Fort Hood Tragedy Is Being Exploited To Bolster Discrimination

In the aftermath of the appalling attack at Fort Hood, one of the most important questions is how this rampage by a twisted fanatic has affected relations between Muslims and other Americans of different faiths. For some, Hasan's obvious fanaticism is not simply a starting point for thoughtful analysis about the harmful effects that splinter extremism poses in general, or specifically on an alienated, unstable individual. An aggressive and vocal group of Islamophobes are seeking to exploit the tragedy as a siren call to bigotry, a springboard to legitimize the marginalization of not merely extremists, but rather Muslims as a whole from meaningful participation in society, starting with military service.

These bigots should listen to the words of the daughters of murdered Fort Hood physician assistant Michael Cahill. Kerry Cahill told CBS' Early Show, "You can't blanket a whole group of people. There's extremists in every religion, and there's extremists all over the world...when this man was obviously ill, I think." Another daughter, Keely Vanacker said, "The death of our father or any of these victims shouldn't be an excuse or a reason to begin to hate an entire group of people."

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For a slew of odious bigots, the massacre was simply too big of an opportunity to pass up. To them, it is not Hasan, or even the twisted minority of extremists who inspired him, but either Islam as a whole or all Muslims that must be incapacitated.

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters shared his forthright analysis of what threatens American society on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor Tuesday evening: "Its clear that the problem is Islam."

His new novel, The War After Armageddon, recounts how a revitalized Christianized United States government dispatches a reorganized National Guard called the "Military Order of the Brothers in Christ" to crusade against Muslims who have attacked the United States and destroyed Israel and Europe.

Pat Robertson, who once blamed secularists like abortion doctors, gays, and People for the American Way for fomenting the 9/11 attacks, has narrowed his broad bush to mostly focus on Muslims for the Fort Hood attack on the November 9 broadcast of the 700 Club on CBN:

"If we don't stop covering up what Islam is, Islam is a violent, I was going to say religion, but it's not a religion. It's a political system, it's a violent political system, bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination. That is the ultimate aim and they talk about infidels and all this but the truth is that's what the game is. So you're dealing with a, not with a religion, you're dealing with a political system and I think we should treat it as such. And treat its adherents as such as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group."

Dave Gaubatz, a leader of an organization that has called for illegalizing Islam in the United States, overtly called for what he described as "professional and legal backlash against the Muslim community and their leaders," and some of his supporters in Congress, including Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), have declined to condemn or even distanced themselves from his appeal to hate and discrimination.

American Family Association's Bryan Fischer said, "We should not allow Muslims to serve in the US military and we have got to raise questions about whether we can afford to allow Muslims to immigrate into the United States at all." Not surprising since his overall perspective is "While Christianity is a religion of peace, founded by the Prince of Peace, Islam is a religion of war and violence, founded by a man who routinely chopped the heads off his enemies, had sex with nine-year old girls, and made his wealth plundering merchant caravans."

That Hasan was born in the United States and serving as an Army psychiatrist only exacerbates the potential for this incident to spread unjustifiable fear of Muslim Americans in general. It may exacerbate irrational anxieties that the Muslim community is threatening because it is supposedly very difficult to distinguish between extremists and mainstream Muslim Americans.

Obviously, the alleged killer's ethnicity, religious affiliation, name and other signs identifying him as both an Arab and Muslim American are all the explanation needed for some. However, if we truly wish to prevent this tragedy from repeating itself, it is crucial to examine the totality of the personality of the offender, including not only his sick ideology, but the role that personal dislocations and fears may have played in his eventual spiral toward violence.

These include fear and conflict over an impending first deployment, unresolved distress over the loss of his mother, difficulties with his colleagues and in finding a mate, a cross-country move, and repeated exposure to traumatized soldiers. After two of the main support systems that he knew all his life, namely job and family grew distant, extremism apparently filled the void. A comprehensive analysis of Maj. Hasan suggests a religious and political fanatic, motivated partly by idiosyncratic madness and partly by these extreme beliefs.

