groups

I just read the story and was quite surprised to learn that the soldier who did the shootings was a psychiatrist. There is something strange about this man too, for one thing it's not clear whether Hasan is even his real name or a name he chose after converting to Islam. I guess we will just have to wait until more facts come out before forming a judgment.

This murderer posted a blog celebrating Islamic Suicide Bombers, and was vocally critical of US Foreign Policy. He refered to Suicide Bombers as "Brave Soldiers of Allah"...

Draw your own conclusions, but never trust a Muslim...

FW

It is not strange to me that the alleged shooter at Ft. Hood is a psychiatrist; at one time psychiatrist had the highest suicide rate of any profession, and I remember as an ambulance paramedic going to the home of a psychiatrist who had a gun, displayed threatening behavior, throwing chairs around, etc. The police had to subdue the guy and they took him to a mental health facility. Further, my former supervisor in Denver, Colorado, a man with both a M.D. and PhD, a licensed psychiatrist and licensed psychologist, went home one day and killed his wife and children. The thing about it is that he never displayed any signs of instability.

I was in the U.S. Army Medical Corp and was at one time stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and also worked at Darnell Army Hospital there on base, so I have been very interested in this story. First I must say that the information is trickling out little by little and no one should jump to conclusions before all is said and done. There are now reports that the Major in question has been a Muslim all his life and did not convert to Islam as earlier reported. Secondly, in my opinion, this did not happen because of some “collapsing inner structure.” I think it was more about his ideology, as FlyWacko has stated, than anything else.

Some people do believe that because a person has a certain job title or degree of education that they will not commit horrendous acts. These types of people usually put a great deal of stock in tiles and labels of how we call things and people, and they usually hold people with titles in high esteem, but when we have had Presidents of the United States who have been accused of adultery, associated with burglary, and other immoral or criminal acts why would it be surprising that a psychiatrist could commit mass murder?

There are priest that rape children, and also clergy who have committed murder. Mental health counselors who exploit their clients, etc. A person’s job title or training does not make them more mature or better than anyone else. Dr. Michael DeBakey, M.D., said to be the greatest surgeon of the 20th century, was a misogynist and a racist, and there are others who have been held in high esteem that had questionable behavior. I guess it is surprising because these people are in positions of trust and we expect for them to have integrity, but they are still labile human beings just like everyone else.

As most Vietnam veterans are aware, during that war there were “fraggings;” the killing of an American soldier by other American soldiers, usually with a fragmentation grenade. But to the best of my knowledge these killings did not take place here in the U.S. They were all done in the war zone and mostly to officers and top enlisted personal. What makes this different is not that this guy is a psychiatrist but that is a Major in the U.S. Army; he is and officer, and that is unusual.

Most likely as this story develops I think we will find that his religious ideology, and not his military rank or profession, had the most influence on his actions. Unfortunately there have been other killings by American soldiers, who were sympathetic towards Islam and Jihad, of other American soldiers that took place in Iraq. There is much yet to be revealed in this Fort Hood story.

A NY times article about his background is posted today.

It would seem possible that listening to some of the anger, feelings, and language expressed by soldiers, some having therapy, between deployments could stir his emotions into some kind of action if he was supportive of suicide bombers. It is an explosive combination, and the fraternal brotherhood bonds were with a group other than the one expected.

This guy had never been to Iraq or Afghanistan; he had never been in combat. This was his first deployment which he was scheduled to go on this month; so I think that rules out PTSD.

As you have stated Peacewithin he heard a lot of stories from other soldiers who had been in combat and that, along with his religious ideology, I feel was the impetus for his actions. It needs to be emphasized that this shooter had never been in a combat zone and therefore this had nothing to do with PTSD.

As a member of two veteran’s organizations we are going to pay tribute to the many heroes at Ft. Hood that responded to this tragedy. Next Wednesday is Veterans’ Day and we are planning to have some of them in our community for the parade, etc., to show support for their actions.

Sadly enough there was another shooting today in Orlando, Florida, last report 8 people injured, so this shooting at Ft. Hood, in my opinion, is symptomatic of something larger here in the U.S. Shootings take place on a regular basis here and the only thing that makes this different is that it happened on a military base.

Killeen, Texas, which is right outside the gates of Ft. Hood, had 23 people killed in a shooting rampage at one of its’ fast food restaurants some time ago, and Ft. Hood came to the town’s aide so it is nice to see how the town is now coming out for Ft. Hood.

As a Vietnam combat veteran I was told that it was not in my best interest to be a mental health counselor for other veterans who had been in combat because it might re-traumatize old wounds generated by my war time experiences, but this shooter at Ft. Hood was never in combat so the only wounds that were inflicted by stories which he heard from combat veterans were to his religious ideology. That is my conclusion.

The following is from today’s New York Times

The former imam at a Silver Spring, Md., mosque where Major Hasan worshiped for about 10 years described him as proud of his work in the Army and “very serious about his religion.” The former imam, Faizul Khan, said that Major Hasan had wanted to marry an equally religious woman but that his efforts to find one had failed.

“He wanted a woman who prayed five times a day and wears a hijab, and maybe the women he met were not complying with those things,” the former imam said.

I have nothing against people who are serious about their religion but the above statement does tell me what the dominant influence in this person’s life was, or is. Further, I am not against Islam as a religion but I do think that any religious theology can generate zealous fanatics, and this is not the first time that and American soldier who was a Muslim, and who was deployed to Iraq, turned against the U.S. military and killed American soldiers.

.

I do think that any religious theology can generate zealous fanatics,

Too true. Religious fanaticism is not confined to those of the Islamic faith.

I read an article that said that the shooter had problems with inappropriate interactions with patients a few years ago. I am not sure if he was disciplined for this or if just closer supervision of him was required.

This may be seen as just a very unfortunate incident. It probably is important not to read too much into it from the standpoint of religion or personal ideology. People with a latent mental illness which this man apparently had can be of any religion or race. It just goes to show what can happen when fear and our subconscious take over. Hasan did not want to go to Afganistan and now he doesn't have to his subconscious carried out his request albeit in a very bizarre way. He will be in a military prison for the rest of his life if he ever comes out of his coma. I still think we need to wait for more facts to come out on this very sad story.