According to this Washington Post report, the shooter at the Ft. Hood massacre, Major Nidal M. Hasan was an American citizen born in Arlington, Virginia of Palestinian American parents. He had never married, and was a devout Muslim by all accounts. He had also allegedly asked for a discharge from the military for several years after suffering abuse and harassment by other members of the military for his religious beliefs following the attacks on September 11, 2001, according to his aunt.
He prayed every day at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, a devout Muslim who, despite asking to be discharged from the U.S. Army, was on the eve of his first deployment to war. Yesterday, authorities said Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, a 39-year-old Arlington-born psychiatrist, shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex.
In an interview, his aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.
“I know what that is like,” she said. “Some people can take it, and some cannot. He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military, and they would not let him leave even after he offered to repay” for his medical training.
The Wapo report describes a solitary figure who had spent his entire professional career in the US Army. He had worked at Walter Reed Hospital for most of his career treating trauma victims, his medical education and training had been paid for by the US military, and he was reported to be an adamant opponent of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He had also allegedly come to the attention of law enforcement for posts he made on an internet website comparing suicide bombers to Japanese Kamikazi pilots who flew suicide missions against the US Navy in the Pacific during WWII.
According to his aunt, his work at Walter Reed for 8 years with trauma victims from Iraq and Afghanistan, and witnessing on a daily basis the effects of their psychological and physical injuries had had a profound effect on him. She describes him telling her of the patients he worked with who had suffered severe wounds, including one individual who had been so badly burned “that his face had nearly melted.”
The portrait Hassan’s aunt paints of him is of a quiet, serious, solitary individual, who was frustrated by the Army’s refusal to grant him a discharge. She claims he must have “snapped” under the pressure of all that he had experienced since 9/11 and under the deadline of his coming deployment to a war zone.
Last night on the Rachel Maddow show, Rachel reported on conversations Major Hassan allegedly had with a man, a fellow Muslim, who worked at a convenience store that Hassan frequented each morning to buy coffee. In one of those conversations Major Hassan reportedly stated that he had qualms about being deployed to a war zone where he might be faced with the possibility of harming or killing fellow Muslims. She showed video surveillance tape from the store security camera of Major Hassan, dressed in tradition Arab garb, on the morning of the shooting. Here’s video from CNN which ran the same footage:
A cousin of Major Hassan, Nader Hassan, stated to Shepard Smith of Fox News, in a live interview that Hassan had never told his cousin or other family members that he was scheduled to be deployed overseas. His cousin describes conversations with Major Hassan regarding his work at Walter Reed and the “horrific things” he heard from his patients about the war. He also confirmed Hassan’s aunt’s statements to the Washington Post that Major Hassan had experienced harassment at Walter Reed because of his faith and ethnicity. This cousin, Nader Hassan, stated that Major Hassan had at one time employed an attorney in an attempt to obtain a discharge, and that he had been seeking to leave the military for several years. The cousin also stated that Major Hassan had no history of past violent behavior, or of making statements condoning violence to members of their family. Nader Hassan described the family of his cousin as being in shock over what happened.
Here’s the video broadcast by Fox News posted on You Tube:
These details suggest that Major Hassan acted alone based on his personal experiences and beliefs, and that his failure to obtain a discharge from the Army plus the upcoming deployment he faced was the likely trigger that led to this incident. If Major Hassan is the shooter at Ft. Hood as alleged, he seemingly fits many of the characteristics of a disgruntled employee who commits mass murder at his workplace. He was socially isolated at work, a loner by nature, and had for a long time repressed his feeling of isolation, anger, stress and anxiety regarding his work situation. Such individuals, seeing no other way out make a deliberate choice to murder their colleagues as an act of vengeance against the institution which they feel has wronged them.
If all these claims are are proven to be true in the upcoming days and weeks, the fact that Major Hassan was not allowed to leave military service based on his objections to the wars and the stress he experienced as a result of his job will be shown to be a grave error. If he had been allowed to leave, this tragedy likely could have been avoided.
Do they know how he managed to obtain a weapon and kill so many people with it?