In America mayhem caused by deranged violent individuals intoxicated by a twisted ideology is nothing new and certainly nothing particular to the Muslim American community, let alone being typical of it. Obvious, examples include the Branch Davidians at Waco, an offshoot of Seventh Day Adventist Christians; accused abortion doctor killer Scott Roeder; and the Klan bombers of Birmingham's 16th Street Church who killed four young girls. Another obvious and well-known example would be Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, an angry, isolated and politically extreme former serviceman motivated to a significant degree by the infamous Turner Diaries that inspires a great deal of the ultra-right wing "militia movement."

To their credit, Muslim and Arab American organizations were almost instantaneous and absolutely unanimous in their condemnation of the act, forming relief funds for victims and their relatives, and sparing little effort to express their outrage. With the exception of a small group of vocal and dangerous extremists -- some already wanted by the United States on criminal charges -- Muslims in the Middle East also reacted with horror and loud condemnation.

Proponents of profiling -- systematic discrimination and heightened scrutiny against Muslim Americans simply on the basis of their identity-- have seized on this incident to press their case. What these people of ill will fail to consider is the warning signs about Maj. Hasan's instability and extremism were known to the government, but wrongly ignored. Obviously, methods of evaluating extremist behavior, of whatever variety, that might lead to violence in the Armed Forces and other institutions need to be seriously reviewed.

However, the notion that this tragedy justifies discrimination in the military or elsewhere must be categorically rejected by all persons possessing common sense and decency. Targeting people on the basis of warning signs of obvious political or religious extremism makes complete sense, but targeting them based on their identity obviously does not. Credible national security analysts reject crude systems of profiling based merely on ethnicity or religious affiliation as both unworkable and counterproductive.

Moreover, the requisite mechanisms in the United States simply do not exist, and would probably be unconstitutional. In the United States we generally do not officially classify individuals by religious affiliation, except in certain limited cases and then on the basis of self-identification. Enforcement could not exist without instituting a system of government categorization of people based on religious sectarian identity. Moreover, the Census Bureau categorizes all persons of Middle East origin as "white," so there is no mechanism for identifying Arab-Americans (a majority of whom, by the way, are Christians).

As an extremist, Maj. Hasan was as much of an oddball among Arab and Muslim Americans as he was in the military. The proper and reasonable basis for identifying him as a potential danger was his behavior and extremism, not his identity.

While there is certainly now a small but dangerous extremist subculture among Muslims, that's also been true for a small number on the Christian right, as well as Jewish extremists like those in the Jewish Defense League, among other violent fanatics. Law enforcement activities and national security policy must be focused on these extremist subcultures, wherever they may be, and not broadly on mainstream people of faith or entire communities.

It is pointless and incorrect to deny that Maj. Hasan's actions were, in part, prompted by a violent extremist ideology existing among a small subculture of Muslims throughout the world. The Muslim mainstream here and overseas must spare no effort in marginalizing and denouncing this fanatical, hateful worldview.

But, as the McVeigh case and so many others demonstrate, it is hardly the only dangerous ideology that exists on the fringes of various parts of American society that can erupt into atrocious acts of inexcusable violence.

Our law enforcement and national security policies need to deal with all of these extremist perspectives vigorously and vigilantly, but there is no justification for a "backlash" of any kind against Arab or Muslim Americans in general. To do so would abandon our long cherished American values set forth by none other than George Washington, who in 1790 described the ideals of a government that gives religious "bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."

Hatefighter.blogpot.com

ibishblog.com/

 

Comments

[gpzkat]

Did you hear about the suicidal atheist who went on a rampage and killed a bunch of people? And the other atheist who shot that abortion doctor? And the atheist suicide bomber? Yeah, thought not.

