Standing Watch

Nidal Malik Hasan (Getty)

A quick note, before we begin.  My use of the words alleged or allegedly do not imply that I believe Hasan is innocent of the crimes he is accused of, nor is this statement one that supports his guilt.  Everyone in this country is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, so the use of those words is simply to support that concept, one that is the cornerstone to our democracy and our justice system.

This is actually a story of one soldier, US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, MD, MPH, the accused gunman who allegedly killed 13, and wounded dozens more, in what is now being called the worst shooting ever on a US military installation at Fort Hood, Texas.  But two very different profiles of Maj. Hasan are emerging.

The first is one by family and friends who knew the 39 year old US Army psychiatrist the best.

It is a profile not discussed much in the media, a picture of a young American idealist of Palestinian immigrant parents, and the oldest of three sons born in the United States.  Hasan’s parents came to the United States after leaving their small town outside of Jerusalem.  When Hasan was a teenager, his parents moved to Roanoke, VA, starting and running a neighborhood market, a restaurant, and a local bar and grill.  In 1988, Hasan graduated high school, and against his parents wishes, shortly thereafter joined the US Army.  Hasan strongly felt it was his duty to serve the nation of his birth.  The US Army would repay his dedication and loyalty by putting him through college, and eventually Hasan would become a medical doctor of psychiatry in 2003.  Hasan would then work at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, treating and counseling soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and receiving regular promotions.

The death of Hasan’s father in 1998, and his mother’s death three years later, caused Hasan to become more devout in his faith, as happens with all young people approaching middle life when faced with their own mortality after the loss of loved ones.  Hasan would receive the rank promotion to Major in 2008, after just 5 years in medicine.

This first profile is, by all measures, typical of hard working Americans who seek to achieve the American dream.  He took full advantage of the opportunities presented to him, made the best of them, and became what many aspire to be but few achieve.

The second profile, which we’ve all seen in the media the last several days, is far different.  It is a picture told by those who barely knew Hasan, except in passing.  According to media reports and “leaked” and unconfirmed information by anonymous military sources, Hasan was a troubled man who was anything but loyal and dedicated to the country of his birth.

This is the profile being painted by the Powers That Be, and corporate media, using unconfirmed information, unauthorized anonymous sources, and so forth.  It is one designed to mislead us into believing that Maj. Nidal Hasan, US Army, MD, MPH, is an Islamic terrorist who worked his way through the system to commit a premeditated and planned act of terrorism against the nation of his birth.  We are expected to believe that Maj. Hasan was under investigation for several months by the FBI, and yet was able to commit one of the dealiest attacks on a military base in US history, because no one saw this coming.  This, in a nation that can track down within a day or two the Cow that gave birth to a calf that turned out to have “mad cow” disease.  This, from agencies that were able to identify all 19 hijackers involved in the 9-11-2001 attacks before the fires were under control.  But they can’t keep track of someone they are investigating as a potential extremist, discover his alleged plan, and stop him?

And, we are being told the military itself was criminally stupid in dealing with Hasan’s alleged extremist views.  We’re being told that a web blog post by a user using a similar user ID to Hasan’s name is Hasan, despite the fact their is zero proof of this (which even the FBI admits).  We’re being told what Hasan did was premeditated, because he purchased a firearm (one of the ones allegedly used in the shootings) around the same time of the blog post mentioned.  We’re being told the military intentionally ignored statements Hasan allegedly made, which were viewed as decidedly anti-American and supportive of terrorism, for fear of offending Islamic sensitivities.  We’re even being told that Hasan, despite an allegedly poor work record, extremist views, and a desire to leave the US Army because of his increasing doubts about the war in Iraq (he allegedly even offered to repay the military for his college and other training), was promoted to the rank of Major.  The explanation for this given by the media?  That Hasan’s promotion to Major was part of some unknown affirmative action program due to a shortage of Majors and Lieutenant Colonels.

What the hell are we supposed to believe?  Do we believe those who knew Hasan best, his family and friends?  Or do we believe corporate media, which already got caught in at least one lie related to this story (claiming Hasan was dead), and who has repeatedly fed us nothing but speculation, unofficial “leaks,” and anonymous claims, none of which can be confirmed?

I’ve talked this one over with numerous veterans I know, and I myself am a veteran of the US Army.  We’re pretty much agree on the media “spin” and our mutal interpretation of it.  To quote one, “that dog don’t hunt.”

There is little doubt that Maj. Hasan had trouble dealing with his continued service in the US Army, and his impending deployment to Iraq.  It is also reasonable to assume that the Major may have seen the “war on terror” as a war on Islam, particularly in light of claims of religious harassment, a known problem faced by those who are not Christian within the US Armed Forces, as well as the various academies and universities associated with the US Armed Forces.

Those who watched the PBS Nova series Carrier got a hint of the problem within the US Navy in an episode that addressed issues of faith.  Those who heard or read about the problems at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado also know there is a problem.  There have been thousands of complaints of religious harassment at the hands of apocalyptic evangelical fundamentalist Christians by those who do not share their dominionist views.

