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Seattle Responds to Its Jihadi, Naveed Haq

by Daniel Pipes
Wed, 9 Aug 2006
updated Sat, 19 Apr 2008

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Dayna Klein, hero of the assault on the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle building, recalls what Naveed Haq did on finding she had defied his wishes and called 911: "He stated that he was a Muslim, this [attack] was his personal statement against Jews and the Bush administration for giving money to Jews, and for us Jews for giving money to Israel, about Hezbollah, the war in Iraq, and he wanted to talk to CNN."

Naveed Haq glares at the media during his court hearing on August 8.

Even more appalling, the parents of Layla Bush, 23, Haq's most severely wounded victim who is battling for her life, focused entirely on Haq's supposed mental illness. Layla's mother Kathryn said about Haq: "I don't feel any blame or anger toward him." Father Brad added that "It would take somebody who was mentally ill to do this." If anything, the couple agreed, their daughter would be angry at the causes for Haq's hateful eruption and at the lack of funding for the mentally ill.

Institutional Jewish responses from elsewhere struck similar notes, always ignoring radical Islam and the jihad. Marc Fisher, president of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, deemed the assault in Seattle "an attack on all peace-loving people who simply want to make their communities better." Rabbi George Barnard of Northern Hills Temple in Ohio, feels secure about his congregation's safety: "I think we're OK. The terrible thing that happened in Seattle doesn't seem to be part of a pattern."

Aug. 17, 2006 update: Dayna Klein, the hero of the Jewish Federation ordeal, spoke out today. Unfortunately, rather than focus on jihad, she devoted her moment in the public eye to gun control. Jennifer Sullivan explains in the Seattle Times:

In the three weeks since a gunman stormed the Belltown office where she works, killed her close friend and shot her in the arm, Dayna Klein has dedicated herself to fighting for tighter gun control laws. Klein, 37, said at a news conference today that she wants to know why the man who "invaded" the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle on July 28 was able to purchase guns from shops in the Tri-Cities just before the shootings that killed one woman and wounded Klein and four others. … She views the shootings as a reason for her to call for "a safer society for all."

Asked about Haq, Klein said she doesn't think about him, nor does she have an opinion about whether prosecutors should seek the death penalty. "Naveed Haq has wasted enough of my time."

Comment: I would hope that Klein devotes a lot of her time to Haq, to understand him and then to become a spokeswoman for the need to combat radical Islam and jihad.

Dec. 21, 2006 update: Given the above responses, it hardly comes as a surprise that King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng decided against seeking the death penalty for Naveed Haq, citing the defendant's supposed long history of mental illness – and of course not mentioning a word about jihad. This despite Maleng calling the murder "one of the most serious crimes that has ever occurred in this city."

Two women who nearly lost their lives at Haq's hands – and are still recovering from their gunshot wounds – endorsed Maleng's decision. Cheryl Stumbo admitted that "The death penalty most likely promulgates further violence and thoughts of revenge," but she does not want the death penalty. Layla Bush said a life sentence would be tougher on Haq than his execution. "I think this guy is someone who could feel remorse in prison. Two wrongs don't make a right." For what it's worth, Haq's attorney, C. Wesley Richards, chimed in: "I am pleased that Mr. Maleng recognized that Mr. Haq has a serious mental illness and, accordingly, that the death penalty is not appropriate."

The only dissenting voices came from Nicole and Mark Waechter, the grown children of the murdered Pamela Waechter, who noted in a written statement that Haq's "cruel and callous disregard for the lives of so many, in our view, forfeited his right to preserve his own." But they showed some embarrassment about this attitude, adding that they respected Maleng's decision and would move on: "We choose instead to spend our energies trying to mend our lives in a way that honors our mother and all she meant to us. We need all of our energies to heal our wounds and those of others."

Layla Bush survived Naveed Haq's jihad, but with injuries.

July 27, 2007 update: A year after the rampage at the Jewish Federation, John Iwasaki does a review of circumstances for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Some highlights:

Dayna Klein gave birth to a son, Charley, four months after Haq's attack.

Layla Bush survived the shooting that sent bullets to within a half-inch of her heart, lodging near her spine, and exiting through her left shoulder, doing damage to her liver, stomach, pancreas, and left kidney. She "walks gingerly, sometimes with a cane, because of long-term nerve damage to her right leg and weak quadriceps muscles. She can't sit through a movie, stand for much more than an hour or walk her dog. Surgeons removed the bullet from her back in February. Her typical week is filled with up to nine appointments for physical and occupational therapy, checkups, acupuncture and counseling." While still recovering in the hospital, Bush said executing Haq would be "too easy for him." She reiterated that view now, saying she favored life imprisonment. In the aftermath of the shooting, "what made me mad is not him, but that someone with a mental history like that can get guns." She also hoped the people will not forget "how much damage hate can do."

The Jewish Federation closed its building for seven months and remodeled its offices, making many security improvements including reduced interior walls to increase lines of sight.

Mar. 15, 2008 update: A Seattle Times preview of the Haq trial clearly sets out the terms: "Both sides agree that Haq has struggled with mental illness, and the defense does not dispute that Haq entered the federation and committed the shootings. A psychiatrist defense witness, however, is expected to testify that Haq was insane at the time and therefore his ability to premeditate and form intent to kill was diminished." In other words, the trial will not be about Haq's antisemitism and jihadism but the fine points of his state in July 2006. Further,

Haq's attorneys have motioned to suppress all evidence discovered at his apartment and the statements he made to police after he surrendered, including statements about Israel, Iraq, Lebanon and Jews, Internet research he told police he did the day before the shootings, his medications and his guns. His attorneys say police violated his legal rights when they continued interrogating him after he requested a lawyer.

