News of the day

[aadler]

 
It is difficult for me to articulate, or even to fully contain, the building fury I feel as I follow the news coverage of the mass shooting at Fort Hood. My current location is nine hours ahead of Texas, so the whole thing began only just before I went to bed last night; it was all over the news when I came in this morning, a mature story before I was even aware of it. It’s unavoidable, then, that my reactions will belatedly trail the events by a significant margin.

To begin with, it seems to me that it would be far too easy and convenient to attribute Hasan’s actions to his ethnicity and religion … and inexcusably lazy and unrealistic to dismiss those things as potential motivations. The man is cited as saying that he didn’t look forward to the prospect of finding himself in conflict with fellow Muslims, which hints that he bought into the notion that we’re engaged in a war against Islam, instead of against hateful, violent and intolerant people who regularly kill more Muslims than we do. At the same time, this incident does not at all have the characteristics of an act of jihad; rather, it looks very much like the kind of vicious, despicable suicide-by-cop — preceded and precipitated by mass murder — demonstrated by the even more vile Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech. (That Hasan is likewise a Virginia Tech graduate is a jarring but not pertinent coincidence.)

Next is the continuing focus on the stress Hasan was facing as he approached an undesirable deployment to Iraq (or to Afghanistan, the reports continue to vary). The stress he was facing. At the risk of being politically incorrect — which, come to think of it, doesn’t bother me at all — I have to wonder, just how big a pussy WAS this guy? People are trying to kill me here (at a distance, by rockets, but they’re still trying), and I have easy duty … and back in the States, a psychiatrist was burdened by unbearable stress because he’d spent so much time listening to returning combat veterans coping with varying degrees of PTSD? Cry me a fucking river.

On top of all that, however, is that I don’t care why he did it. I don’t care. I don’t care that he was religious, or conflicted, or stressed, or didn’t believe in what he was about to be sent to do. Things got tougher for him than he could handle, and he responded by going out to kill as many of his fellow soldiers as possible. The same people who would have saluted him (and some of them may have done so) on his way to the killing ground, the same people who would have looked to him for support in dealing with the things he was too much a coward to face. He’s not a person anymore. He threw that away when he decided to become a murderer. There’s a word for people like him: EVIL. It’s not the only word — treacherous, contemptible and walking filth come to mind — but it sums up the essential nature of what used to be mistaken for a man.

I’ve spent more than my share of time in Soldier Readiness Centers, being processed to and from deployment. It’s a long process, it’s boring, and it’s made marginally better by the professionalism and courtesy of the people running the program. You don’t expect to face imminent death there, and for damn sure you don’t expect it from one of your own.

I’m sorry he was shot. Better if he had been torn to pieces.

Comments

[sam-arkand.livejournal.com]

I recall a similar incident in the prelude to the invasion. A Muslim soldier tossing grenades about, wasn't it?

[aadler]

Yes, and I believe he was eventually sentenced to death for that. This one hits harder, though. Akbar perpetrated his grenade attack in Kuwait, at a time when the deployment had actually begun and the soldiers were armed and operating under at least the possibility of combat conditions. The deed was horrendous, but the event was not entirely unexpected in that environment. Fort Hood is not a combat theater, and there was not even the hint of impersonality about Hasan’s rampage; he attacked people he could see, in a group gathered for administrative processing, and targeted them individually.

On the other hand, there’s no point in my trying to argue which man was worse. They can fight it out between the two of them as to which man belongs in which circle of Hell.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Something pretty similar happened in Afghanistan a couple of days ago - an Afghan policeman who was supposed to be on our side killed several British soldiers inside their camp, managed to get away. Can't help wondering if that may have given your guy the idea.

[aadler]

It’s always possible, but I’m inclined to think the Virginia Tech ‘connection’ — which I initially dismissed — might be more likely. This man showed no intention of trying, or wishing, to get away. This was murder-suicide (botching the suicide, but only by dint of the rescue efforts of the same people he tried so hard to kill), aimed at exacting the highest possible body-count during his exit. If he was inspired by anyone, it was more probably by Cho.

[tessarin.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to believe the media response in tiptoeing around the obvious questions here. Some have even be trying to portray him as a victim rather than a murderous animal.

My thoughts are with the families and the injured at Fort Hood.

[sroni.livejournal.com]

Media and I don't get along. Watching anything but Fox, the news tends to make me yell at the TV screen. As soon as the media starts making this guy into a victim, I turn that channel off.

He is not a victim. He didn't just have a psychological break.

He very purposefully went for maximum psychological damage.

Even if he was the only person involved, I would classify this as an act of terror, and I think he should be tried as a terrorist.

[aadler]

Even if he was the only person involved, I would classify this as an act of terror, and I think he should be tried as a terrorist.

I disagree. As I already observed, the Islamic aspect strikes me as more of a screen than a genuine motivation. I hate terrorists, of whatever race and creed, but this man falls more in the mold of Killer Coward.

He’s a soldier who killed other soldiers. There is already a standing penalty for such behavior: death by hanging. If by some chance he should qualify for a firing squad, I suspect there would be more than enough Muslim GIs willing to volunteer for that duty.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. This was a terrorist attack, period. As for a trial ... the only mistake that lady cop made was not administering the coup de gras.

[aadler]

The ‘obvious questions’, of course, being how much his Muslim beliefs and background may have had to do with his actions. As I said, I think his failings as a human being are much more to the point. There is a great deal about jihadist behavior that I regard with deep dislike and no respect … but it’s behavior of a recognizable type, and the behavior here is different, that of a vicious weakling who tried to use Islam as a mask for his own deficiencies.

Words do not exist to express the depth of my contempt for this individual. But then, if he were someone to whom the concept of honor had any meaning, he wouldn’t have done what he did.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

There is a great deal about jihadist behavior that I regard with deep dislike and no respect … but it’s behavior of a recognizable type, and the behavior here is different, that of a vicious weakling who tried to use Islam as a mask for his own deficiencies.

Actually, being "a vicious weakling" who tries "to use Islam as a mask for his own deficiencies" is pretty much the definition of violent jihad. Has been since it started in the 7th century AD.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If you're too stressed to deal anymore, you kill yourself. You don't rack up a body count first. Killing yourself is cowardly, yes, but not actively evil. This...

Yeah.

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I agree this is very much like teh guy at Virginia Tech. Who knows what makes people like this snap but, like you, I really don't care. Here in Texas I can pretty much assure you he will be dealt with.

I'm very close to Ft. Hood. There are people in my church and wider community who have family who were there. The local media isn't trying to make excuses for him. There was just a scramble to make sure he was working alone.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

To paraphrase "Horton Hears a Who": Scumbags and scumbags, no matter how small minded.