Community Comment

Who is Major Nidal Malik Hasan?

Posted by Dave

Nov. 6, 2009 8:09 p.m. • 25 comments

Good evening, Netizens…

Who is this man? Obviously he is Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who went on a shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 people and wounding countless others. However that nor any of the other facts surrounding Hasan’s life can explain why he acted as he did.

Yet this afternoon, reading in various places on the Internet I have heard him called a recent recruit to Muslim faith, a “sleeper” terrorist, perhaps part of a covert terrorist group intent upon more crimes, and the list of possibilities goes on and on. At least based upon what few facts we have about Hasan, perhaps none of the allegations are true. The FBI, Army military authorities and local and state police are still attempting to put together a cogent picture of what motivated Hasan, a psychiatrist, to “come unglued” and start killing people.

At present, on Friday evening, he is in a coma at the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio in critical condition.

What little we know is Hasan is an American born in Virginia of Palestinian parents. Hasan graduated from medical school at the Uniformed Services University in 2003, said Sharon K. Willis, speaking for the school.

He then entered a psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which he completed in 2007. He returned to the university for the disaster and military psychiatry fellowship in 2007. The first phase of that fellowship is earning a master of public health degree, which he completed in 2008. He completed the fellowship program in June. A month later, Hasan reported for duty at Fort Hood.

There is a considerable amount of evidence, mostly from his neighbors in the apartment complex in which he lived, that he was a gentle, caring and kindly person who most viewed as a decent man.

If Hasan lives we may actually get some answers about what motivated the man. If he dies of his wounds we may never know what motivated him to kill some of the people he was sworn to help.

Dave

25 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Ron_the_Cop on November 06 at 8:56 p.m.
Dave,

This guy was a Muslim from birth. He was not a recent covert. What is likely is he became radicalized over the years in a radical Mosque he attended in DC. There were many red flags over time and the military should have discharged him but because of PCism he was allowed to slip through.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/199483.php
Rifleman__Dodd on November 06 at 9:09 p.m.
Ron spews again w/o facts. If we took the internet away from Ron his IQ would drop to near freezing level (Fahrenheit).
Jeffrey_Grey on November 07 at 3:16 a.m.
The more I read, the less I think there are any easy answers for this - if there are any good answers at all. Despite our desperate need to make it so, I don’t think the incomprehensible will easily be made comprehensible.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting_suspect
Diana on November 07 at 5:20 a.m.
Indeed, Jeff, there are no easy answers when someone snaps and does that kind of violence. There was lots of misinformation initially about Hasan.

It took less than 12 hours for the right wing pundits to start exploiting the tragedy, which Ron the Cop repeats in his post. Being a Muslim is not an inherently bad or evil thing. In fact, in the greater scheme of things, I’m more afraid of so-called Christians.
Rifleman__Dodd on November 07 at 5:42 a.m.
They spend 30 hours picking apart what took 30 seconds to occur.

Rarely do they ever “get inside” their head.

Perhaps this is a wake up call to bring our troops home?

Of course if you read in the articles some of the peoples reasons for wanting to go overseas, makes one wonder who the crazies are.
Ron_the_Cop on November 07 at 6:05 a.m.
Rifleman,

Yes this was a tragedy for all involved. I did not imply that all Muslims were on the verge of breaking. However there is a small element within this religion that have been become or are radicalized. By that I mean Fascist, misogynistic and deny the universal truth of the free will of all men and women. They see Islam as the only true religion and their mission is to open the world for the return of the Golden Age of Islam by force if necessary.

That’s not to say we don’t have similar examples in on our culture e.g., David Koersch and the Branch Davidians a disawoved sect of the SDAs and Jim Jones and the Jonesstown people.
Ron_the_Cop on November 07 at 6:33 a.m.
Here’s a piece for those for those seeking the truth. Shackleford is an AKA of a political science professor who’s blog is the Jawa Report and occasionally writes for PJM:

Understanding Fort Hood: Nothing ‘Sudden’ About ‘Sudden Jihad Syndrome’

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/understanding-fort-hood-nothing-sudden-about-sudden-jihad-syndrome/

I also offer this piece in this discussion. Make your own determination of what the truth really is.

Resolving the Cognitive Dissonance of Islam
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/resolving_the_cognitive_disson.html
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 07 at 9:15 a.m.
Irshad Manji has a definitive new book on the Muslim Religion from a believing woman’s standpoint. john
Ron_the_Cop on November 07 at 10:50 a.m.
Yes ChefGus!