Aren’t all officers issued sidearms? My father had one (well hidden in the house) even when he was stationed in DC at the DIA. But that was, uh, a long time ago, so…
Someone on CNN, Barbara Starr (CNN Pentagaon correspondent) said that not all personnel are issued firearms, particularly not medial personnel unless they were gonna be in a combat regimen,
I just heard on the BBC that he used privately-owned weapons, so scratch my previous reply.
He lives in Texas. He could have bought them at a gun show.
Or anywhere else. Texas laws are loose and no one would refuse to sell a gun or two to an Army Major.
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Meanwhile, CBS News has learned that the gun used in the attack was a FN Five-Seven, a semi-automatic pistol popular with Special Operations and SWAT teams that can be used with special armor-piercing bullets.
Investigators have located a shooting range near Fort Hood where Hasan practiced in his spare time as well as the gun store where a few weeks ago he bought the murder weapon. Records indicate Hasan bought the weapon at a store called “Guns Galore ” in Killeen, Texas, well before the Fort Hood shooting. The pistol has been dubbed a “cop killer” by those who have tried to stop its use.
The most powerful type of ammunition for the gun is available only to law enforcement and military personnel.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."He allegedly had two semiautomatic guns (pistols?) and all one needs are a lot of fully loaded clips to get off a lot of shots in a crowded place quickly.
Ps. This one made the rec list at Orange and has caused quite a stir so I had to update it to make clear I am not asking that we sympathize with a murderer.
“He had also allegedly come to the attention of law enforcement for posts he made on an internet website comparing suicide bombers to Japanese Kamikazi pilots who flew suicide missions against the US Navy in the Pacific during WWII.“
Why on earth would making such a comparison be of interest to law enforcement officers? Many of us had seen the similarities, and many of us have pointed them out at one time or another in a variety of contexts. Has any and all logic left the country?
In retrospect, it appears their interest was warranted.
No it doesn’t. Not on that basis. And let us not jump to the conclusion that this had anything whatsoever to do with his faith. Remember that the overwhelming majority of workplace violence of this sort is committed by non-Muslims, and we do not automatically assume that their faith – or lack of it – has anything to do with their actions.
Have you seen the actual posts? Depending on the context it could certainly be suspicious. For example if you were making the comparison and lauding both for their courage and conviction in the face of a superpower. Ding! Suspicious.
As I have said elsewhere, statements and discussions drawing analogies between suicide bombers and kamekaze pilots or suicide bombers and soldiers who fall on a grenade to save their comrades are as common as dirt. I’ve engaged in a lot of them myself, and I have argued that the kamekaze analogy is 100% apt, and believe that the grenade analogy has some validity as well.
My views on suicide bombing are, you might say, nuanced. They are certainly not unequivocal. I suppose that must bring ME to the attention of lawmakers, despite the fact that I am categorically opposed to the death penalty; don’t even kill bugs and spiders when I find them in my house, but instead gently carry them outside; would never dream of having trees trimmed during nesting season; canceled a planned leveling operation when I found a group of moles had taken up residence in the part of my property to be leveled; and once had bad dreams for a week because I had killed a black widow spider in my garage.
One of the things that has surprised and dismayed me these last couple of days is how many Americans have absorbed the propaganda that suicide bombing is by definition an attack on innocents. The reality is that the great majority of suicide bombings are aimed at military targets or at other elements of occupation or oppression, and are therefore a form of resistance, not terrorism. Therefore, they can certainly be equated to the kamikaze pilot, and in some respects might be somewhat analogous to the soldier falling on a grenade, although I find that analogy rather strained. When people discuss suicide bombings in other than a condemnatory tone, they are virtually always doing so in the context of suicide bombings as a weapon against the military and political agents of occupation or oppression, not as a cool way to kill women, children, and old people.
Of course, if even one innocent person is so much as injured in a suicide bombing against a military target, it is a despicable act of terrorism against innocent civilians. On the other hand, the U.S. or Israeli military can bomb the crap out of a neighborhood, killing tens of civilians, and not one single “bad guy”, and it is a perfectly legitimate operation with “regrettable collateral damage”.
true dat.
Let’s see – a Muslim psychiatrist of Palestinian origin in the US Army – living in Texas.
No sympathy for a murderer?
I got sympathy for him – plenty of it.
