Hasan: Jihadist or Mental Case?
One thing not being mentioned openly about the Fort Hood massacre of 13 American soldiers and the wounding of 30 others, is whether this was a version of suicide bombing.
That is, was the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, something of a Jihadist "sleeper" intent on replicating a suicide bomber to maximize his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
We don't know ... yet ... but it's a spectre so alarming one hardly dares contemplate its possibility.
All that is acknowledged about Maj. Hasan (he was promoted last spring) is that he's a Muslim whose parents are Palestinian immigrants and that he got his medical degree and psychiatric training through the army. Also, he was "quiet and reserved" (as all loony killers seem to be) and dreaded being assigned to go to Iraq.
Well, he needn't worry about that any more -- he ain't going anywhere.
Also stressed, as if it had anything to do with his actions, is he felt harassed and mocked because of his religion -- something that is difficult to swallow, considering he was an army officer, and army officers are not usually picked on by bullies.
Hasan may well be a mental case who simply broke -- but why he felt required to kill fellow soldiers if he wasn't ideologically, politically or religiously motivated remains a puzzle.
Also puzzling is how he managed to shoot so many people with two handguns, one of which was a machine pistol. The soldiers he shot were unarmed in a building doing administrative tasks, while in an adjoining auditorium 140 troops were gathering for college graduation ceremonies.
A police woman apparently returned Hasan's fire, wounded him, and was herself wounded. Brave woman. Hasan was initially reported killed.
Fort Hood has had its share of incidents over the years, and is the world's largest military base -- temporary home for 45,000 soldiers, including many returned wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan, some of whom were Hasan's patients for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
One who knows Fort Hood well is Canadian Gen. Walter Natynczyk, Chief of Defence Staff, who, in 2004, was Deputy Commanding General of III Corps at Fort Hood, and served in that capacity in Iraq when the Canadian government was refusing to join the American war there.
The "coincidence," (if that's what it is) of an American officer going berserk at Fort Hood who just happens to be a devout Muslim, is disquieting, to say the least.
'ALLAHU AKBAR!'
Soldiers reported the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" -- an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" -- before opening fire.
It brings to mind the incident in June at a Little Rock, Arkansas, recruiting centre where a convert to Islam who had changed his name to Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, shot and killed one American soldier and wounded another.
And remember the infamous British shoe bomber Richard Reid was a convert to Islam, as was American John Walker who joined al-Qaeda and was captured in Afghanistan. At least Hasan wasn't a convert. But is he a deep-cover terrorist? Dunno.
Everyone hopes Nidal Hasan is not a jihadist but a mental case -- as he seems to be, judging from the shock and dismay expressed by his family. The FBI is treating the shootings as a crime and not terrorism.
One hopes they are correct, and not taking the easy way out as they did when they labeled the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as a "crime" and not as "terrorism."
Originally published in the Toronto Sun November 7, 2009.