Al-Huda
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 6/99
Newsletter for December 2009
Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12
Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America
by Sheila Musaji
Founding Editor, The American
Muslim (TAM) Magazine
First I must say that as a Muslim, as an American, and as a
human being - I cannot understand how anyone can commit such an
act. The “fact” that Maj. Hasan was a Muslim and so am I does
not give me any understanding of his action - the fact that we
are both Americans does not give me any understanding of his
action - the fact that we are both human beings does not give me
any understanding of his action. The shooting at Fort Hood was
a criminal act. A person who could do such a thing is either
mentally unbalanced, a sociopath, or a psycopath. With the
information we have so far there is no way to tell what category
Maj. Hasan falls under.
If he was harassed because of his religion, if he had an unhappy
family life, if he wanted out of the military, if he had had a
change of heart and did not want to serve in Afghanistan or Iraq
- none of this changes the fact that what he did was criminal.
He could have asked for conscientious objector status. Even if
the Army was not following their own protocol and refused to let
him resign his commission, he could have gone to jail rather
than go overseas, or he could have gone AWOL and taken his
chances - at least that would not have hurt so many others.
Maj. Hasan betrayed his country, he betrayed his military oath,
he betrayed his medical oath, he betrayed his religion.
My brother Ray Hanania, an American Arab Christian who served in
the military has some cogent observations from experience: “The
reality is that thousands of Arabs and Muslims have served in
the military, including myself. I served during the Vietnam War
and have both an honorable discharge and a Vietnam Era Service
ribbon, among other recognitions. Bigotry and racism existed in
the U.S. Air Force even when I served in it in the early 1970s.
My colleagues called me such names as “sand nigger” and “camel
jockey.” Officers and enlisted personnel challenged me: “Who’s
side will you be on if we have to go fight in the (1973)
Arab-Israeli war?” they would ask. Among my best friends in the
military were two Muslim brothers who suffered similar taunts.
Yet, those incidents did not discourage me from continuing my
service in the Illinois Air National guard for 10 more years.”
At Fort Hood there have been other soldiers who objected to the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and refused deployment. Just a few
months ago Spc. Victor Agosto refused to deploy to Afghanistan
over his beliefs that the war violates international law. He
was sentenced to a month in jail, had his rank reduced, and will
receive an administrative discharge. Another soldier, Travis
Bishop refused to deploy because of his religious beliefs which
he said had become stronger over time.
Understanding the “why” of this tragedy may be possible after
all the investigations are done, and if Maj. Hasan recovers
enough, or is mentally stable enough to be able to explain
himself. That being said, I would like to attempt to understand
how someone can come to such a place in their life that an
action like this seems reasonable to them. I doubt that we can
ever fully understand (we still don’t understand any of the
other such incidents that have taken place), but perhaps any
illumination will help us to find ways to prevent things like
this from happening in the future.
In the meantime, I cringe every time someone asks me to explain
why Maj. Hasan or any other Muslim criminal has committed some
reprehensible act. I don’t know why. I may understand it even
less than many non-Muslims think they understand because the
Islam that I know has nothing in common with any possible
justification they may raise to attempt to connect criminality,
violence, hatred, or injustice with Islam. Actually, I am
amazed that intelligent people could possibly believe that it
makes sense to ask any random Muslim to explain the actions of
any one of the other 1.5 billion Muslims on earth, as if we are
connected to each other like the Borg.
I am also shocked that so many people seem to believe that if
someone commits such a crime, the fact that they are a Muslim
becomes the explanation for that. The typical litany goes
something like this ... Oh, of course, he’s a Muslim - they are
all violent, they can’t be trusted, they lie, they shouldn’t be
allowed in the military, they shouldn’t be allowed in this
country, stealth jihad, and on and on.
Added to my disgust with the actions of Maj. Hasan for the crime
of taking so many lives, and the terrible anguish he has brought
to the families of his victims, is anger for the anguish he has
brought to all American Arabs and Muslims, and to his fellow
Arab and Muslim military members. And, I am angry that so many
people seem to believe that if any Muslim commits a crime, or
even acts badly in any way, then every Muslim must apologize for
their actions. Why is that?