Only thing I’m surprised at is that it took this long for him to snap.
How about a moment of silent reflection for the monsters we make in this twisted, greedy, brutal society of ours?
Many days it seems to me to be a lot more Hell than Heaven.
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We legislate to “protect the unborn” while killing tens of thousands of Americans in our failure to enact on basic rights of universal health care. We persist in capital punishment while not offering the basic legal defence and avoiding wrongful convictions. We enter an illegal war in Iraq thereby causing great upheaval and causing more than onehundredthousand civilian deaths. The death of a loved one is most hurtful, knowing elsewhere in a modern Western country that life would have a chance to be saved.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
His stay at Fort Hood since July is far too short. At Walter Reed he was employed for the past six years and getting a promotion from Captain to Major in 2008.
VINTON, Va (Roanoke Times) – But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.
Federal law enforcement officials say Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Hasan. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
“To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause,” said the Internet posting. “ Scholars have paralled [sic] this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers .”
IMHO Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan “martyred” himself for the sake of Muslims and the Palestinian cause, also known as Islamic Jihad. From my diary – Fort Hood Shooting A Palestinian Issue? My analysis of the Palestinian people, also from friends living in the States, when they are confronted with unjust policy toward their Palestinian homeland, they hurt. See the recent developments of Barack Obama and the failure to get Israel to freeze building illegal settlements. The recent Israeli violence on the Temple Mount of al-Quds added to the furor.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
(CNN) – Staff Sgt. Marc Molano, based at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told CNN Hasan treated him for post-traumatic stress disorder earlier this year at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
“Dr. Hasan provided me with nothing but the best care,” Molano said. “He was a very well-mannered, polite psychiatrist, and it’s just a shock to know that Dr. Hasan could have done this. It’s still kind of hard to believe.”
Molano described him as “far and away one of the best psychiatrists I ever dealt with.”
A soldier who served two tours in Iraq and is awaiting medical retirement for chronic PTSD and severe mental disorders called Hasan “a soldier’s soldier who cared about our mental health.”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."“IMHO Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan “martyred” himself for the sake of Muslims and the Palestinian cause, also known as Islamic Jihad.“
With all due respect, Oui, this shows a very superficial, and completely incorrect, understanding of the concept of jihad, even when it is used in the sense of “holy war”, which by the way, is its least frequent application. You have seriously misapplied the term. Jihad in the sense of “holy war” is not an individual undertaking, nor does it consist of a single action, let alone a single action by a single individual. The type of jihad undertaken by individuals is an internal matter, and is utterly and completely non-violent.
There is no real evidence at this time that what he did was motivated by religion, Palestine, or anything else, other than a combination of desperation over his personal situation combined with a disordered mental state. Let us resist the temptation to promote the idea that it was religiously motivated until he has had a chance to speak. Fortunately, he is alive, and apparently will survive to shed light on this question himself.
My guess here is that the culprit is mental illness, not political conviction.
That appears to be the most likely explanation at this point. It looks like the guy reached the tipping point, and snapped.
Just thanks for digging into this story and finding more depth, the inside of it, although I’m not certain we will ever know what made Hasan go off like that. The traditional way to leave the armed services under this circumstance is AWOL.
“The traditional way to leave the armed services under this circumstance is AWOL.“
There may have been reasons that he did not see that as an option, and therefore felt utterly trapped. Not that what he did is a viable alternative, of course, just trying to think about what might have caused him to take this road. It is not as if this is the first case in which a member of the military has gone off the deep end and committed an act like this, and I need to repeat here that in the vast majority of cases they have not been either Arab or Muslim.
Unless the rules have changed since I was in, Major Hassan had enough time to fulfill his military obligation. As an officer, he could resign his commission at any time, instead of dishonoring it. Apparently he wanted his cake and to eat it too.
According to reports he tried multiple times to get out of the military, and even hired a lawyer to assist him. He also reportedly offered to repay the military for his medical training, and they said no. Unless those reports are incorrect, then your analysis has problems.
Knowledgeable friends at work tell me that the obligation is eight years for doctors and still the old four years for other officers. Apparently, he was short of eight years. Still, when you take the King’s Shilling, you have to do the King’s killing. Lots of us have been there. Many soldiers objected to VietNam, many deserted and went to Canada. I’m not aware of any who gunned down their fellow soldiers, not counting some asshole officers who were fragged. Still, even the fragging was personal, not political or religious.
