This reminds me of when black Americans were saying Colin Fergueson wasn't black, he was Jamaican. Black people don't committ mass murders (as if that helps all the other situations).
Maybe this soldier was black, and that would satisfy a lot of FReepers and spurn more discussions about muslims. If he's white, well no one will care except Jesse Jacskon. Maybe he's hispanic or mixed race, thus making EVERYONE's day suck.
Actually, I think there's a quite legitimate question here, as to whether he is simply a Muslim, or a "Black Muslim" - not to refer to his race, but to whether or not he is an adherent of the Nation of Islam. If the latter, we are not dealing with a typical Muslim or a Wahhabist, but with a home-grown gang of racist Muslim wannabes. That becomes a whole different issue to deal with. Calypso Louie has been saying some fairly inflammatory things to his followers, and this fellow may have taken him at his word.
On the other hand, he may just be a nut case who turned to NOI to try to get some stability and order in his life. (In other words, membership in NOI may be a symptom rather than a cause of his behavior.)
It will all come out eventually. There is too much info available on the web (esp. at FR) for the truth to be suppressed -- whatever it turns out to be.