As another dear brother, Robert Salaam, a former marine so
eloquently expressed: “The actions of this madman cost us, the
many Muslims that have served this country honourably over the
years, so much. I, like them, make no secret of my love of my
faith as well as my country and my Corps. Like everyone else,
young Muslims want to serve even over the objection of their
parents: they want to be part of something, they want to do
their bit. Many American Muslim military personnel have
honourable discharges; some others gave the ultimate sacrifice,
and are buried at Arlington Cemetry. I want to say to
Christians: this murderer is no more one of us than the
paedophile priest, the abortion doctor killer, or the millions
of prisoners behind bars are part of you. And yet already our
military loyalties, our honour, and our integrity are being
questioned. Most American Muslims today are going to get up, get
ready for work, send their kids off to school, and pray that
nothing stupid happens because of their faith. My hope is that
the professionalism of most armed forces units will mean that
casual jokes and debate will be the norm. But violence is also
possible. Meanwhile, some non-Muslims still believe that an
entire religious community shares responsibility for the actions
of one guy that we didn’t even know existed until yesterday. No
other faith community is taken to task in this manner. I read
the blogs and messageboards, and I understand people are upset –
but the reaction is disheartening: calls for the expulsions of
Muslims from the armed forces, or for a vetting process, or in a
few cases for an all-out ban on Islam. So even as I make extra
prayers and give Dua, I know that my fellow non-Muslim Americans
would love to see me leave my country. I wonder where they would
like me to go.”
What we now know (or think we know) about the shooting at Fort
Hood:
There are 13 dead and 38 wounded in a shooting attack at Fort
Hood, TX. Major Nidal Malik Hasan a physician and psychiatrist
appears to have been the single shooter. He is in the hospital
in stable condition. The attack went on for about 10 minutes
and 100 shots were fired. He was eventually brought down by
four shots from the weapon of civilian police Sgt. Kimberly
Munley. He carried two guns, but only one gun was used in the
shooting.
Maj. Hasan was born and raised in Virginia. His parents were
Palestinian immigrants. He joined the Army right after high
school. He served eight years as an enlisted soldier during
which time he studied at Barstow Community College in California
and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, where he
earned an associate degree in science in 1992. He graduated
from Virginia Tech in 1995, receiving a bachelor’s degree in
biochemistry with honors and minors in biology and chemistry.
His father died in 1998, his mother in 2001. He entered the
Bethesda campus of the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences in 1997 and graduated in 2003 as a medical
doctor. For seven years from 2003 through this summer, was an
intern, a resident and then a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center in Washington D.C. caring for trauma victims. He
completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army
Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in
disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009. While at Walter
Reed he had some difficulties that required that he receive
counseling. He was promoted to the rank of Major in May 2009
even though he had had a recent poor performance review from
Walter Reed. He was transferred to Fort Hood in July 2009. He
had retained a lawyer to help him get out of the military. In
August 2009 he walked into Guns Galore near Fort Hood and spent
$1,000 on a high-powered, Belgian-made semi-automatic pistol.
(Times Online) According to the military he was carrying two
guns, but this was the only one he used. He was due to be
deployed to Afghanistan in November and had expressed concerns
about this. For the past few years he had been asking to be let
out of his military duty. People who knew him never saw him as
violent, but as quiet and somewhat isolated. He was a religious
man who attended the local mosque regularly both in Maryland and
in Texas. He gave away most of his possessions to neighbors
before the incident, telling them that he was being deployed.
He was never married and had no children.
These seem to be the facts of the situation, but anything may
change at any time as we have seen from previous reports of two
or three shooters, a second shooter cornered, the death of Maj.
Hasan, etc. And, there are still inconsistencies in the stories
in the media. When this story first broke, there was nothing
but conjecture, rumors, and just plain nonsense. But, even
after we are beginning to get an actual picture of the events
and of the man, there are some things that just don’t make
sense. Glenn Greenwald has an excellent listing of many of the
errors in the original stories.
Placing the Fort Hood Shooting in Context
Random violence is not a unique event. In the SAME WEEK this
tragedy took place at Fort Hood, Jason Rodriguez opened fire in
the offices of his former employer in Florida killing 1 person
and wounding 5 others. THIS YEAR Michael McLendon murdered his
mother and then set off on a 24-mile shooting spree in Alabama
during which he fired more than 200 rounds and killed 10 more
people, including himself; and, Jiverly Voong opened fire at an
immigration services center in downtown Binghamton, NY, killing
as many as 13 people before shooting himself. This was not the
first such event at a military installation this year. Sgt.
John M. Russell of the 54th Engineering Battalion killed 5
soldiers at the Camp Liberty military stress counseling clinic
in Iraq.
There have been numerous serial killers (e.g. Jeffrey Dahmer,
Dean Corll, Angelo Buono, Ronald Dominique, Kristen Gilbert, Ted
Bundy, Richard Ramirez, John Wayne Gacy, David Berkowitz, Ed
Gein, Juan Corona, Donald Gaskins, Gary Ridgeway etc.)
