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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010
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 OPINION ROUNDUP 
43

Stop Making Excuses for Hasan

Murderous Islamic extremism was his motive, not PTSD

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(Newser) – Commentators are working overtime to explain away the Fort Hood shootings as a personal breakdown rather than what it obviously was, three conservative columnists argue today: a terrorist assault by an Islamic extremist.

  • The explanation for Major Hasan's actions should be crystal clear to anybody not afraid of offending Muslim sensibilities, Dorothy Rabinowitz argues in the Wall Street Journal. "It was an act of terrorism by a man with a record of expressing virulent, anti-American, pro-jihadist sentiments."

  • The "national rush to therapy," the effort to portray Hasan as "a disturbed individual under a lot of stress," rather than Muslim militant in the US military ranks, is understandable but patronizing, David Brooks writes at the New York Times. "If public commentary wasn’t carefully policed, the assumption seemed to be, then the great mass of unwashed yahoos in Middle America would go off on a racist rampage."
  • There's a real problem when the media "is eager to jump to the conclusion that peaceful political opponents are in league with violent extremists, but is terrified to consider the possibility that violent extremists really are violent extremists if doing so means calling attention to the fact that they are Muslims," argues Jonah Goldberg at the Los Angeles Times.

A pedestrian walks in front of 13 crosses and flowers in front of a church outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas yesterday.
A pedestrian walks in front of 13 crosses and flowers in front of a church outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas yesterday.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
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Larry King discusses the Fort Hood shooting with Dr. Phil.   (joegerarden)

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The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality.
- David Brooks, New York Times

For a very large number of people, the idea that he is a Muslim fanatic, motivated by other Muslim fanatics, was—at least initially—too terrible to contemplate.
- Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times

It has taken Maj. Hasan, and the fantastic efforts to explain away his act of bloody hatred, to bring home how much less capable we are of recognizing the dangers confronting us than we were even before September 11. - Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal

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43 comments
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Reader64481089
Nov 10, 09 7:36 AM CST
"There's a real problem when the media "is eager to jump to the conclusion that peaceful political opponents are in league with violent extremists, but is terrified to consider the possibility that violent extremists really are violent extremists if doing so means calling attention to the fact that they are Muslims," argues Jonah Goldberg at the Los Angeles Times." I agree, execute this animal and move on, screw him and screw therapy for the "poor misguided stressed out man" he is nothing more than a terrorist and should be dealt with as such Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
JonmarkP
Nov 10, 09 7:18 PM CST
Yes, but Jonah Goldberg is a terrorist, too, working as hard as he knows how to destroy the fabric of our democracy and turn it into some half-baked totalitarian state. Looks like a standoff to me. Every violent nut case or extremist writer with whom we disagree is is a terrorist, right? Hell, the teabaggers told us that!
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+2
IN RESPONSE:
RockyPneumonia
Nov 11, 09 6:52 AM CST
Reader64481089, is it OK if we pretend that we understand the principles on which America was based, and follow due process? I mean, just for fun....
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+2
IN RESPONSE:
montkathy
Nov 12, 09 4:11 PM CST
It appears to me that you and the writers of this article have very little insight into the human psyche. Do you think that Major Hasan was a terrorist when he joined the military at age 19, 20 years ago? I doubt that he would have joined the U.S. military if he was. If he was a terrorist, could he have controlled his anger towards the U.S. for 20 years. People can be driven to irrational acts by life circumstances. Hasan reportedly has been a victim of harassment in the military,because of his Muslim faith, since 9/11. He was asked to treat patients, who had returned from a heinous war against people of his faith. Ultimately, he was ordered to go to Afghanistan to assist in a war effort against his people. He probably had suffered with depression for a number of years and may have been self-medicating (since he was a psychiatrist). Anti-depressants are known to have the possible side-effect of causing the patient to become suicidal or homocidal, especially if not being closely monitored by another psychiatrist. Hasan should have been allowed to be released from the military, when he requested that years ago, due to the harassment he suffered. I believe that the tragedy at Fort Hood could have been prevented if the military had discharged Hasan, as he requested. I believe that Hasan became temporarily insane and should be treated as such. Finally, I believe that WAR ITSELF can drive people to insanity.
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DeniseVB
Nov 10, 09 7:37 AM CST
The Army admitted this morning that they "bungled" the warning signs. Most of us in the military community are also wondering why anyone with poor performance reviews was promoted? This would have never happened in the Marine Corps ! Reply
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