The information we have so far suggests that the actions of Nidal Hasan were, as have been other workplace and school shootings, due to the fact that he was psychologically compromised, and snapped under extraordinary life pressures. The only reason people are hammering on religion and politics is that he is Muslim and Palestinian, and as everyone knows Muslims and Palestinians only ever commit violence for religious or political reasons, and not because they suffer from psychological problems and are subjected to extraordinary pressures in their lives.
Such a tragedy. Such a waste of lives. There are no simple answers.
Any one of these could have pushed a mentally unstable person over the edge. Or could have created mental instability. We have a person who experienced:
He, as a psychiatrist, treated returning war vets for War Trauma PTSD. He saw their horrific wounds and suffering and their disfigured, broken bodies. His job was to help them by listening to them as they relived the details of their horrific experiences, not just one day, or one week, but over and over and over again for years. And he probably internalized many of the images described to him.
Talk to therapists who treat trauma patients. This can reek havoc with anyone’s psyche.
This guy, among other things had PTSD!
Think about the nature of the stress. Eight years of being harassed and being a suspect by your colleagues because your religion just happened to be that of nineteen religious fanatics who flew planes into the World Trade Center. Even at the time, news reporters used the word kamikaze to describe what happened.
You are a psychiatrist who treats trauma patients and deals with post-traumatic stress disorder in those patients–and with PTSD in patients that have no other visible wounds.
You talk about what happened to them in order to have them articulate what happened so they can deal with it. You hear horrible stories, not only about what Afghanis and Iraqis were doing to Americans but what Americans were doing to Afghanis and Moslems. No doubt in these stories you hear references to “ragheads”.
Over an over again, you are being classed as “the enemy” even as you are ashamed about what your country has done in your name and to people of your religion.
And you are trapped by your military contract and stoploss and the denial of your requests to leave.
And then you go from the cultural environment of Northern Virginia to the cultural environment of Texas. Did Central Texas send him over the edge?
It is very much like the stress in a workplace causing a “disgruntled employee” (what exactly are “gruntles” anyway) snapping and killing co-workers or bosses.
One question remains. Did he personally know everyone he shot or was he indiscriminate?
I think we have to be clear under these circumstances that plenty of people in the armed forces face similar pressures and don’t commit mass murder. (Or, if they do, it’s of Iraqis and Afghans, and Americans don’t care.) The responsibility for this is ultimately Hasam’s.
That said, there’s a lot here to chew on in terms of how fucked up war is in general, and our current wars in particular, and the problems that especially face Muslims, officers, COs, and stoplossed soldiers in an army stretched much, much too thin.
Given PTSD statistics, we’re creating war-torn monsters out of our servicepeople in record numbers. (To say nothing of the traumatized civilians in the war zones we’ve created.) This large tragedy highlights the many small tragedies, some violent, some simply in destroyed lives and families, that are playing out among Afghan and Iraqi vets and active soldiers every day.
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… the buck stops here.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Which prompts, among other things, what if they held a war, and no one showed up?
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(AP) A neighbor says an Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas cleaned out his apartment in the days before the rampage.
Neighbor Patricia Villa says Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment on Wednesday morning and told her he was going to be deployed on Friday.
She says he gave her some frozen broccoli, some spinach, T-shirts, shelves and a new Quran, the Muslim holy book. She says he returned on Thursday morning and gave her his air mattress, several briefcases and a desk lamp.
Villa says Hasan then offered her $60 to clean his apartment Friday morning after he supposedly was to leave.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."And the part about the Qur’an is significant because…? Sounds like he gave her a number of things from his apartment. Shall we also analyze the significance of the broccoli and spinach? And the air matress? And a desk lamp – that must mean something important. But it is the T-shirts I find most intriguing. Why would he give her articles of clothing?
Come ON! If he were a Jew and gave his neighbor, among a number of items, a new Torah, or a Christian, and gave his neighbor, among other things, a new Bible, no one would make a big deal out of it. But this guy was a – shake, shiver, gasp! – MUSLIM, and everyone knows that any time a Muslim does something violent is is, by definition, motivated by religion, so they look for and grab eagerly onto anything that they can use to justify their assumption.
