FORT HOOD – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  We are now learning more about the very close call we had yesterday at Fort Hood.  An alert gun shop clerk called authorities after observing a customer acting suspiciously.  That clerk may well have saved many lives.  From WaPo:

A U.S. soldier who was accused Thursday of planning to attack troops near Fort Hood, Tex., has told investigators that he was acting in support of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who has been charged in the killing of 13 people at the base in 2009, according to congressional and federal officials.

Pfc. Naser Abdo, 21, was arrested in Killeen, Tex., after authorities said they discovered bombmaking materials in his motel room, as well as a copy of an article from the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, which is produced by the terrorist group’s Yemen affiliate.

The officials said Abdo was planning to set off bombs at locations outside the base where soldiers gather and to follow the explosions with gunfire...

....The emergence of another alleged plot to attack troops at the same base where Hasan is accused of striking may intensify fears that there is a growing terrorist threat from self-radicalized Americans and raise questions about whether the military can adequately identify internal threats. Hasan was arraigned in military court this month on capital murder charges but has not entered a plea.

The Washington Post has done a good, forthright job of reporting this story, and has given it prominence.  By contrast, a check of this morning's front page (online) of The New York Times does not find the story present at all.  Not at all.  A tale of two liberal newspapers – one trying to do the right thing and report the news, the other falling into disgrace once again.

July 29, 2011