There have been many tragic shooting sprees over the years. For
example:
Similar civilian incidents
1966 - Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother and then went
up to a tower at the University of Texas in Austin and killed 14
people and wounded 32 others before the police killed him.
1970 - 29 members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on
unarmed students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War
into Cambodia on the Kent State University college campus,
killing 4 and wounding 9 others.
1984 - James Oliver Huberty went into a McDonald’s in San Ysidro,
CA and killed 21 people and injured 19 others before being
killed himself.
1991 - George Hennard drove into Luby’s diner in Killeen, TX and
killed 23 people and wounded more than 20 before committing
suicide.
1999 - Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold went into their Columbine
H.S. and killed 13 people and injured wounded 24 before commitng
suicide.
2002 - John Allen Muhammad & Lee Boyd Malvo killed 10 people and
wounded 3 people in D.C., MD, and VA.
2005 - Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his
grandfather’s girlfriend on the Red Lake, MN Chippewa
reservation, then went to Red Lake H.S. where he killed 7 people
and wounded 5 others before committing suicide.
2006 - Charles Carl Roberts IV went into an Amish school in
Lancaster County, PA and killed 5 girls before committing
suicide.
2007 - Seung-Hui Cho went on a rampage at Virginia Tech and
killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing
suicide.
2007 - Sulejman Talovic went on a rampage in a Utah mall and
killed 5 people and wounded 4 before being shot.
Similar military incidents
The military has not been immune from this sort of incident.
Attacks on fellow soldiers were dubbed “fragging” in Vietnam.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that: “Between 1969 and
1971, the Army reported 600 fragging incidents that killed 82
and wounded 651.” More recently such incidents continue:
1995 - Sgt. William J. Kreutzer, Jr. killed one officer and
wounded 17 other soldiers when he opened fire on a formation at
Fort Bragg, NC.
2003 - Army sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar killed two officers of
the 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Iraq (He
was a Muslim convert)
2005 - Two officers were killed at Forward Operating Base Danger
in Tikrit, Iraq by a deliberately placed mine. Staff Sergeant
Alberto B. Martinez was charged in the killing but was acquitted
in a court martial trial at Fort Bragg, NC.
2006 - Pvt. Steven Green raped a 14-year-old girl, and killed
her and 3 other members of her family in Iraq
2007 - Master Sgt. John Hatley convicted of the execution-style
killings of 4 bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees near
Baghdad.
2007 - Olin Ferrier, a Fort Carson, CO soldier killed a taxi
driver in Pueblo, CO
2008 - Staff Sgt. Brandon Norris killed Spc. Kamisha Block and
then committed suicide in Iraq. The military first reported
this as a death by “friendly fire”.
2008 - Spc. Jody Michael Wirawan killed 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett
Fletcher at Fort Hood and then committed suicide
2008 - Dustin Thorson, an Air Force technical sergeant killed
his son and daughter on Tinker Air Base, OK. (He had been
diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning
from Iraq.)
2008 - Edgar Patino, a soldier at Fort Bragg, NC killed another
soldier Spc. Megan Touma who was pregnant.
2009 - Jomar Falu Vives a Fort Carson, CO soldier and Iraq war
veteran accused of killing 2 people and wounding another in
drive-by shootings.
There has also been an increase in the number of SUICIDES among
military personnel and according to CNN, this: “… can be
traced, in part, to a “stressed and tired force” made vulnerable
by multiple deployments. ... Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, vice chief
of naval operations, said suicides are the third leading cause
of death in the Navy. And the article makes a relevant point
that relates not only to suicides, but to the mental state of
soldiers “ ... And it wasn’t just the trauma of war that
appears to heighten the risk. The suicides were about evenly
divided among those who had returned from deployment, those who
were still deployed—some on a third or fourth tour—and those who
had never been deployed - All of the military leaders said they
had too few mental health professionals in their ranks.” The New
York Times reports that “military suicides are at the highest
level in nearly three decades.”
There has been an increase in the number of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AND MURDER cases among military personnel. CBS News reported
that in 2002 alone, 4 wives were killed in just 6 weeks at Fort
Bragg, and that three of the husbands had served in
Afghanistan. At that time, there were some who questioned
whether a malaria drug called Larium that the soldiers had taken
before deployment had affected them. “Soldiers at Fort Bragg
said they are well aware of mental problems linked to the
anti-malaria drug Lariam, which include aggression, depression,
paranoia, hallucinations and suicidal thinking, even as official
military spokesmen dismiss a connection between the drug and the
events around Fayetteville this summer which have drawn national
attention. ...UPI reported in May that mounting evidence
suggests Lariam has caused such severe mental problems that in a
small percentage of cases it has led to suicide. In July, UPI
reported that scores of Peace Corps volunteers are coming
forward saying they have suffered severe mental problems, some
of which have lasted for years after they stopped taking the
drug.” Ann Jones reported that: “… since returning from Iraq,
nine members of the Fort Carson, Colorado, Fourth Brigade Combat
team had been charged with homicide.”