What do you expect from CBS? News?
It is not what comes from CBS News that concerns me, it is what is coming from some members of this supposedly thoughtful, progressive community. I would have hoped that people here would not jump on the same knee-jerk Muslim-bashing bandwagon with the likes of FOX, CBS, etc.
PS It is the title that Oui chose to give this comment of his that I find disturbing. You will notice that his source did not choose to emphasize the Qur’an in their headline, so why did he other than to make a particular point.
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For a Christian, the bible is the holy book and would not be disgarded by handing it to an unbeliever. By handing the Quran to a neighbor is IMO Nidal Hasan saying good-bye. The personal Quran would never be handed over to a non-Muslim. I my estimate, the well educated suspect was performing his army duty in a conscientious manner and was appreciated: “A soldier’s soldier who cared.” He was alone, not married and on several occasions made it clear he would like a female friend/partner. He may have been unhappy with his personal situation, however there were no red flags raised in his professional work. I’m intrigued by his brother who returned to live in the Palestinian homeland in a village near Jerusalem. On many occasions, Nidal Hasan let it be known that he was a Palestinian. In fact he was born as raised a US citizen. The 2nd generation immigrants have a divided loyalty between the two countries. I suspect a political motive for his act, triggered by great disappointment in the Obama administration for not ending the Iraq and Afghan war in the short term. In addition, the Palestinian issue is far even from starting negotiations. The Muslim faith is secundary, he could just as well have been a Christian or agnostic with Palestinian roots. Faith may cause more zeal, but so does Internet web sites and media focused on Palestinian suffering. I call it as I see it, the difficulty is one always reads news opinions of journalists.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Oui, again with all due respect, you are in part talking in gross generalities, in part making conclusions based on very superficial, and often incorrect information, and at times just plain making stuff up out of whole cloth without a jot of evidence to support what is nothing but wild speculation based on generalized preconceptions about Palestinians and Muslims.
“For a Christian, the bible is the holy book and would not be disgarded by handing it to an unbeliever.“
This sounds like a pretty gross generalization to me. It also contains quite an assumption – that giving a Bible (why do you not capitalize the word?) to an “unbeliever” is necessarily seen as discarding it. There are lots of situations in which it might not be seen that way at all.
“By handing the Quran to a neighbor is IMO Nidal Hasan saying good-bye.“
I would suggest that by handing his belongings to his neighbor, including the Qur’an, he was saying goodbye.
“The personal Quran would never be handed over to a non-Muslim.“
Another gross generalization based on very thin, and inaccurate information. There are a number of reasons someone might give his personal Qur’an to a non-Muslim. We don’t really know what his relationship is to this neighbor. One might make such a gift to a friend, or to someone who has expressed an interest in the Qur’an or in Islam. In his case, perhaps this neighbor was one of a few people who showed him respect and/or support, and this was his way of honouring and thanking her. We have no idea. And do you actually know that this neighbor is not a Muslim, or are you just making a convenient assumption that serves your theory?
“He may have been unhappy with his personal situation, however there were no red flags raised in his professional work.“
What do you mean “he may have been unhappy with his personal situation”? It is 100% clear from the information we have that he was absolutely miserable being in the military, at least since Sept 11, that he was being tormented by others for being a Muslim (and probably also for being an Arab), that he had come to realize that he could not support U.S. military policy or actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he was in despair over being required to take part in them. We know that he has been trying for years to get the military to discharge him, and that they had refused. We know that he was so desperate to get out of the military that at some point he had hired a lawyer for that purpose and had even offered to repay the military for the expenses of his medical education.
Oh – and I believe he was also suffering from PTSD, and didn’t I hear that he had a traumatic brain injury?
At this point all the information we have points very clearly to a case of a man who, already in a compromised mental state, felt trapped in an intolerable situation, was in a state of despair over both his present and his future, over the fact that he was being ordered to violate his principles. There is absolutely nothing here to suggest that he “did it all for Palestine”.