[Guitanguran]

Someone here had brought up the notion that Fox in general and Glenn Beck in particular had made it a point to incite violence in this country in order to overthrow it, to coincide with the discrimination canard the authors are putting out.

I asked for specific examples and got trash talk in response.

Still waiting, sir.

[stephenlight]

All the articles and niceties of settled law will not prevent me from evaluating who I want to support and associate with on a daily basis. It is foolhardy not to be alert to the threat this extremist community presents in the the United States and abroad. This will happen again and it is inspired by a global network of like minded individuals, whose desire is to kill Americans. In addition to articles, it would be helpful for the American Muslim community to root this strain of religion from our shores.

[Guitanguran]

Perhaps another question to be addressed:

Which Muslim is the one closest in following the Koran, the radical that is compelled to convert or kill all infidels, or the moderate that rejects that notion?

I'm just askin'

[David A. Love - Huffpost Blogger]

Very well said. One gets the impression that some people were just hoping for such a tragedy as Fort Hood, so that they could justify a wave of anti-Muslim discrimination. If the name of the alleged gunman was Nelson Harris rather than Nidal Hasan, cries of terrorism would not have entered into the picture. We must address PTSD and mental health issues in the military (and society in general), rather than waste precious time on witch hunts.

[Guitanguran]

"One gets the impression that some people were just hoping for such a tragedy as Fort Hood..."

From whom and from where do you get that impression? If they're people you know, I think I'd run in different social circles.

If a Nelson Harris had said and done the same things Hasan had done, he most likely would have been discharged or worse way before now.

It's not my quote, but it's apt: "Political correctness is the handmaiden to terrorism."

[OdinsEye]

Hasan did not have PTSD.

[Digeeedad]

I just makes cowards FEEL safer when they can "pigeonhole" a group or belief system outside their own as evil! That's a whole lot easier for them than research, introspection and educated analysis, all of which people who live in constant fear of "the others" are incapable of!

[Oleg1]

Yep. This description very precisely applies to persons who perpetrated Fort Hood.D.C. sniper, Twin Towers, London, Madrid, Bali, Beslan, Theo Van Gogh, Mumbai, Benazir Bhutto and many others like that. Agreed?

[noudidnt]

Waco, Oklahoma City, the Jewish Day Care Center in California, Pittsburgh, DC Holocaust museum, Atlanta, anthrax attacks in the wake of 9-11, like that too, right???

[dzagama]

What if you're not white?

... and you're atheistic?

I'm brown. I don't like Islam. It is like all the other misogynistic, antiquated, and incorrect religions.

I don't have any guilty, colonialist baggage, so I can come out and speak the truth.

[MrMilk]

Well I'm quite Caucasian, but I'm not remotely old enough (by 200+ years) to experience the collective guilt trip the media tries to lay on folks.

So I'm with you...

[Oleg1]

"I just makes cowards FEEL safer when they can "pigeonhole" a group or belief system outside their own as evil! "
This is from a person who posted more than 1,000 intolerant comments about his fellow Americans because they are of different political party?!!
Astonishing hypocrisy...

[Digeeedad]

Obviously a GOP member, because you are absolutely LYING!

[Digeeedad]

Oleg.... you know absolutely NOTHING about me.... If any of my comments are negative it is not because of pigeonholing. it is because of a person's outrageous behavior or remarks. The "group" I most regularly criticize is the far right leaning posters on Sean Hannity's website forum. Any reasonable person would acknowlege that just like their host, these people are among the most bigoted and hate-filled Americans I have ever run across.

[Digeeedad]

Unless we can all find some middle ground in this country and stop with the tearing each other apart, through bigotry, hate and holier than thou nonsense, we are most assuredly going to begin to, on a MUCH larger scale beging to tear each other apart in the most real and horrific sense!

Does anyone who has actually looked around our nation not see that there is a whole group that would have their fondest wish fullfilled if something tragic were to befall our President! Have we all not see the fringe nuts who have been bragging since Obama's election about the stashes of firearms and munitions they and their friends are accumulating, for when "the time is right"?
Posters talk about this nonsense on Hannity's website forum on a regular basis.

