Two Muslim extremists plotted to kill Americans with guidance from terrorists in Yemen. As we all watched over the Christmas holiday, a Nigerian man's attempt to blow up an airliner bound for Detroit may have succeeded if not for a failed detonator and the swift and brave reaction of a passenger and the flight crew.

The White House immediately labeled the incident an "attempted terrorist attack."

Seven weeks earlier, an Army psychiatrist who repeatedly expressed radical beliefs and communicated with a radical cleric in Yemen, opened fire at a Fort Hood processing center, killing 13 people and wounding 30 more. The Yemeni cleric has said that Nidal Malik Hasan even sought his blessing before the shooting spree on American soldiers.

Hasan faces 13 counts of murder and other charges. But the White House has not labeled his massacre a terrorist attack.

The question is, why?