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is a serious problem
Similar “religiously motivated” incidents
Regrettably, there have also been many “religiously motivated”
incidents of violence and terrorism over the years. To give
only one equally horrifying example: Baruch Goldstein a 38
year-old American Israeli medical doctor opened fire at a mosque
in Hebron during Friday prayers and killed 30
Muslim-Palestinians. This is also called the Hebron massacre -
Hebron massacre (Goldstein’s tombstone reads Here lies the
saint, Dr. Baruch Kappel Goldstein, blessed be the memory of the
righteous and holy man, may the Lord avenge his blood, who
devoted his soul to the Jews, Jewish religion and Jewish land.
His hands are innocent and his heart is pure. He was killed as a
martyr of God on the 14th of Adar, Purim, in the year 5754
(1994). After his death there are annual graveside parties to
celebrate Goldstein’s action.) There have been so many such
incidents that TAM has one collection of information about
Jewish Extremism and Terrorism and another on Christian
Extremism and Terrorism. So, the claim that all terrorists or
extremists are Muslims ignores history.
What are the key issues that have been raised about the Fort
Hood shooting?
1) The criminals religion seems to be the main focus.
Whether or not Maj. Hasan was a Muslim, and if so whether he was
a convert or born Muslim was brought up almost immediately, and
lots of discussion took place about whether converts to Islam
were more likely to be violent. Once it was known that he was a
Muslim and born a Muslim, then began discussions about the
meaning of - The fact that Maj. Hasan had the word Allah in
Arabic on his apartment door. (Actually this is very common
among Muslims, just as having a mezuzah on the door is common
among Jews. It is a way of asking God to bless and protect this
home. We have Bismillah on all our exterior doors.) - The fact
that some witnesses reported that Maj. Hasan had said “Allahu
Akbar” before shooting. (This is strange only because Islam
clearly forbids the action he was about to commit, but no more
strange than a Catholic criminal lighting candles in church
before a crime). - The fact that Maj. Hasan regularly attended
a local mosque. (It is too bad he didn’t pick up even the basic
Islamic teachings there - “And fulfill every covenant. Verily,
you will be held accountable with regard to the covenants.”
(Quran, 17:34)) - The fact that Maj. Hasan sometimes wore
“Islamic clothing”. (Really stretching. So do many Muslims,
and Jews, and Sikhs, and Hindus, etc. This has no meaning at
all.)
Wajahat Ali notes in The Guardian: “Ultimately, this use – or
misuse – of fear and rumour over Hasan’s Islamic faith should be
moot in light of the record of the thousands of Muslim American
soldiers who have served and made sacrifice – such as Kareem
Rashad Sultan Khan, awarded the prestigious Purple Heart and
Bronze Star and praised by Colin Powell, who now rests in
Arlington cemetery after giving his life to protect and serve
his country in Iraq. ... If Hasan’s faith is ultimately proven
to be the misguided inspiration for his violence, then the brave
and patriotic service of thousands of Muslim American soldiers
renders him an isolated and aberrant exception.”
Media Matters reports that: “Right-wing media figures have used
the shooting at Fort Hood as an excuse to attack Islam and
American Muslims in particular, with Debbie Schlussel, for
example, urging readers to think of the alleged shooter
“whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the
U.S. military.” ... Fox News host Brian Kilmeade suggesting the
implementation of “special debriefings” for Muslim American
soldiers to prevent future attacks.” The same articles notes
some other comments: “Pamela Geller - Shooter is in the “pious
Muslim category,” has “such Islamic bravery.” Michelle Malkin -
links shooter to other “Muslim Soldiers with Attitude.”
As H.A. Hellyer expresses so well: “And we also know that people
on the far right (and probably on the left as well), will use
this sad turn of events to yet again “prove” that Muslim
Americans are simply not American. They are merely interlopers
on American soil who must be suspected and pulled aside for
random checks at airports. Any Muslims who condemn the attacks
must have ulterior, clandestine motives for doing so, and be
dishonest collaborators with the enemy. There are no moderates:
there are only those who believe in Islam – the enemy – and
those who are brave enough to leave this evil cult – our
friends. There are those who see the Qur’an as revelation, who
are our mortal foes, and those who see the Qur’an as the
manifesto for world fascistic domination, who are our allies.”