Unless we knock it off and soon, our children might in fact NOT have an America as we have known it available for our children ad grandchildren....

[supertim]

i agree to a certain extent with the gist of your article, but in order to "bolster" an attitude, it needs to be established in the minds of americans already, and i dont think that anti muslim or anti arab attitudes have declined since 911, its just not as overt anymore

[MBAhmadi]

A man just went into work and shot several people in Orlando, wasn't labeled a terrorist. Had his name been any form of Arabic, he would automatically be labeled a terrorist. So if a guy has a name like John Smith, he would be an angry employee, not a terrorist. Terrorism is 1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, esp. for political purposes. 2. the state of fear and submission produced by terrorism or terrorization. 3. a terroristic method of governing or of resisting a government.

So if John Smith goes to work and begins shooting, he is putting people in a state of fear so whether his name is John Smith or Ahmad, this is no part of Islam. So for those who say Islam is a religion of violence, they are misinformed and ignorant. Martin Luther King said “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Were slave owners terrorists? What ever happened to reading and educating yourself? I was just at an interfaith meeting held by a Muslim Community and there were speakers of every faith telling about the beauties and misconceptions of their religions. Maybe Pat Robertson needed to be there along with the other people mentioned in this article. “Fear always springs from ignorance”

Love for All, Hatred for None

Enlighten yourselves, stop being ignorant and watch this series of videos for starters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_OyAMd0OCc

[Guitanguran]

Don't recall the employee you mentioned yelling "Allah Akbar" before murdering 13 people.

Don't recall the employee you mentioned making nearly 6 figure income and living in a $350 a month apartment, and no one seems to know where all his money went.

Don't recall the employee you mentioned seeking Al Qaeda or radical Imams.

"What ever happened to reading and educating yourself?"

Indeed!

[DaveMB]

It is unclear if he yelled Allah u Akbar, remember first he was dead, then he was alive, first a female cop took him down, then it turns out that was untrue as well. The fact is we do not know all the facts....... It is important to remember when McVeigh killed a lot more people in Ok city no one said we must watch out for Christians, when the Columbine killings took place no one said "watch out for white people!"

Is it possible he had ties to Al Qaeda, perhaps, but we must let the facts come out and in the meantime not go after Muslims or Arab people. Remember the vast majority of Muslims and Arabs are peacefull and law abiding.

[Oleg1]

Good point guitarguran.
Although don't be surprised to see a legion of similar comments from ( largely ) M=slim posters who attempt to divert attention from Mr. Malik's henious actions to any other subject under the sun.
All in the effort to avoid a sincere and honest discussion on the subject at hand.
I must say this doesn't inspire much trust in Americans luckily enough to escape politically correct conditioning.

[jwoolman]

If he did say "Allahu akbar" (God is great), it was because he expected to die soon (suicide by forcing other people to kill you, typical "going postal" behavior). That's a prayer, commonly said when death is anticipated soon. It's said in Arabic because that's the language of the Koran, i.e., a religious language. In my childhood, Catholics still said some short prayers in Latin (I was raised in that church and decades later still know the Latin versions), Jews have Hebrew prayers, a friend who was Russian Orthodox would rattle off the standard prayers in Russian with a very thick American accent. It is perfectly normal for a person who is a devout practitioner of any religion to say a prayer in times of stress, and particularly when they think they are about to die.

The possibility that he might have wrapped his unhappiness in some religious/political context labeled as "extremist" is also not at all uncommon for those "going postal". They often feel they are carrying out God's will in some way, as well as going out in a blaze of glory. The mass murder of strangers as prelude to such "assisted suicide" (getting gunned down) seems to be a guy thing - the pattern for women is to kill their children and then kill themselves, although some men will do the same (killing both their wives and their children).