This is definitely a must read to understand the dynamics of this religion from one who grew up in it. She’s kind of like the Martin Luther of this faith. Here’s a link to her book:

The Trouble with Islam Today
http://irshadmanji.com/the-book

Also here’s a link to her very informative blog et al:

http://www.irshadmanji.com/

For those who want info outside the approved view of the MSM, I strongly recommend scanning her blog and related info.

Rifleman I’m surprised. If is wasn’t for the Internet we would be locked into the propaganda the MSM reports as news. The Internet must be taken with a grain of thought and critical thinking ability to short out what’s crap and what isn’t.
Rifleman__Dodd on November 07 at 8:49 p.m.
“critical thinking” Ron.

Do you believe EVERYTHING you read on the web?
Ron_the_Cop on November 07 at 9:30 p.m.
Rifleman,

NO! It should have said “grain of salt” though:-) BTW here’s another view:

The Balance Between Judgment and Hysteria
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/11/07/the-balance-between-judgment-and-hysteria.php
spokelooneh on November 07 at 9:52 p.m.
“Ron_the_Cop on November 07 at 9:30 p.m.

Rifleman,

NO! It should have said “grain of salt” though:-) BTW here’s another view:

The Balance Between Judgment and Hysteria
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/1…”

“The acts of a Hasan or other psychotic Muslims is an issue that has no easy answer, but it is important for non-Muslims to recognize that such behavior is anomalous to Islam, just as it is important for Islam as a whole to recognize that these extremists must be denounced in the interest of understanding what makes someone a Muslim, and what does not.”

Good article, Ron, thanks for posting it.
Ron_the_Cop on November 08 at 3:32 p.m.
Update on Hasan. I know this is from Michelle Malkin’s site but she’s quoting a UK source -The London Telegraph for what it’s worth:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/08/why-do-we-have-to-read-british-papers-to-get-ft-hood-jihadist-news/
spokelooneh on November 08 at 6:28 p.m.
Here’s the direct link to the Telegraph story, best to ignore Malkin’s take on things.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6521758/Fort-Hood-shooting-Texas-army-killer-linked-to-September-11-terrorists.html

Certainly seems to me that there were some red flags on this guy, and that the Army ignored them and will be doing some more CYA.

I figured from the beginning of this thing that it was related somehow to PTSD, never did think there were multiple shooters.

Hasan was counseling soldiers who saw and did some pretty horrific things, that’s what happens in war, especially for the ground pounders. For all we know, and I hope it’s true, he was able to help those soldiers deal with their issues, it’s just about the most important task that needs to be done for our guys rotating back to the world, as they used to say.

IF his personal feelings about the war impacted negatively on his counseling duties, well, that’s bad, very, very bad. It appears he wanted out of the Army, and I can’t see why the Army didn’t cut him loose, even if they had invested substantially in his education.
Ron_the_Cop on November 08 at 7:58 p.m.
OK this just in from the non news service FOXNEWS:

Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Frequented Local Strip Club
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573052,00.html
spokelooneh on November 08 at 9:32 p.m.
This whole horrible incident is going to get far uglier in terms of political spinning. WAY ugly.
Ron_the_Cop on November 08 at 10:33 p.m.
Here’s another worthwhile piece from the Internet along the lines of what Irshad Manji has said:

The Future of Islam
http://wizbangblog.com/content/2009/11/08/the-future-of-islam.php
Rifleman__Dodd on November 09 at 1:32 a.m.
The best websites

www.snopes.com

and www.lookhereifyourstupid.net
Ron_the_Cop on November 09 at 7:55 a.m.
LOL Rifleman,

OK is ABC News a credible source?

Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873
Ron_the_Cop on November 09 at 6:53 p.m.
Rifleman this is from one of my “conservative” friends who is an expert in this field when it comes to the moving/monitoring of info in the intel community. Things are beginning to shape up that Hasan was attempting to contact foreign operatives. He got snared in our listening efforts. This info was passed to the Army but apparently for unk reasons no one acted. Are there parallels to 9-11 that were supposedly supposed to have been fixed? Yes.

Fort Hood: Portrait Of An American Hero, A Traitor & Possible Bureaucratic Incompetence
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/11256
richard on November 09 at 9:58 p.m.
Why Diana and Rifleman, are you both so intent on making everything a political issue of left and right - even the horrific events of 9/11 and now of Ft. Hood? The facts are becoming very clear that Hasan - for whatever reasons - became radicalized and ended up snuffing out the lives of completely innocent Americans.

