Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39 year old Muslim with ties to extremist rhetoric fought back against his impending deployment to Afghanistan by shooting unarmed military personnel who were getting processed for overseas deployment, killing 13 and wounding more than 30 others. Before the first funeral can take place, left wingers and family members are trying to explain away the worst massacre to ever occur on a US military base.
The details are still emerging, but already people are trying to indicate that Hasan, a psychiatrist whose training was bought and paid for by the Army he somehow now loathed, was suffering from PTSD. The condition, also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, possibly came to him from speaking with returning wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital. The theory being posed combines this stress with his impending rotation to combat zone as being the triggering event.
Hasan's cousin Nadar Hasan said his family was in shock and that Hasan was a, "great American." and that his dealing with patients at Walter Reed must have affected him psychologically.
A closer examination of his background reveals that Hasan had potentially made statements against the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and was angry that President Obama had not pulled troops out. Hassan had also been given a poor fitness report, which according to military experts, would paint the Major in a bad light for future promotions.
Freud would call this projection theory. I would call Hasan a coward who did not mind taking all the money and training to become a doctor, yet would speak out or act out to avoid his obligations. Those who defend him or his so-called "condition" are to be considered just as low and cowardly as he has demonstrated with his heinous act of violence.
Whatever the case may be as to why Hasan "snapped" or otherwise decided to kill so many people around him, there can be no excuse for ever opening fire on unarmed personnel who are not in the act of combat. He is reported to have made a statement equating suicide bombers to a soldier who throws himself on a grenade as being somewhat heroic.
In the case of a soldier giving his life to protect the lives of others, he does so to avoid immanent harm. Suicide bombers kill innocents and are always considered to be cowards, just as Hasan. In the end, the victims, including a 21 year old 9 month pregnant soldier gave their lives, not in combat, but in an act of treachery that will be difficult to adequately punish.
The true hero in this tragedy will be found in a female civilian security officer who is credited with downing Hasan as he was in the act of firing his weapons, striking him multiple times. 13 have died and more than 30 remain wounded, but Hasan lives. I pray that his recovery will be painful and slow and when military justice is served upon him, that it grinds exceedingly slow.
Whether you are Muslim, Christian or Jew or any other belief, or no belief, say a word of thanksgiving that Hasan was stopped before more were killed and that those who fell as well as their families and all affected are able to deal with the realities of the situation and that some measure of closure will be found in this horrible tragedy.
Mike Rowland
BLOGGERS NOTE, Hasan is the son of Palestinian immigrants who came to Virginia in 1962. Hasan was born in the US and actually grew up in Vinton, graduating in 1987 from high school in the Roanoke, VA area. According to an article at Roanoke.com, His parents ran a dive bar and also a Mediterranean restaurant in the downtown section of the city. Though I never went in the business, I was familiar with it's location. Please check out Roanoke.com for additional information about the local information on Hasan.
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