Mikey Weinstein is the founder of an organization called Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and created the organization after learning his son was facing intense anti-Semitic harassment at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.  The senior Weinstein himself had faced anti-Semitic physical abuse, but had thought things would have improved by the time his son enrolled.  Weinstein was shocked to learn that things have actually gotten much worse.  Today, not only are Jews targets by Christian extremists, but so are all who are not Christians, and even those whom the extremists claim are “not Christian enough” or “weren’t saved and born again in the right way.”

Weinstein, who is himself a veteran from a family with a long line of military veterans, and who was raised in a socially and politically conservative Republican family and community, is not particularly known for sugar-coating his views in this area.  As he puts it:

We are facing a national security threat in this country that is every bit as significant in magnitude, width and breadth internally as that presented externally by the now-resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda. And it is the destruction of the US constitutionally mandated wall separating metaphysical and physical, spiritual and non-spiritual, church and state, in the technologically most lethal organisation every created by humankind, which is our honourable and noble military. I’m here to report to you today that that wall is nothing but smoke and debris. We are facing an absolute fundamentalist Christianisation – a Talibanisation – of the US Marine Corps, Army, Navy, and Air Force.

In fact, the organizations involved have been quite successful, having infiltrated 30% of the US Armed Forces to date.  The Officers Christian Fellowship, and for enlisted personnel the Christian Military Fellowship, have stated goals that they believe overrides all other considerations, including the oaths taken by military personnel to protect, support, and defend the Constitution of the United States.  The first goal is the conversion of all military personnel to their particular brand of Christian faith.  This ties into their second goal, to turn our military into Ambassadors for Christ in uniform.  The third goal is to enforce draconian authority to insure adherence to the first two goals up and down the military chain of command.

This last goal I can confirm, having been myself subjected to it during my time of service.  While I was born a Jew, I wasn’t what even the most liberal Jew could call Orthodox, by any stretch.  I was more agnostic than anything else, mainly due to certain things I barely survived in childhood, and some I continue to deal with, which caused me to even question the very existence of God.  A new 2nd Lieutenant was assigned to my unit that insisted on “saving” me, and converting me to Christianity.  He would use his position of authority over me for several months, until he was reassigned, to make life as absolutely difficult for me as he could.  He would also use others to assist him in forcing my “conversion” to his particular faith.  It was a decidedly apocalyptic brand of Christianity, to say the least, one shared by the aforementioned groups.

I only had to deal with a few extremists, and at that the harassment only lasted for several months.  Hasan’s family claims he endured repeated harassment for several years, from superiors, subordinates, peers, and even some of his patients.  Hasan’s harassment was likely intensified by anti-Islamic and related racism that followed the attacks of 9-11-2001, and which likely has gotten much worse given the other areas already discussed.

Abdul-Rashid Abdullah, deputy director of the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, claims that the nonprofit group has not received a single report recently of a U.S. soldier being harassed for being Muslim.  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), based in Washington, DC, claims they receive few reports of anti-Muslim harassment, mostly from junior enlisted personnel.

Really?  A quick search of “religious harassment US Military” turns up thousands of articles of religious harassment in the US Armed Forces, 95% of which involved apocalyptic evangelical fundamentalist Christians (or those who claim to be) harassing non-Christians and Christians who do not believe as they do, at every level of the US Armed Forces, and most of that in the last several years.  Are we to believe that those who are Muslim or perceived as such are somehow exempt from this?  The claims by these two groups don’t even come close to what the US Armed Forces acknowledges, that religious intolerance is proportional to that of society at large.  They don’t even reflect the realities being pointed out by Weinstein’s MRFF, the ADL, the ACLU, etc.

In the end, without a statement from Maj. Hasan himself, we may never know what the actual cause or causes is or were behind what he allegedly did.  While he is off the ventilator, he remains in ICU and, at last report, is not communicating (he is either unconscious or refusing to speak, there is no clarification).

But continuous harassment over several years does strange and negative things to some, especially when that harassment targets the core of something the target strongly believes in.  Most of us would either endure, or try to do something positive to change the situation.  Some take their own lives.  But the media has been full of stories lately, of people who cannot endure, who feel that they are somehow being singled out (whether real or perceived), who simply snap, and commit acts of senseless violence against others.

And this is particularly important to consider.  If this is the case, that Hasan snapped emotionally after years of perceived or actual religious harassment, then what does that say about how the military handles the stress inherent in jobs such as Hasan’s, where he must deal with the stress of others while being forced to endure what he claimed he was dealing with himself, real or imagined?  What does it say about how the military handles religious harassment in general?  If the harassment did not exist, as some assert, what does it say about the miliary’s ability to address the mental health needs of those who are charged with addressing those needs themselves?

There is a lot to think about here, if we ignore that which does not make sense, and mainstream media, and look at these problems for ourselves.

I don’t know for certain, though I have good reason to believe it, that Hasan was a victim of religious harassment.  What I do know is that 13 actual victims are dead, 17 more in ICU, and dozens more who were injured.  There are even more who were traumatized by what happened, the first responders, other soldiers, and most of all, friends and families of each and every life that was touched by Hasan’s senseless act of violence.

Could this tragedy have been avoided?  Perhaps, perhaps not.  We may someday learn the truth behind what happened, or we may never know why it happened, and will be left with guessing, speculating, hypothesizing, etc.  But there are growing problems within our military that needs to be addressed, and soon, if we are to prevent this tragedy from happening again.