Terrorists’ Baby, American Victims

Husband and wife Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik left their 6-month-old baby girl with her grandmother on Wednesday morning, claiming they were going to a doctor’s appointment.

Not long after, the couple burst through an unlocked door at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, and interrupted a holiday party. The radicalized Bonnie and Clyde began firing.

The couple unloaded 65 to 75 rounds on innocent Americans who had gathered to enjoy a few minutes of fellowship and connection during a busy workday.

The terrorists killed 14 people in the bloody rampage and wounded 21 others. Those gunned down represent a diverse cross-section of Americans (Hispanic, gay, Jewish, among other backgrounds) whose shattered families now must face the holidays and the rest of their lives without them.

Yes, it is sad that Farook and Malik’s 6-month-old daughter’s future is uncertain. Her criminal parents were killed in a shootout with law enforcement, which thankfully prevented further destruction of more innocent lives.

But the same hobbling uncertainty this child faces is already far too familiar to scores of American families who have lost parents or loved ones to terror perpetrated by Islamic extremists or other criminals intent on harming innocent American citizens. We need to remember these American victims — and remember the nation we can and should be.

Innocent children whose parents had not stockpiled more than 7,000 rounds of ammunition for assault-styled rifles, 9 mm handguns and .22-caliber rifles said goodbye Wednesday morning to their mom or dad and fully expected to get a hug, phone call, or text from them later in the day, as always.

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“Later” never came. “Always” doesn’t exist for these families any longer.

Nicholas Thalasinos, originally from southern New Jersey, was a long-time employee of the San Bernardino Department of Health who was gunned down in the California tragedy. In a cruel irony, he had devoted his entire professional life to public safety.

His son Jacob, days later, is struggling to understand what is not understandable: His father is gone.

He recalled the moment he got the devastating news at work.

“As soon as my boss came and got me, I looked in and saw my aunt, I knew … I knew it was him,” Jacob told 6abc.com.

Liberal media outlets have urged concern for the terrorists’ family. It’s about understanding the terrorists, they plead, about helping their families heal from the heinous acts committed by their loved ones.

“It’s also key that Malik and Farook’s daughter grows up with the ability to incorporate this dark part of her life story in a positive way,” Yahoo! News announced, all worked up about the baby’s future.

But such healing is nearly impossible to come by when a loved one’s life is cut short by a bullet, a bomb or an IED triggered by a terrorist.

Related: ISIS Hates to be Called ‘Daesh’

In war, soldiers’ families have an ongoing expectation that a dreaded knock on the door or ring of the phone might come at any time, bringing news of the death of a loved one. In terrorism, there is no such expectation — yet with the rise of acts like these, fractured families experience new depths of pain.

In the 9/11 attacks, 2,753 people were killed. Since that attack on our soil, Americans have been beheaded in the Middle East and murdered here at home and elsewhere.

Liberal politicians are sidestepping the obvious, instead offering weak, vague statements full of sound but not fury. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she wants “people to feel safe” after the San Bernardino shooting, while President Obama says we “don’t know” yet what motivated the San Bernardino shooters.

The Farook and Sayd families already have spokesmen who are available to relay messages and answer questions from the media. Gun opponents spew more hatred and vitriol toward Second Amendment supporters than they would ever voice about the massacres of Americans by radicalized Islamists in their workplace, on their own streets, and overseas.

Yet the growing number of American families of the victims of radical Islamic terrorism do not have spokespeople to get their message out: They will need help and healing for a long time to come.

They have their loss, their strength, their memories. That is no replacement for the loved ones no longer in their midst.