God help us if we ignore what is really going on with certain radical elements in this country, all in a vain attempt to further a misplaced agenda of “tolerance” and multiculturalism.

Political correctness is allowing more and more potentially violent acts to occur without intervention, all because of the obsessions of tolerance and the extreme avoidance of saying or doing anything that could be interpreted as “offensive.” (Except of course when it involves Christians or white males or conservatives of any identity)

Remember the DC snipers? During that siege every media organization had “profilers” all telling us that the sniper was what? We were told with claims of 95% certainty that it was a lone white male who had become despondent and cutoff and unable to adjust to a society where his conservative values were being misplaced etc.

Huh! So much for experts and media pundits.

Why Diana, has media never called those DC killings an act of terrorism perpetrated by a Muslim fanatic for political and religious reasons, even thought that is exactly what it was? Political correctness!

So Rifleman and Diana; don’t tell me about “right-wing” agendas, at least not until you clean up your back yard.

The difference between regular murder and terrorism is motivation. He didn’t have anything personal against those he killed. He killed out of allegiance to a radical view of the world.

Besides, Diana, when you complain about the “right-wing” giving false information and exploiting the events; then I ask you what the facts of this event are? A peace loving good American soldier who “snapped” from PTSD? Or a religious fanatic who has adopted the views of jihad?

While “right-wingers” were analyzing the facts as we knew them; the apologists in media were blaming the “military” for causing Hasan to be “traumatized.” Read Andrew Bast of Newsweek to learn all about how this man was abused by the military, thus causing him to “snap.” To believe Bast, you would have to accept the new condition of PRE-Post traumatic Stress Syndrome. Besides, psychiatry does not accept a condition of “snapping.” That is popular cultures explanation for anyone who commits acts of violence when unprovoked and when there is no rational reason for having done what was done. No one snaps, and no one commits such instantaneous violence without first contemplating and preparing for it, or when there was some extreme and instantaneous provocation. You decide which occurred.

True PTSD only occurs from intense and prolonged battlefield conditions - or something equally stressful. It does not occur when a soldier (hello?) is going to be deployed to a battlefield. Our popular media presents so much misinformation like this that it has now become a playground for politicos who want to use it to attack anyone who does not view events through the liberal/progressive filter.

The facts are becoming clearer, even beyond what we learned within the first 24 hours. The CIA warned the military that he was making contacts with his former Imam who is now recruiting for al Qaeda. He gave speeches to students - not about psychology, as he was supposed to - but instead, on the virtue of jihad, or the killing of Americans. But the military, which is quickly succumbing to the tenants of political correctness, was perhaps way too “cautious” so as not to offend a Muslim.

And if this is what happened, then you can add 13 more lives to the growing number of lives destroyed due to the false notions of cultural relativism, political correctness and over bearing “tolerance.”
spokelooneh on November 09 at 11:51 p.m.
The Army should have cut Hasan loose, as he was begging for.

Ironically, had he uttered two words, “I’m gay”, he’d have been kicked to the curb in a matter of days by the Army, given a General or Less Than Honorable, Discharge and his walking papers. Buh-buy, Hasan.
Ron_the_Cop on November 10 at 1:24 a.m.
Richard,

I think you captured the essence of this debate. Rifleman here’s another tidbit from that bastion of right-wing thought the WaPo:-)

Fort Hood suspect warned of threats within the ranks
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/09/AR2009110903618.html

And yes Sokelooneh the Army should have cut him loose as I said in my first post in this thread.
Ron_the_Cop on November 11 at 7:48 a.m.
Now this is interesting. Have we learned anything from 9-11?

Did Someone Miss The Dots, Or Did Someone Shutdown The Connecting?
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/11277
richard on November 11 at 2:23 p.m.
As I have been saying for several years, the incredibly omnipresence of political correctness (tolerance without judgment, acceptance without reason, etc) that has permiated our institutions - including now our military - will, if it is not brought to some kind of balance, begin the process (and if it hasn’t already reached that point) where we become too timid, too complacent, and even too thoughtful to recognize those who want to harm us.

Those who currently want to do that do not come wearing jackboots and swasticas or with knives in their teeth - they come lokking like you and I.

We have the right to challenge those who “talk the talk” of jihad; do we have the courage?