Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik: American Dream

Don't call what they did yesterday in San Bernardino terrorism.

Call it workplace violence and mental illness.

As for Farook being a devout Muslim, that's irrelevant in this case. Of course.

And don't focus on the fact that Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik targeted a Christmas party.

From the Los Angeles Times:

As the holiday gathering got underway Wednesday morning, Syed Farook joined dozens of his colleagues from San Bernardino County’s Public Health Department. Farook seemed quiet during the early hours of the event, then vanished just as a group photo was about to be taken.

Shorty afterward, gunfire erupted at the Inland Regional Center where the employees filled a conference room. Within hours, law enforcement sources identified a man named Syed Farook as a suspect in the massacre and said he was shot to death in a gun battle with officers.

...Co-workers told The Times that they were shocked to hear Farook’s name linked to the shooting. Two health department employees who were in the bathroom when the bullets began to fly said Farook was quiet and polite, with no obvious grudges.

They said Farook had traveled to Saudi Arabia and returned with a new wife he met online. The couple had a baby and appeared to be “living the American dream,” said Patrick Baccari, a food inspector who shared a cubicle with Farook.

Baccari and Christian Nwadike said Farook, who worked with them as a health inspector for about three years, rarely started a conversation. But the tall, thin, young man with a full beard was well-liked and spent much of his time out in the field.

They and other colleagues said Farook was a devout Muslim, but rarely discussed religion at work.

“He never struck me as a fanatic, he never struck me as suspicious,” said Griselda Reisinger, who worked with Farook before leaving the agency in May.

Farook obviously had another side to him that he didn't let his co-workers see.

They apparently hadn't seen him in his "assault style clothing."

They apparently didn't know he possessed an arsenal and GoPro cameras and a plan to carry out mass executions in cold blood. They apparently didn't know he lived in a home that the FBI is calling an "IED facility." They apparently didn't know Farook and his wife would choose to make their baby an orphan.

Whatever the motive for the slaughter, there is no question that Farook and Malik were extremists. They trained for war. They "prepared for a sustained fight."

This was not some sort of spontaneous workplace violent outburst.

So, Farook and Malik are dead.

That's the good news.

The bad news is Farook and Malik had to have had connections with other bad guys, and they aren't dead.