[aspiecelia]

Your assunptions point to preconceived prejudice. I know people who live frugally. He was looking for a wife maybe he wanted to save for a house. He was trying to get out of the army maybe he thought he might need it. He also offered to pay them for his education if they would release him. He also had legal fees.

Where I live the hospital pracitices workplace bullying and we had someone come in and shoot the two serial bullies who tormented him. Then he exited knowing the police would shoot him. There is also a woman in prison for trying to kill someone for the same crap there. Employees are so desperate they have gone to the city counsel and asked for an audit. The mayor denied it and there could be more violence. People have tried to get laws passed against it. Corporate America doesn't want anything done about it so they block it. Hasan would have had this type of bullying which causes PTSD, bullying from the christian mafia in the military, had bullying at his apartment, and was under considerable stress from his job along with emotional conflict about his job. He tried to leave and they would not let him. The answer is not always what the media tries to spin. Most of these people who loose it are white. PTSD causes people to loose their original faith. He could have gone radical because of that, if indeed it is true he did. .

[Oleg1]

"Religions... confirm the rights of all those who suffer from life as though it were a disease; they would like to render invalid and impossible any other sentiment besides theirs."
Nietzsche

[jessicadevyn]

I don't agree with religion (hence my Avatar) but do you really think all of humanities problems would go away because of it? There is still xenophobia, classism, racism, nationalism, and a whole bunch of other phobias and isms to take it's place.

[Oleg1]

I don't think you understood the quote. Try reading it again, ever so slowly.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

We don't need to whitewash this any more. It's already been whitewashed enough.

There were plenty of concerns expressed about Hasan, yet they were unheeded. With this sort of political correctness injected into the situation, it's not surprising.

There are groups of society that would rather punish a cop for "racial profiling" instead of the drug dealer he busted on a hunch.

The reality is that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not sui.ci.de pacts. Everyone supports the ideal of Lady Justice being blind, but our government is not color blind, it bends over backwards to avoid any possible allegation of prejudice by ignoring the obvious. To be blind would be better than to be willfully ignorant in the way we are now.

[Amalek]

We are so close as a country to committing the same crime against humanity we committed in WW2 when Japanese Americans were rounded up and put in concentration camps.

How long before we hear the conservative call for using those FEMA camps that were built to hold the teabaggers to keep the Muslim Americans in a place where "they can be safe" and "we can keep an eye on them".

[Oleg1]

Anything but discussing the crimes of Malik Hasan.

[Jakealoper]

Oh spare me your stock replies, go see how the Japanses treated enemy civilians then or shut up.

[jessicadevyn]

So what America did is OK because someone else did it worse?

That excuse was inexcusable when I was 2.

[DaveMB]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[aspiecelia]

My father faught in WWII and was proud to do it. People were proud of the US because we did not do what the Japanese did. They were proud that we had seperation of church and state. They were proud that we went by a little thing called the Geneva convention. It has been difficult for them to watch America torture people and have our constitution ignored. They were not proud of the internment camps.

[Hadok]

I am hearing a lot of "...the military had all all these red flags about this man and should have 'done something'."

Done what? Arrested him? On what charge? Treason? Other than holding some unpopular political views, up until the time of his dastardly act what treason did he commit? Deported him? He was an American Citizen. Dismissed him from the military? What would that accomplish? This deranged killer would have still been in our midst, only out of military uniform. He could just as easily have committed his crime out of uniform at the Army base, in a shopping mall, or elsewhere.

Come to think of it, are there hundreds or perhaps thousands in America who hold the same views of Hasan? Is there any preemptive intervention which can be taken regarding such? Or, do we just wait until someone gets killed?

In America, we do enjoy our freedom of speech. We enjoy our prohibitions against unwarranted search and seizure. Profiling is anathema. We respect everybody's civil liberties. Those who wish to do us harm exploit these attributes to the fullest, and we seem powerless to stop them.

