Yes, this attack was a case of Muslim extremism:
A former classmate has said Hasan was a “vociferous opponent of the war” and “viewed the war against terror” as a “war against Islam.” Dr. Val Finnell, who attended a master’s in public health program in 2007-2008 at Uniformed Services University with Hasan, said he told classmates he was “a Muslim first and an American second.”
And yes, this should have been caught earlier:
“In retrospect, I’m not surprised he did it,” Finnell said. “I had real questions about what his priorities were, what his beliefs were.”
Muslims need to be especially careful with these kinds of people. Christian extremists generally become radical pacifists (Quakers, Amish) or engage in mass suicide (Jonestown, Branch Davidians, Heaven’s Gate). Muslim extremists tend to be violent chauvinists, whether here, in Iraq, in Iran, or in Afghanistan, and they can get a lot of innocent people killed if the saner people around them don’t control their delusions.
And we really shouldn’t validate and encourage this kind of behavior out of cowardice.
“Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit … but my co-writer Harald said I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie.”
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I may have overreacted when I lashed out at Aziz earlier. I was very angry and may have read into his words something that wasn’t there. For that I am sorry.
That said, I think it’s time the government takes a stronger stance with people in sensitive positions that adhere to Islam. This isn’t a race thing, it’s an ideology thing and we’ve been hit too many times by people we’re supposed to be able to trust. Be it this most recent tragedy, or a grenade into a tent – how many times does that trust have to be betrayed before we wise up?
If it were Christians committing these crimes I’d be saying the same things.
Whether these people are “true” Muslims or otherwise is irrelevant. They believe they are. As such, they should be monitored.
I guess it goes without saying that the U.S. Army should be careful with these kind of people, too.
But maybe someone should have said it.
Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists —
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6521758/Fort-Hood-shooting-Texas-army-killer-linked-to-September-11-terrorists.html
Makes you wonder if American journalists are ever ashamed that they’re preemptively putting out “narratives” (I heard PTSD mentioned minutes into the attack), while the London Telegraph is over here doing actual investigative reporting. Sharing a mosque with three 9/11 hijackers proves nothing in itself, but it certainly bears deeper investigation.
Journalists, who want to be considered special, must report. And accurately.
“Citizen journalists” need to be careful about reckless “reporting” themselves, by the way.
But I argued a long time ago, right in these very pages, that I am leery of the “cowardice” argument in this context…
And now we find out that he was trying to contact al-Qaeda.
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