Every major Muslim and Arab organization has condemned this
incident and offered their condolences to the families of the
victims. The suggestion that Islam is the problem can only be
called Islamophobia, bigotry, religious hatred. The danger in
this sort of labeling is that it sets off those among us who are
only to happy to have a scapegoat on which to vent their rage.
It is an irrational prejudice that lumps all Muslims into one
category - the “other”, “them”, “those people”. If this anger
is towards the criminal actions of some Muslims, then American
Muslims are also on your side in the fight against them. If
your anger is towards our existence as Muslims and our love for
our faith, our book, and our prophet, then that is something
else again. It is Islamophobia, and it is Anti-American. I
pray that the voices of dialogue and reason prevail and drown
out the voices that would tear us apart. By burning bridges
with American Muslims we make me and my family, and all other
Americans, less safe. This facile “explanation” is an easy out
and wastes the possibility of looking for real issues and
solutions.
I also wonder, if Islam is the problem that caused this man to
go wrong then what about all the other Muslims who have and are
serving in the military and those that fought and died in
Afghanistan and Iraq, Vietnam, World War I and II? Was it in
spite of being Muslims - or does religion matter only when a
Muslim commits a crime, not when a Muslim is a good and
productive citizen? How about Muslims who have shown unusual
bravery like Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan who was praised by Colin
Powell?
Are there more productive questions we need to ask?
What are the important facts about Maj. Hasan that we need to
look at more closely in order to attempt to understand the “why”
of his criminal actions. Could this tragedy have been
prevented. Were warning signs missed?
Was there any friendly fire involved? NPR reports that: “A
senior U.S. official told The Associated Press that
investigators have not ruled out the possibility that some
casualties may have been victims of “friendly fire,” shot by
authorities amid the mayhem and confusion at the scene.” We now
know that he only shot one of the guns he was carrying. How is
it possible that one man could have done so much damage using
only one gun?
If Maj. Hasan wanted to leave the military, why was this
difficult for him to do, and why did he need to hire an
attorney? According to the Wall Street Journal: “Army officials
at the Pentagon said that Muslim soldiers who felt their
religion prevented them from fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan
could claim conscientious objector status and seek noncombat
assignments in the U.S. But they weren’t aware of any Muslim
soldiers who had done so.” Did Maj. Hasan ask for such an
assignment? Was he refused? And, if so, why?
Were warning signs ignored by the Muslim community An imam at
the mosque Hasan attended in Killeen, Texas - Osman Danqua has
told a reporter that Maj. Hasan had come to him a few months ago
to talk about concerns that he was conflicted between his faith
and his allegiance to the military. According to an article in
USA Today, Hasan asked Danqua: “If soldiers come to me and have
problems fighting other Muslims, what do I tell them?” ... “Hasan
also asked about soldiers changing their minds after joining the
military and inquired about other members of the congregation.
His line of questioning sounded so disjointed, however, that
Danquah said Saturday he suspected Hasan might be a federal
agent trying to infiltrate the mosque. I told him, ‘There’s
something wrong with you, and if you’re here to gather
information, we’re not here to do anything against the
government. We’re here to worship,’” Danquah said.”
Were warning signs ignored by the military? It was reported that
Hasan was promoted to Major in May although his last performance
evaluation at Walter Reed Hospital was not good. Some military
personnel have now said that he made statements that concerned
them, or even that made them question his loyalty. What did
they do about this? According to YNet “However, classmate
Finnell said that Hasan made a presentation during their studies
“that justified suicide bombing” and spewed “anti-American
propaganda” as he argued the war on terror was “a war against
Islam.” Finnell said he and at least one other student
complained about Hasan, surprised that someone with “this type
of vile ideology” would be allowed to wear an officer’s
uniform. But Finnell said no one filed a formal, written
complaint about Hasan’s comments out of fear of appearing
discriminatory.” According to Times Online a Dr. Val Finnell who
was with Hasan at Walter Reed said that: “… Hasan had
consistently expressed opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars
since his early days at Walter Reed. One of his fellow students
recalled Hasan arguing that suicide bombers were comparable to
soldiers who fell on grenades to protect their colleagues. “I
really questioned his loyalty,” If there were colleagues who
questioned his loyalty, did they report this to the
authorities? If there only reason for not reporting something
as serious as justifying suicide bombing, then they were
derelict in their duty to protect all of us, Muslim and
non-Muslim.
