A lone wolf left unguarded

Six days after the single-handed carnage at an Orlando gay nightclub, a coherent but incredibly bizarre narrative is emerging out of the nocturnal shadows. 

At this point, operational details recede into the background as insightful analyses and interpretations of killer Omar Mateen's behaviour pattern over time take hold. Background checks, mounted seriously on Omar, however, create an impression that the bloodbath could have been averted. That is, only if the intelligence apparatus had followed up on the suspicions aroused around him earlier on. The FBI had on three occasions questioned him on his activities but every time he seemed to have allayed their concerns sneaking through their defenses in the end. Now, it has been red alert flashing on the radar. 

Omar Mateen's former wife, on condition of anonymity -apparently for fear of reprisal from ISIS or may be in line with a standard official norm) - has stated that Omar used to beat her and her child. His abusive treatment led her father to take her out of Omar's house and his life through a divorce in 2009. She also reveals that Omar used to visit gay clubs and was himself given to 'gay tendencies'. His ex- and current spouses admitted to accompanying him on his visits to gay nightclubs including The Pulse, the target of last week-end's massacre. 

All this may explain why his ex-wife in particular, disclosed that he had a 'bipolar disorder' – often obsessive compulsive behaviour marked by pendulous mood swings. 

Thus he was said to be living a double life – homophobic and unhinged to top it off. 

His second wife Noor Salman may face an inquest into why she did not alert the authorities to his deadly plans supposedly she had an inkling of.

A person unable to come to terms with himself in a paranoid state is likely to be seeking 'imaginary retribution' through transferred anger. He chose his target aiming to maximise the effect of his atrocity on a massive group of people in the small hours of the night.

A parallel can be drawn to the Anders Behring Breivik's mass killing in Norway on July 22, 2011. He had killed 77 people including 69 on the island of Utøya, out of his far-right predilections tinged with Islamophobia. Omar Mateen killed 50 and injured scores in The Pulse nightclub. Both were on a one-man killing mission and both committed mass murders. 

The motivations in the reverse order point to heightened ideological or symbolic prejudices harboured in both minds. 

In the latter case, ISIS has claimed credit, such as it is inured to be doing after such a massacre. 

Gun control regulations, under a stretched out meaning of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution (upholding the principle of self-protection) are considered too lax to curb potential gung-ho attitude in temperamental people. Omar Mateen reportedly had licensed weapons that he could be trigger happy about. Easy availability of arms and ammunition to citizens which the gun lobby in the US advocates with vengeance may be in for a fresh relook.

An apparent detractor has argued that Breivik had used a bomb and an assault rifle to finish off a large number of his compatriots in spite of strict gun laws in Norway.

A debate accentuates in the USA political circles and leaderships over cultural diversity, immigration and security issues now bundled together. Republican presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump has tried to exploit the situation to get a political mileage over his Democratic rival Hilary Clinton. He romped into rasping on his diabolic theme of banning Muslim immigration to the USA (from certain parts of the world). President Obama was just being measured in his reaction balking at characterising the event definitively just yet pending conclusive investigations. He merely said in the interim it was a home-grown act with no external 'direction'. But his comment flung, as it were, a red rug to the bull. Trump fell for his 'anti-Muslim yapping' indulging in an inane semantic spat over the usage of words (albeit nuanced) by the US president. 

Obama as President couldn't afford the luxury of any irresponsible utterance, so he categorically counseled caution against painting all Muslims with a broad religious brush. Similarly, Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has debunked attempted political capitalisation of the nightclub carnage by Trump forcefully adding that the entire Muslim community should not be demonised for the derailed act of a few.

Was Omar Mateen a 'lone wolf' detached from any network? Only time will tell, hopefully, sooner rather than later

The writer is a contributor to The Daily Star. He can be reached at shahhusainimam@gmail.com