The Virus Behind Fort Hood Shootings

How did Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a “calm” man according to his neighbors, become so mentally unstable to the extent that he would open fire on his own colleagues, killing 13 and injuring 38 before he himself was shot by an officer and incapacitated?  Nidal, a Medical Doctor (Psychology) was born in the U.S. into a family from a Palestinian origin. He was a practicing Muslim. He worked as an army psychiatrist specialized in, believe it or not, disaster and preventive psychiatry.

 

It is too early to say what really happened to Mjr. Hasan to turn him from a mild-mannered man to an executioner capable of causing such havoc. The photo which is widely used for Nidal shows a grin, maybe even a smile. But behind the smile, what kind of emotional knotting went on in that man’s head?

 

Was it the virus of radical religious ideas which haunt the heads of so many fanatics in our world today tampering with proper brain functioning and making victims incapable of using reason? Filling their heads with obsessive ideas and their lives with compulsive rituals that can eventually turn to violence and provide an urge to kill others in the name of god or as a way to fulfill some holy duty? A blog posting which Nidal may have written 6 months ago glorified suicide bombers. "Scholars (supposedly he meant Islamic Scholars?) have paralleled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers." The officials say they are still trying to confirm that Major Hasan was the author of such internet postings.

 

Or was it the accumulation of humiliation and crushed self-esteem of an army major who found his colleagues treating him allegedly as an inferior outsider? “There was racism towards him because he's a Muslim, because he's an Arab, because he prays," Nidal’s cousin said in a CNN interview in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Maintaining relations with his relatives in Palestine, did Nidal identify with their suffering and feel that U.S. backing of Israel stood behind their pain and so decided to send a bloody message to embody their ordeal? Was it rage, caused by the combination of all the above? Rage which over the years built up until it became too monumentous to contain or repress, so exploded in that bloody massacre hurting so many innocent others who casually happened to be in its way?

Or is it simply a case of one psychiatrist’s professional fatigue? A psychiatrist who out of human compassion, got emotionally involved with the stories, horrors and problems of his patients, who left him a slice of their psychological disturbances,  day in and day out, until one day his bag just got full and exploded?

 

After 9/11 and the launching of “The War on Terror”, which reportedly he opposed, Nidal may have begun to develop an identity crisis. Here he is, making a living working for the war machine which started targeting people he identifies with, Muslims and Arabs. The peak of the crisis and possibly the trigger of the incident came when Major Hasan was told that he would be posted to Iraq within a month. This was possibly beyond his capacity to peacefully accommodate all these different loyalties.  Is it actually wise to send a man to fight in lands where he identifies one way or another with the people he may have to kill, so to speak? Major Hasan, being a psychiatrist, is unlikely to engage in actual combat, but being in the field, on the American side, may have just proved intolerable for him.

 

Whether it is the radical religious ideas which can only be compared to a virus that self-replicates, blocking normal thinking pathways and rendering certain cognitive and reasoning skills idle; or a bug of conflicting loyalties, or a professionally-related nervous breakdown; the aftershocks of this incident may be as painful. In the days and weeks to come, the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting tragedy will likely show us significant policy implications on the recruiting and periodical “psychological-scanning” of military personnel in the U.S. armed forces.

 

 

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Comments

[Wael Nawara - Huffpost Blogger]

Update:
Mjr. Hasan warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid "adverse events," the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.

In late June 2007, Mjr. Hasan stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.

"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he said in the presentation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/09/AR2009110903618.html

[Fireslayer]

This is heart breaking. The one thing that has not been asked is why did he hate Muslims so much that he would do something so despicable that would inevitably incite the easily excitable right-wingers to innumerable outburst of intolerance?

For my own part I will denounce him for his murders as well as setting back the cause of societal diversity which made great strides (in a word, Obama) since my upbringing in the still too racist South.

In the commission of war atrocities, be it by Palestinians, Palestinia­n-American­s, the Israeli Defense Forces, the Settlers or the good old USA, I am prepared to denounce these equally and without equivocation.

When an act passes the threshold of horrible understanding is overrated. Behavior is everything.

I find the death penalty distasteful and counterproductive in the extreme. But let me make it clear that I will not be standing outside of Huntsville Penitentiary holding a candle weeping when they give Major Hasan the big squirt.. It was, after all his death wish that made for this horrific tragedy.

[Wael Nawara - Huffpost Blogger]

It is heart-breaking and it puts to question many things we take for granted. We used to assume that comrades-in-arms will never kill one another for starters.

You ask an interesting question:

"The one thing that has not been asked is why did he hate Muslims so much that he would do something so despicable that would inevitably incite the easily excitable right-wingers to innumerable outburst of intolerance?"

How did he fail to see that side of his actions - he is a psychiatrist after all ?

I see his actions as totally insane. Even if he did it with some twisted extremist religious motivation, extremism in itself causes one to be like someone who is permanently drugged - someone who is totally insane -

[azbbm1]

When someone as rational as a psychiatrist experiences a psychotic break, I should think we'd be asking more serious questions than how his 'religion did it.'