Are there enough mental health professionals in the military,
and who is taking care of their mental health? According to the
Christian Science Monitor: “There are 408 psychiatrists in the
Army, including nearly 300 civilians and civilian contractors,
according to Army officials in Washington, for 550,000 active
duty soldiers.”
“Major Hasan was one of a thin line of military therapists
trying to hold off a rising tide of need. So far this year, 117
soldiers on active duty were reported to have committed suicide.
The Army has only 408 psychiatrists — military, civilian and
contractors — serving about 553,000 active-duty troops around
the world. As a result, some soldiers home from war, suffering
from nightmares and panic attacks, say they have waited almost a
year to see a psychi atrist. Many military professionals,
meanwhile, describe crushing schedules with 10 or more patients
a day, most struggling with devastating trauma or mutilated
bodies that are the product of war and the highly advanced care
that kept them alive. Some of those hired to heal others end up
needing help themselves. Some go home at night too depressed to
talk to their children. Others, like Bret A. Moore, a former
Army psychologist at Fort Hood, ultimately quit. “I planned for
a career in the military, but I burned out” after about five
years, he said. The biggest problem, Dr. Moore said, was
“compassion fatigue.” (New York Times)
In an article entitled The Forever War of the Mind, Max Cleland,
the secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, a
Democratic senator from Georgia from 1997 to 2003, and a Vietnam
Vet said: “While the authorities say they cannot yet tell us
why an Army psychiatrist would go on a shooting rampage at Fort
Hood in Texas, we do know the sorts of stories he had been
dealing with as he tried to help those returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan readjust to life outside the war zone. A soldier’s
mind can be just as dangerous to himself, and to those around
him, as wars fought on traditional battlefields. War is
haunting. Death. Pain. Blood. Dismemberment. A buddy dying in
your arms. Imagine trying to get over the memory of a bomb
splitting a Humvee apart beneath your feet and taking your leg
with it. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American
soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory
as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both
legs.”
Were the conditions at Walter Reed overwhelming to deal with?
Max Cleland in the same article listed above notes: “ ... We
know of the recent failures at Walter Reed Medical Center, where
soldiers were stranded in substandard barracks infested with
rats while awaiting treatment. I was in Walter Reed myself at
that time seeking counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder,
which, ignited by a barrage of Iraq headlines and the loss of my
United States Senate seat, had simply consumed me. ... Weeks
before the troubles at Walter Reed became public in 2007, my
counselor put it to me simply. “We are drowning in war,” she
said. The problems at Walter Reed had nothing to do with the
dedicated doctors and nurses there. The problems had to do with
the White House and Congress and the Department of Defense. The
problems had to do with money.”
Rev. Carl Wright, the head chaplain at Hill Air Force Base, who
has twice been deployed to Iraq told a Salt Lake Tribune
reporter that: “In his view, it’s not Hasan’s faith but his
experiences at the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center that might
have brought on what Wright calls “compassion stress”—also known
as secondary stress disorder. The shooter would have had
patient after patient, soldier after soldier, telling him
gruesome stories,” he said. When you’re counseling with people,
regardless of the helping profession, to a certain extent you
feel what they feel,” Wright said. “You vicariously experience
... not the identical experience, but pretty darn close,
especially when you’re a psychiatrist or psychologist.” Such
professionals, he said, need to be in therapy themselves,
constantly working on their own issues and on self-improvement.
“It’s an article of their Hippocratic oath; all healers know
that they are themselves wounded people.”
Was Maj. Hasan himself suffering from mental illness? Maj.
Hasan’s uncle in Palestine told an LA Times reporter that Maj.
Hasan: “...spoke to his uncle of ethnic taunts by Army
colleagues. He was haunted by the wartime disabilities of
soldiers he treated as an Army psychiatrist, Hamad recalled, and
was overwhelmed by a growing caseload he felt unable to manage.”
... “"The whole family is in a state of denial,” Hamad said
today. “We don’t believe he is capable of doing something like
that. I was amazed and shocked, because it’s not him. He’s very
quiet, gentle. Maybe it built up together—the harassment, too
many patients, the workload, the tragedies his patients brought
to him,” said the 65-year-old retired real estate broker.
“Whatever it was, it must have been big pressure, something
terrible he couldn’t handle.”
How could no one have noticed inconsistencies such as:
Most sources say he was never married and had no children, and
had unsucessfully tried to find a wife through Muslim
matrimonial services. However one Wall Street Journal article
mentions that a Mr. Cook, a former neighbor of Maj. Hasan in
Virginia in the 90’s said that Hasan was a single father and
that two sons were living with Maj. Hasan at that time, and they
attended local schools. Who are these children, and what
happened to them?