It is not surprising that there were no red flags raised in his professional work. The man was a trained physician, and evidently he was a very good one. Psychiatrists in particular are trained and disciplined to keep their professional work separate from the rest of their lives. Not to do so would be a serious disservice to their patients. The fact that he was able to continue to function professionally despite everything else that was going on is not unusual.
“I’m intrigued by his brother who returned to live in the Palestinian homeland in a village near Jerusalem.“
I’m not. That kind of thing is so commonplace as to be completely unremarkable to anyone who has much connection with Palestinians, or with Arabs in general. People choose to go back to their roots. Sometimes they go back and stay for good, sometimes they go back for a few years, sometimes they make an annual visit, and sometimes they spend their lives migrating between one place and another. It has no great significance in the overwhelming majority of cases. I know dozens of American-born Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, etc., etc., etc. who have chosen to return to the countries of their families’ origin, and some of them stay for good. The U.S.- born daughter of one of my good Jordanian friends has been living and working in `Amman for years, and this year her mother, my friend, decided to go back to live in Jordan herself after decades of living in the U.S. as a citizen, raising her family, and making her career in this country. Coincidentally, last night I saw a one-woman show by a young U.S.-born Palestinian Christian who returned to her family home city of Ramallah.
“On many occasions, Nidal Hasan let it be known that he was a Palestinian. In fact he was born as raised a US citizen.“
Yes? And so what? I have a colleague here who was born of an Italian-American mother and father. His grandparents immigrated to this country. He lets it be known often not only that he is Italian, but that he is Sicilian. His wife is half Italian herself, and both their kids have Italian first names. So what? I have another colleague, a British-born Indian, who lets it be known that he is Indian from such-and-such city. So what? I have another colleague who is U.S. born from Scots background who lets it be known that she is Scots. So what? And a U.S. born colleague whose parents immigrated from El Salvador who regularly lets it be known that she is Salvadoran. And then there is my Russian-Jewish-American colleague who lets it be known that he is Russian, and Jewish, and Zionist as well. So what?
“The 2nd generation immigrants have a divided loyalty between the two countries.“
Unless you are willing to say also that my colleagues of Italian, Indian, Scots, Salvadoran, and Russian/Jewish/Zionist backgrounds also have a divided loyalty I will be more than justified in suggesting that you are indulging in racism.
“I suspect a political motive for his act, triggered by great disappointment in the Obama administration for not ending the Iraq and Afghan war in the short term.“
Well, you have certainly managed to weave an interesting tapestry out of nothing but thin air, haven’t you? You have no basis for this except your imagination. None of this is even suggested by the information we have.
“In addition, the Palestinian issue is far even from starting negotiations.“
So what? We all know that, and most of us did not have very high expectations anyway, so what is happening is more or less what we expected.
“I call it as I see it…“
It looks to me as if you call it as you hallucinate it.
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Thanks for your thoughtful comment!
From personal experience I can relate to Nidal Hasan’s predicament being a second generation immigrant myself. Our family also split up between a clear choice for America (eldest son taking responsibility) and a brother who decides to return to the old country. In the case of the Hasan family, this was made easier after the death of their mother in 2001. Nidal’s parents objected to his signing up with the US Army. Nidal wanted to be successful thanks to the offers by his parents to emigrate from Palestine. After his mother’s death the brothers became more devout Muslims. The War on Terror by the Bush administration was seen by Nidal as a war on Islam. Nidal identified himself more and more as a Palestinian and felt the biased opinions and hateful resentment by his fellow “comrades” in the US Army. His job was to heal US soldiers who were destroyed physically and mentally by the US wars in the Middle East. He was a professional and did his job well, he is a man of responsibility. He also wants to have control over his life. What led to his anger to resort to violence, a contradiction to his upbringing and faith, is a question yet to be answered. One can refuse to be deployed to the war theater, this will destroy one’s Army career and make his personal life more difficult. Nidal made the wrong choice, what is the personal anger for a non-violent man to buy a gun and kill fellow human beings? A gun gives you a momentary delusion of power in taking control. Perhaps, as so many who choose violence, he expected to be killed in the act and not having to face any responsibility. In that case as a devout Muslim, what did he expect from above… praise?
Worthwhile read … Interview with Hasan family members in Ramallah.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."