The U.S. military’s just-released report into the Fort Hood shootings spends 86 pages detailing various slipups by Army officers but not once mentions Major Nidal Hasan by name or even discusses whether the killings may have had anything to do with the suspect’s view of his Muslim faith. And as Congress opens two days of hearings on Wednesday into the Pentagon probe of the Nov. 5 attack that left 13 dead, lawmakers want explanations for that omission.
John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 commission and Navy Secretary during the Reagan Administration, says a reluctance to cause offense by citing Hasan’s view of his Muslim faith and the U.S. military’s activities in Muslim countries as a possible trigger for his alleged rampage reflects a problem that has gotten worse in the 40 years that Lehman has spent in and around the U.S. military. The Pentagon report’s silence on Islamic extremism “shows you how deeply entrenched the values of political correctness have become,” he told TIME on Tuesday. “It’s definitely getting worse, and is now so ingrained that people no longer smirk when it happens.”
[...The] leaders of the two-month Pentagon review, former Army Secretary Togo West and the Navy’s onetime top admiral, Vernon Clark, told reporters last week that they didn’t drill down into Hasan’s motives. “Our concern is with actions and effects, not necessarily with motivations,” West said.
Bizarre. If all you look at is what happened and not why, you can’t prevent it happening again.
So, you are saying that everyone should have their faith analyzed and it is a “slip up” if the government doesn’t keep tabs on us in that manner?
#1: No, I’m saying that in this specific case, his faith was central to why he did what he did and no mention of the causes of the attack makes the report pointless.
But if the report was to analyze the slip ups that should have been noted “before” he acted, the only way to do this is keep tabs on everyone’s faith.
Whenever christians start killing thousands of “non-believers”…. again… then yes, we will keep tabs on them as well. Unrestrained and ignored causes of terrorism are not protected under freedom of religion. Sticking your head in the sand does nothing but get your ass blown off.
I had been giving moderate Muslims the benefit of the doubt before this Ft Hood shooting. Now I think it is time to clean house. The military needs to dismiss Muslims from any sensitive position. We really don’t need a fifth column here.
… Yes, uncle Dave, just like we hear all the time about how the irrationality of Christianity fuels the crimes of *its* adherents…
Please think before you type.
“John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 commission and Navy Secretary during the Reagan Administration, says a reluctance to cause offense by citing Hasan’s view of his Muslim faith and the U.S. military’s activities in Muslim countries as a possible trigger for his alleged rampage”
Let me edit out the BS and make an addition:
“John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 commission and Navy Secretary during the Reagan Administration, says the complete avoidance of the topic of the U.S. military’s activities in Muslim countries as the probable trigger for his alleged rampage serves the purpose of hiding from official Army documentation Hasan’s claims of gruesome, unprosecuted war crimes related to him by a number of his patients.”
#7 Good point Winston… bringing up his faith as a motivation would raise pointed questions about why Muslims are in such a rage.
It’s like the old “git tuff on crime” BS the wingnuts believe. Don’t think about why someone committed a crime, just throw him in jail. Yeah, that worked. Not.
7. Winston. So killing a dozen people and sending bullets randomly into 31 others somehow mitigates the stories of gruesome war crimes. How does that work?
RBG
Bring back profiling it works!!
#3&6: So, in other words, the reason he did what he did is irrelevant? That he openly expressed radical Islamic views prior to the attack should not have been investigated despite the US being at war with radical Islamic groups because it involves his religion?
If the reason didn’t involve his religion do you honestly expect that the military would have or should have ignored it?
Gnu: Christian irrationality is no excuse for committing crimes.
“Military records indicated that Major Hasan was single, had been born in Virginia, had never served abroad and listed “no religious preference” on his personnel record.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us/06forthood.html
How did somebody with no religion become so devout and radicalized? True believer, or deeper mental illness?
#12 True believer, or deeper mental illness?
Some would say one leads to the other. Both ways.
This falls right into the Obama legal system. Don’t blame the culprit. Don’t even mention the perp.
Just blame the USA.
Did I mention how happy I am that this prick is paralyzed?
#9 7. Winston. So killing a dozen people and sending bullets randomly into 31 others somehow mitigates the stories of gruesome war crimes. How does that work?
Why do you people have such a hard time with this? It’s not “Punish the perp OR understand the cause”, it’s “Punish the perp AND understand the cause so we can prevent further attacks.”
Get it? AND vs OR? Prevention? Once of prevention, meet pound of cure? Bueller? Anyone?
The enemy within is thriving because of this poisonous Politically correct thinking, which only came about because of the lame baby boomer generation, who have no leadership skills whatsoever. The baby boomers and their kids are letting down America big time!
#17 hack wheeze kaff kaff kidsgetoffamylawn
16 Phydeau. “Why do you people have such a hard time with this? It’s not “Punish the perp OR understand the cause”…”
It’s not even: “It’s not “Punish the perp OR understand the cause””
Because I am responding to this:
7 Winston: “…the probable trigger for his alleged rampage … Hasan’s claims of gruesome, unprosecuted war crimes related to him by a number of his patients.”
So he apparently killed because this says he didn’t like the gruesome stories of all the killing. Get it? Nothing to do with punishment. Nothing to do with And-Or.
RBG
Oh, it’s not the US military exercising political correctness, of any kind. It’s the almost total avoidance of validating any religious beliefs, in the military services. In the four years that I was in, it struck me just how shallow and token, most of the chapel services were. And I’m not one that believes in some kind of hard line fundamentalism. But it was even very weak and ineffectual, by my loose standards. And I came to realize that the military leadership views religion as more of a liability, than an asset. As far as they’re concerned, it only good for inspiring soldiers to go and get themselves slaughtered. Or to keep their nerves from falling apart.
But morality? Especially questioning what we’re doing, being involved in the latest carnage? That sort of religious conscientiousness, they vehemently want to discourage from happening. So religious practices, in the US military, are just basically for show. And when you think about it. Most major religious beliefs would run counter to the actions and polices of the military. So that’s why they only allow Religion-lite or Diet God, to be practiced or observed.