“While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some “difficulties”
that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas
Grieger, who was the training director at the time. Grieger
said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but
noted that the problems had to do with Hasan’s interactions with
patients. He recalled Hasan as a “mostly very quiet” person who
never spoke ill of the military or his country. “He swore an
oath of loyalty to the military,” Grieger said. “I didn’t hear
anything contrary to those oaths.” (MSNBC) How serious were
these “difficulties” and should they have kept him from pursuing
a career path that would focus on patients with PTSD?
Is there a problem with harassment of minorities (sexual
orientation, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc.) in the military?
And, if there is, what is being done about it? Military
Religious Freedom Foundation is working with about 100 Muslims
in the military who have lodged discrimination complaints.
Mikey Weinstein, the director of MRFF said his phone was ringing
Friday with complaints from Muslim troops that the Fort Hood
shooting was being used by comrades to ridicule their faith. He
has also received at least one email from an American-Muslim
military wife who has been harassed over the last few days on a
military base here in America, and whose husband is currently
deployed to Afghanistan. These folks are also “collateral
damage” of Maj. Hasan’s criminal act. What a shame that Arab
and Muslim soldiers and their families must suffer doubly.
Muslim soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan often use fake last
names to prevent being targeted by insurgents, who also may
threaten their families especially if they live in other
countries. Do they also have to hide right here in America?
Mikey Weinstein has (a hero whom I am proud to call a friend):
“called upon President Obama to immediately issue a statement as
Commander-in-Chief making it clear that there would be a zero
tolerance policy against any member of the US military
“inflicting harassments, retribution or reprisal against an
Islamic member of the US military.” President Obama issued a
statement earlier Thursday condemning the shootings. Weinstein,
whose civil rights organization was recently nominated for the
2010 Nobel Peace prize, said Obama must state, unequivocally,
that the US does not judge the worth of a “service member based
on his or her religious faith.” Weinstein’s group has exposed
the meteroric rise of fundamentalist Christianity within the US
military and has called attention to the fact that military
personnel have sought to cast the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as
a crusade between Christianity and Islam. Weinstein, an honor
graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, former White
House counsel during the Reagan administration and former
General Counsel to H. Ross Perot, said religious intolerance
within the military is widespread and continues to get worse.
... Weinstein noted that MRFF has about 18 active cases at Fort
Hood involving soldiers who allege they have been subjected to
non-stop fundamentalist Christian proselytization. “Fort Hood
is one of our worst hot spots of the nearly 1,000 US military
installations scattered around the world in approximately 132
countries,” Weinstein said. “We’ve had a particular problem with
the public elementary school that’s actually situated on the
installation where children of soldiers have been continuously
proselytized to.” Maj. Hasan, according to the New York Times,
had allegedly been harassed by fellow soldiers because he was
Muslim. “It’s obviously too early to know what all the salient
facts are,” Weinstein said. “But MRFF is the only subject matter
expert on planet earth that can speak authoritatively with
regard to the effects that religious persecution has on members
of the US military, particularly those of minority faiths like
Islam. It would absolutely strain credulity to presume that this
clearly sick perpetrator’s actions had nothing at all to do with
the fact that his faith may possibly have been Islamic.”
Had Major Hasan taken the malarial drug Lariam and could it have
brought on some sort of psychotic state?
Are there any commonalities between previous similar incidents
and this one? Religion, ethnicity, immigrant status, race - none
of these seems to be a common thread.
What happened to other two (or three) suspects? What had they
done to be suspected, why were they released, who were they?
UPDATES:
11/8/09, an Army chaplain, Col. Frank Jackson led prayers in
Killeen, Texas. He “exhorted parishioners to pray for meaning
in the worst massacre on a military facility in the United
States.” He also asked them to pray for suspected shooter Maj.
Nidal Malik Hasan and his family “as they find themselves in a
position that no person ever desires to be.” God bless this man
who is a true representative of his Christian faith.
11/9/09 The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) today
announced the launch of a special fund for the benefit of the
families of the victims of the senseless Ft. Hood attacks that
killed 13 soldiers and injured over 30 others. Recognizing the
important sacrifices made by our soldiers and their families, we
feel it is imperative for all Americans to join hands in
supporting those affected by this tragic incident. ISNA is
collaborating with various national Muslim and interfaith
organizations on this humanitarian initiative and mosques
throughout the country are expected to join fellow Americans in
contributing to help the families of the victims. Donations may
be made to “Fort Hood Family Fund” and sent to ISNA headquarters
(P. O. Box 808, Plainfield, Indiana 46168), or donate online:
http://www.forthoodfamilyfund.com
11/9/09 According to the New York Times “Intelligence agencies
intercepted communications last year and this year between Maj.
Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of shooting to death 13 people
at Fort Hood, Tex., and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his
incendiary anti-American teachings. But federal authorities
dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding that the
messages warranted no further action, government officials said
on Monday.” The cleric is Anwar al-Awlaki who is reported as
posting on his personal site that Maj. Hasan was a “hero”.
Note: The NYT gave the url for Awlaki’s site, but when I
attempted to go to the site I got an “internal server error”
message, so the site seems to be down. If is true that this
individual has said the things he is reported to have said, then
hopefully the site will remain down. Although I would have
loved to have left a comment telling him just how little I think
of his “scholarship”. Just received an article by Aziz
Poonawalla that exactly describes my feelings: “What is there
to say about al Awlaki? He’s a radical extremist islamist. On
his website, he accuses those muslims (like myself) who have
condemned Hasan’s attack at Fort Hood of “treason” to Islam and
the Ummah - frankly I am proud to be labeled a traitor by the
likes of scum such as he.” And, Omar Mozaffer has written a
letter to Al-Awlaki to which I would love to see the answer.
Inayat Bugglawala has also weighed in on Al-Awlaki’s incitement
to violence.
11/9/09 American Muslim organizations (including CAIR, MPAC, and
the Dar al Hijrah mosque) have repudiated al Awlaki’s statement.
11/10/09 The Washington Post reports that in 2007 Maj. Hasan
“warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half
ago that to avoid “adverse events,” the military should allow
Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors
instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.” (You can
click on the Gallery link in this article and see the full
presentation he made.) The article quotes some of those in
attendance as finding his choice of topic “really strange” and
the article itself seems to suggest that it was a strange
topic. It seems to me that for a psychiatrist specializing in
treating military members with psychological issues, this was
not strange, but an attempt to point out a particular problem
that might be an issue among some military members. A Daily
News article further notes that other psychiatrists who worked
with him were “troubled by his work”, and that he
“underperformed” and yet, “It is unclear if anyone reported the
briefing to intelligence or law enforcement authorities”. This
article further notes that: “One source says the Policy
Committee also discussed that it might be a bad public relations
move to remove one of the few Muslims from their program.” That
is absolutely unacceptable - as an American and a Muslim, I
would hope that not only the military, but also any medical
reviewing bodies would not allow someone they felt was not
qualified, or was unstable to remain in a position just because
of their minority status.
11/10/09 FBI Agents Search Trash At Killeen Mosque Attended by
Hasan
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/feds-search-hasan-nidals-mosque/story?id=9044669
11/10/09 BBC interview by Gavin Lee with people at Killeen
mosque (only for 3 days, so will attempt to get some
transcription) includes a mosque member identified as “a young
American Muslim called Duane” who says he will never condemn
Maj. Hasan, and appears to justify the shooting. I hope the
local community talks to this fellow and attempts to straighten
out his thinking.
11/10/09 Today in Tampa, FL, a Marine reservist attacked a Greek
priest he claimed he thought was a terrorist, according to the
news report: “Bruce pulled out a tire iron and attacked the
priest, police said. He then called 911 as he chased Marakis,
saying an Arab man was trying to rob him. When officers arrived,
Bruce told them the man was a terrorist. Bruce also told police
he heard Marakis yell, “Allahu akbar!” — Arabic for “God is
great,” according to Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
Marakis, however, does not speak Arabic, McElroy said. He speaks
Greek. Police are working to determine if the offense meets the
standard for a hate crime.”
11/10/09 According to TPM, yesterday: Dave Gaubatz, the
conservative author of the new book Muslim Mafia, the foreword
of which was penned by Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), explicitly called
for a “professional and legal backlash against the Muslim
community and their leaders” in response to the Fort Hood
shootings. They further quote him as saying: “"If Muslims do
not want a backlash, then I would recommend a ‘house cleaning.’”
11/10/09 Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Frequented Local Strip Club
according to Fox News. It seems as if he must have had a split
personality.
11/16/09 We have put a number of new articles about this tragedy
on TAM including Anti Muslim Rhetoric Reaching a Dangerous Level
and Muslims Must Condemn Religious Extremists. You can access
these updates at the following link:
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/fort_hood_tragedy_islam_and_america/0017718
courtesy: The Americam Muslim Journal (TAM), November 02, 2009
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