Far too many generalizations and assumptions in your post for a credible answer, MisterScience. I'll wait till all the facts are in and not just the rumor-laced innuendo that seems to be permeating Eons today.
This incident is certainly a wake up call to a lot of stuff that needs to be looked at in the military.
This man was a time bomb.
PC my butt...
This man was bullied for his religion and/or his heritage. People, on post, were calling him a "camel jockey", his car was keyed, etc...
He had requested to leave the service. When that was denied, he requested not to go to the Middle East.
Maj. Hasan is an American who happened to be Islamic, and very distressed about being deployed.
"If the Taliban or Al-kida had some guy in their midst who praised the USA, dressed like an American, and was named John Smith or Billy-Bob Jones, do you think they'd look the other way?" MisterScience
Is this a trick question? The answer is no, because they do not hold this countries ideal of freedom, for which iwe are ostensibly fighting.
Other than that I believe I will follow merlinsflame's example.
As I wrote on another thread, considering how many psychiatrists are on staff at Fort Hood, I don't understand how they could miss the fact that Maj. Hasan was coming severely unravelled. He made no connections upon his transfer - he gave away his personal Koran to a neighbor: that should have raised some suicide flags. He had an excellent record at Walter Reed with his PTSD and amputee patients. He had started coming unglued there - and the Army's response was to send him to Fort Hood to prepare for deployment. I think we will find that he had not slept in months because of his own case of trauma from listening to day after day of horror stories from two theaters.
The 'innocents' he attacked were not unarmed. The Army itself said, during initial reports, that it was unknown how many of the wounded were hit by other soldiers. Soldiers are not taught to aim. The weapons of battle are not conducive to aiming: the recoil and rate of fire make it moot. Hence: Rock'n'Roll. The lady cop put four in him, not one a kill shot. She disabled him, took him out of action.
Maj. Hasan was born and raised in New Jersey in a mixed neighborhood. Please avoid painting Americans of Middle Eastern heritage with the terrorist paintbrush. St. Jude's Children's Hospital was founded by a Lebanese-American (Christian, yes, but Middle Eastern, too.) Maj. Hasan wasn't a 'mole', he was a seriously ill man who fell into a well of despair and reached, as many folks do, to his faith for a lifeline. Unfortunately, there are too many lifelines offered American Muslims that are really trip-wires. By the way, the phrase Maj. Hasan used translates to "God is Good".
Far too many generalizations and assumptions in your post for a credible answer, MisterScience
Merlin
Everything above that starts with 'He" is a matter of record. If he is not the worst and best example, then he is second. As far as the last question, a newsperson or someone who was simply lost would disappear, and have a good chance of starring in a beheading video; ( Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl. )
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" Soldiers are not taught to aim. The weapons of battle are not conducive to aiming: the recoil and rate of fire make it moot. " Perm 3800
Perm, you are way out of your area of expertise, whatever it is. KC
" This man was bullied for his religion and/or his heritage. People, on post, were calling him a "camel jockey", his car was keyed, etc... " 2spirits
Those offenses are not even misdemeanors, much less capital punishment crimes. Hasan is an example of how dangerous a fanatical Islamist really is. His actions should have gotten him discharged, and maybe deported. PC played a huge role in this incident. His superiors were simply not able to take action until after the fact.
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It's good there are so many experts sitting around on keyboards willing to analyze and pass snap judgements on something relying exclusively on news reports on the day for their basis of information. Hindsight is 20/20 so I think one might be wise to sit on the sideline until the dust clears to draw any ultimate conclusion. Give it a month for all the details to come out then make up your mind.
I know enough about the dangers of being PC to know that what happened at Fort Hood is just one of the many horrific consequences thereof.
