perhaps, in his demented way, Muhammad was anticipating the president’s message and popped off a couple of young soldiers to show support.

Apparently the FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force has been keeping track of Muhammad since his return from Yemen, and found a batch of guns and jihadist literature in his possession.