[Bubba Gump]

The thirteen killed were:

Rank (or occupation) Name Age Hometown

Civilian (Physician Asst.) Michael Grant Cahill[26] 62 Spokane, Washington
Major L. Eduardo Caraveo[27] 52 Woodbridge, Virginia
SSG Justin M. DeCrow[28] 32 Plymouth, Indiana
Captain[29] John Gaffaney[30] 56 Serra Mesa, California
SPC Frederick Greene[26] 29 Mountain City, Tennessee
SPC Jason Dean Hunt[26] 22 Tipton, Oklahoma
SGT Amy Krueger[26] 29 Kiel, Wisconsin
PFC Aaron Thomas Nemelka[26] 19 West Jordan, Utah
PFC Michael Pearson[31] 22 Bolingbrook, Illinois
Captain[32] Russell Seager[33] 51 Racine, Wisconsin
PFC Francheska Velez[34] 21 Chicago, Illinois ‡
Lt. Col.[35] (PA) Juanita Warman[33] 55 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
PFC Kham Xiong[26] 23 St. Paul, Minnesota

‡ Francheska Velez was pregnant at the time of her death.[36]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidal_Hasan#Fatalities

May these honored human beings rest in peace.

God bless, comfort, and heal the wounded victims and all the grieving families, friends, and soldiers.

[Wael Nawara - Huffpost Blogger]

Indeed. May they Rest in Peace. These men and women were just doing their duty.

[BigGoose]

Well to the above. The guy was a medical professional and had been in a number of years. He made rank, 'nuff said there.

The curious part of all this goes back to my own induction and swearing in ceremony when I joined the service.

Didn't this "devout muslim" swear before his God when he joined? The way I understand it is that Christian, Jew, Muslim, alike, all believe in the SAME God. So I'm not really grasping how he can pretend to be this devout and break a holy vow like that. If they're still administering the same vow I took, agreeing with policy or orders wasn't a requirement. He could have resigned his commission on religious grounds, MAYBE but doubtful there would have been jail time involved with failure to obey or cowardice in the face of, on those grounds. But at least he could have lived his convictions with honor.

But he was all over the paycheck and school and other assistance, from undergraduate ROTC up to his medical care today. You'd think this would be considered fruit of a poisoned tree to these zealots...

[Shriniwas Kulkarni]

@BigGoose -
Technically no religion shares Gods (that defeats the purpose of religion all together) - you are falsely assuming that Jews, Muslims and Christians share the same so called "God". America's foundation on the separation of Church and State is in grave danger due to these illogical and ideologically brainwashed Islamic extremists. For them there is no distinction between religion, philosophy, jurisprudence, personal law, hygiene or social law. They will never accept any constitution outside the Koran. Ironically so called Moderate Muslims from Turkey and Malaysia/Indonesia are reverting back to their 7th century women stoning, infidel beheading. honor-killing, suicide-bombing, freedom banning way of life.
Worst still, Muslims more and more want to be known as Muslims first American/E­uropean/In­dian/Chine­se/Nigeria­n/Thai/Fil­ipino later. Moderate Muslims who dont adhere to such beliefs unknowingly contribute by donations to religious schools that brainwash teens to be become suicide bombers for cash return of 72 Virgins.
Hindus, Jews, orthodox Christians and Buddhists have been incessantly been persecuted by Muslims for the past 1400 years (much more and much brutally than what the Conquistadors or the pioneers inflicted on the New World natives)
Muslims want to destroy the freedom and both Western and Eastern Civilization humane values.
As Bill Maher said God is a neurological disorder coming out of the human brain's necessity to have answers to the questions we are unable to understand and answer. We should wake up now before we are ushered into another dark age ...

[azbbm1]

Shriniwas K, you are mis-informed.

Big Goose is correct. They all are the same one God.

And quoting comedian Bill Maher is an inane thing to do.

[greymom]

He frequented strip clubs, was even considered a good tipper. He was typical of religious zealots who think they are somehow excused from bad behavior because the are so "godly".

[Wael Nawara - Huffpost Blogger]

I tend to think that Mjr. Hasan had lost his sanity. It is possible that religious extremist ideas may be responsible, but at the end, no sane person can do that kind of thing.

[Pluribus Unim]

I call bs on the "inferior outsider".

The guy was a Major. You don't achieve that rank by making enemies and being an outcast. And you certainly don't get harassed

[Breakwind]

Sorry, he was an outsider. As a practicing muslim he could not (supposedly) associate with his social equals at the officer's club. How many observant muslims do you know who go to bars to unwind? Also, he undoubtedly was aware that his fellow officers would tread lightly when discussing Arabic culture and all things associated with it-- like Iraq, Afghanistan, insurgents, etc.
In addition, his counseling of troubled returning combat vets must have revealed some hatred for enemy combatants who obviously were muslim.

Oh, he felt himself an outsider whether it was in his own imagination or in the words and looks of the other officers and soldiers.