Comment: It appears the trial will closely continue the general treatment of Naveed Haq; in the Seattle style, as much as possible, the real issues will be swept aside.

Mar. 31, 2008 update: More glimpses of Haq's motives and state of mind emerged with the playing of a videotaped interview by police soon after Haq's arrest in July 2006. Some snippets, as reported in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Haq said he wanted to make two points: that the United States should get out of Iraq; and that it should stop providing bombs and intelligence to Israel. … He told investigators that bipolar disorder had "really screwed up" his life and maintained that while raised Muslim, he loved America and was not an extremist. He talked a bit about the shooting, saying he didn't know how many people he hit and that he stopped because "there were no guys" in the building. "I got in there and started firing," he said. "I wasn't really aiming at anybody."

Apr. 1, 2008 update: Another take on what Haq told the police in his videotaped interview, this from a Seattle Times report:

In the candid and chilling videotaped interview, Haq told the detectives that he had planned the attack over a few days, that he stopped shooting "so quickly" because he saw only women in the center, and that he didn't use a shotgun in the rampage because it was "too much of a hassle walking down the street with a shotgun."

Haq told police that his bipolar disorder had "screwed up" his life, that he took two his guns and a knife to the Jewish Federation, and that he invaded the federation's Belltown offices to make "a point" about Jews and the Iraq war. "I don't have anything against America," Haq says in the interview. "I have [sic] against the Jewish people. Because they're busy killing."

"Do you think this is going to be national news?" he asked detectives at one point. "It's probably going to be if I attacked. ... I sympathize with Muslims, you know. But I'm not an extremist," he said. "I didn't want to kill anybody. ... just got in there and started firing. ... I wasn't really aiming at anything," he later said.

Haq appeared confident, even boastful, during parts of the interview. He told detectives he had two college degrees, but had had difficulty holding down a job. He spoke without emotion until he was asked about his parents, when he paused to wipe his eyes. Much of the time, he willingly answered questions.

Apr. 11, 2008 update: King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas rendered inadmissible as evidence the 55-minute interview with Haq on the grounds that police detectives ignored his repeated requests to talk to a lawyer.

Comment: This decision will make discussion of Haq's jihadi motives even less likely.

Apr. 14, 2008 update: In its opening statement at the Haq trial, the prosecution argued that Haq had rationally planned the shooting to make a political statement. He prepared by taking four separate trips to gun shops just before the attack, searched the Internet looking for Jewish organizations, and relied on an Internet website to map out the 227-mile trip from Pasco to the Jewish Federation in Seattle. Deputy Prosecutor Erin Ehlert explained that "The defendant, Naveed Haq, was on a mission. ... To go into that location and make a statement—both physically and verbally—to go in, shoot people, take hostages and get on CNN." Further proof of his rationality came in his ranting about Jews, U.S. troops in Iraq and "the situation in the Middle East." He was on a mission. "He thought about what he did. He planned what he did."

Ehlert played back a call to 911 during which Haq asked to be connected to CNN and told the operator he had attacked the Federation building because of U.S. support for Israel and the war in Iraq. "I don't care if I die. This is just to make a point." A bit later, he decided he had made the point. "I'll give myself up. This was just to make a point." Ehlert characterized Haq's rampage as a political mission to establish "That the Jewish people in America have too much power."

Further, a police officer had stopped Haq for a traffic violation close to the Federation building at which time he acted normally, conducting "a normal conversation in a normal tone of voice."

Haq's attorney, John Carpenter, maintains that he was delusional, hearing the voice of God urging him to go on a "mission" and other behavioral problems. The shootings were "the acts of a madman," and said they came "not from a darkened heart, but from a diseased man. … He actually thought his actions were going to have a positive societal effect. This is insanity."

Apr. 15, 2008 update: Testimony began and one piece of evidence bears on Haq's motives: Cheryl Stumbo recounting Haq saying that he "was an angry Muslim American, and he wanted to make a statement." She also recalled his demeanor: "It was like a normal tone of voice with the volume turned up. His face didn't look angry. It was placid, sort of everyday normal."

Apr. 16, 2008 update: Police Officer Glen Cook took the stand and recounted that when he stopped Haq driving to the Federation everything seemed normal, giving him no sense that Haq would minutes later attack the Federation employees. According to Tracy Johnson in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

On July 28, 2006, Cook said, he noticed Haq's white Mazda pickup headed north on Third Avenue at 3:37 p.m.—a rush-hour time when the busy downtown street is mainly limited to bus traffic. He flipped on his lights and chirped his siren. Haq pulled over. Cook said it was a brief exchange. He asked Haq for his license and proof of insurance, took the license back to his motorcycle and returned with a ticket. He then pointed out the signs restricting traffic and told him to get off Third Avenue. "He acknowledged, said ‘OK,' something to that effect," Cook said. "Whatever it was, I'm (sure) he understood." The officer said Haq "made eye contact" and "seemed normal." Cook didn't see any weapons. …

After Cook gave him a ticket and sent him on his way, Haq parked his truck in a garage about six blocks away. Prosecutors say it was about 3:54 p.m. when he went on a deadly rampage inside the federation's Third Avenue offices.

Related Topics: Antisemitism, Jews and Judaism, Muslims in the United States, Terrorism

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