[Oleg1]

Some basic definitions of treason:
1.Crime that undermines the offender's government
2.Disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
3.Treachery: an act of deliberate betrayal.

American Army officer repeatedly communicating with known terrorist leader and self -described enemy of U.S. is treason.

[Amalek]

Turn on Fox News most any night, and you will see hundreds of Americans calling for the violent overthrow of the elected United States government. "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants...."

The tyrants are those who would like to preemptively lock up anyone who does not agree with them, on the fear they will become violent and actually follow through. Accepting that risk, and the consequences, is what makes us American.

[Guitanguran]

Care to cite a particular program or program host? I happen to watch Fox alot, and I've never seen this call for violent overthrow of the United States government, unless you're referring to Bin Laden or the Taliban.

[Oleg1]

Deflecting discussion to someone else,. Amalek is a tiresome trick.
I assure you it no longer works. Try a different excuse for Mr. Hasan.

[jwhale]

A discharge from the Army would have been nice.

[Oleg1]

Dishonorable discharge, maybe.

[neurodoc601]

what we should be seeing is a loud condemnation of the act by Muslim groups. It should be on every channel and throughout the various media. Where is the condemnation?

[Amalek]

I have heard it quite a bit on MSNBC. I don't think Fox is carrying it.

[dzagama]

I fear the condemnation is merely a PR ploy.

What I would like to see, is a liberal association of Muslims, speaking out against the action of the radicals, at the risk of being ostracized by their culture.

Israeli-Americans do it quite well. You can read article upon article in Haaretz, calling Israeli-Americans self-hating Jews.

That's the kind of action we need.

[jessicadevyn]

There is a huge condemnation. I have even seen it in the MSM. (But not Fox).

Where is your condemnation for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan?

[neurodoc601]

where is MY condemnation for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan? With every one of my posts. I hope you mean where is the collective condemnation of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

[milty]

Other than Islam, identify another religion in which so much murder and mayhem is commited in the name of that 'religion'.

[lippylaroux]

Communists? But I think they are non believers in any religion. They do currrently occupy the highest offices in our government though...

[jessicadevyn]

Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, and even Jainism.

And in reality, most Islamic terrorism terrorizes other Muslims and money and nativism is really more of the culprit than religion.

And the United States spends more money to kill people than any other nation in the world.

[northstar11]

"""The Muslim mainstream here and overseas must spare no effort in marginalizing and denouncing this fanatical, hateful worldview."""

meanwhile

"""An aggressive and vocal group of Islamophobes are seeking to exploit the tragedy as a siren call to bigotry, a springboard to legitimize the marginalization of not merely extremists, but rather Muslims as a whole from meaningful participation in society, starting with military service.""

there are extremists on both sides ------it would be nice if the "homecrowd" would spare no effort in denouncing the home grown fanatical hateful world view

[SwampeastMike]

The worst part of this asinine debate over where the Major is a lunatic or crazed jihadist is that the ones most concerned seem to have little understanding of the word jihad. While it can be applied to a "holy war" it really means the personal struggle of all muslims to more become a better person. I know of know simple English word or phrase with the same meaning. To Christians I suppose it would be, "the struggle to better follow the teachings of Jesus"; to secularists "the struggle to better follow ones good conscience"; to Goldman-Sachs executives perhaps "the struggle to convince myself I am doing 'god's work'". (that is an intentional "little" g)

So yes, the Major is presumably a lunatic AND a crazed jihadist. Something tells me that if he decides to talk--openly--and is well examined we will find that his was a strictly personal jihad.

While I can understand why the military might find it advantageous to use psychiatrists of Mulsim faith--especially those whose origin makes them "look" Muslim--to help treat confused soldiers I suspect this terrible incident will result in far closer scrutiny of those self-identified Muslims who are giving such clear warning signs that their personal jihad has become confused or perverted.

Nothing will exuse his actions in my mind, but intuition tells me we will find that had this man not been a physician, he would have been treated or removed from service well before this incident.