On Nov. 5, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on troops preparing to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He managed to kill 12 soldiers and one civilian and injured 30 others before a police officer shot him. He is now at an Army hospital, conscious and talking.
Hasan’s military history involved being a mental health worker. He interned for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center while working toward his psychiatry degree, which he eventually attained from Uniformed Services University of Health and Science in 2001. He worked with servicemen coming back from the battlegrounds of Afghanistan and Iraq on their post-traumatic syndrome. After hearing he was to be deployed to Iraq, he was “mortified,” according to his cousin Nader Hasan.
Nidal Hasan, a Muslim, has also been a victim of religious prejudice in his life. According to his aunt, Noel Hasan, he was given a hard time for being a Muslim after the Sept. 11 attacks.
After much taunting, he requested to leave the military and pay off his debt for education, but to no avail. He had been in numerous verbal arguments with others based mainly on his Islamic beliefs, and earlier this year, his car had been keyed and his bumper sticker, which read “Allah is Love,” had been scraped off.
I am going to go ahead and say it: I think Hasan’s actions were fueled by both religious repression and jihad.
Here is why I say that: Hasan has been on the FBI’s list of suspicious activity for a while. Around six months ago, Hasan wrote about suicide bombings on the Internet, comparing the suicide bombers to the actions taken by a soldier jumping on a grenade to save fellow soldiers’ lives. Such a comparison links the heroic actions of sacrifice to save lives to the destructive measures of one who sacrifices many lives, as well as his own.
He has also shown hostility toward the War on Terror, referring it to the “War on Islam.”
While working on his master’s degree at Uniformed Services University of Health and Science in 2007 to 2008, he took an environmental health class.
According to classmate Val Finnell, each classmate had to give a presentation at the end. While others talked about cleaning supplies and mold, Hasan gave his on the War on Terror. In addition to being a little off topic for the class, his presentation showed, as described by Finnell, he was a “vociferous opponent” to the war.
Another, and scarier, reason why I think of him as a jihadist is the mosque he attended in Virginia. He sat under Imam Anwar al Awlaki, who is a known pro-jihadist and had connections with Sept. 11 hijackers Khalid al Midhar and Nawaf al Hazmi.
After the Fort Hood attacks, Awlaki commented on Hasan’s acts.
“Nidal Hasan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people. This is a contradiction that many Muslims brush aside and just pretend that it doesn’t exist. Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a U.S. soldier. Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact, the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal,” Awlaki said.
But here is the thing: We as a society are too scared to admit an American citizen could attack for radical religious reasons. Many blame post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for his shooting spree. He had not been overseas to serve yet, therefore PTSD could not be the cause unless, by some twist in nature, it is contagious.
Political correctness has blinded our sense of logic. I do not believe in offending just for the sake of offending, but for the sake of saving lives, we need to trade in political correctness for logic. I am uncertain as to whether Hasan’s motives completely revolved around fighting for radical Islam and excluded personal trauma, but those flavors of hatred exist. For the sake of our freedom and safety, let’s be logical and not trust our political correctness. Without correctly diagnosing the issue, we cannot properly solve it.
Ryan Green is a junior majoring in electrical engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].