Terror at Ft. Hood

Islam, Psychiatry and Political Correctness

It has taken me days to learn some details about the Fort Hood, Texas shooting and the man responsible. I will confess to originally having a rather visceral reaction to whole affair. Having sorted out my thoughts a bit better, I find that my anger towards Major Hasan isn't anywhere near as strong as my anger towards those who push "political correctness".

The "executive summary" of the Fort Hood incident is that a U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Hasan, is also a Muslim. He completed his studies at Walter Reed Hospital but was considered a mediocre student. His duties would be to help soldiers cope with the traumas of war. During his studies, however, he voiced his objection to the Iraqi and Afghan wars as "crusades against Muslims" and equated suicide bombers to U.S. soldiers who fall on a grenade to save their fellow troops.

He was transferred to Ft. Hood in preparation for deployment to Iraq. During the months he was in Texas, he found a great conflict between his duty as a Muslim and his sworn duty as a soldier. This conflict led to his choosing Islam over his military duties and on November 6th, he opened fire on the base, killing 13 and wounding over two dozen more.

Lessons Learned

Islamic indoctrination for most Muslims begins at as soon as they can understand speech and continue for most of their lives. The rules and lessons of Islam are enforced with harsh (and sometimes brutal) efficiency. Islam denies that any other religion is valid. To non-believers (infidels) it denies them basic rights even if they convert under duress - such as a sword at your neck. But most of all, Muslim faith requires its followers to put Islam above all else. This includes any laws or rights others have. It includes violating any oath you voluntarily took.

If your religious beliefs are so strong that you place them "above all else" then swearing an oath means little. Swearing an oath to any organization can be negated by showing it is contrary to Islamic law or rule.

In England, Muslims have challenged long standing English laws by proclaiming them superceded by Muslim Law. In otherwords, that which Islam permits is always legal, everywhere for Muslims. This has been used to make child beatings and child murders a "family matter" not subject to the courts. So far, it hasn't worked.

Political Correctness is self-defeating. It has been established there were "warning signs" exhibited by Hasan in the months leading up to the shooting. His outbursts of anti-war sentiments, his praise of jihadists and calling the conflicts genocide against Muslims. Several of his concerned classmates - officers in the U.S. Army - talked to their superiors about Hasan's views. But when it came down to making a formal complaint, they all declined.

Why? Because, no one wanted to appear racist. Without a formal written complaint little could be done to look into Hasan's rantings or his mental state. Despite the concerns and fears of his fellow doctors, the fear of being called "racist" or "anti-Islamic" won out. Thus, political correctness becomes de facto thought-control. We are afraid to voice our concerns lest we be marked with scarlet letter "R" for racist.

Mass shootings depend on defenseless victims. Once again this serves as a prime example of the defenseless being targeted. Even though a military base like Ft. Hood has thousands of weapons present, they are kept secured. Only authorized military police may carry weapons routinely. Soldiers qualifying at the range are strictly supervised and weapons returned to the armory.

There is no doubt that Major Hasan knew this. It is standard protocol on U.S. Bases in this country. This policy serves the interests of the military and I am not criticizing it. However, it does show us that even the presence of thousands of weapons cannot deter someone, if those weapons are unavailable when needed. Killers may be deranged, but they aren't stupid. They deliberately select locations that are unlikely to have firearms or people who can defend themselves.

Seek, engage, destroy. These are the newest tactics to handle public shooting events. Rather than waiting for superior numbers or the arrival of a SWAT team, officers are being trained to aggressively seek out and engage the shooters to save lives. This was demonstrated to us by the outstanding performance of Sergeant Kimberly Munley (pictured) of the Ft. Hood civilan police agency. Munley engaged Hasan and shot him several times, despite being shot in both legs and her right hand.

Munley, stands barely five feet tall and is described as "petite". Armed only with a handgun, she showed the world that it doesn't take a big, burly male soldier or police officer to stop such an attack. Anyone with solid firearms training and maintaining their focus should be able to do the same. Of course, such actions require training ... and lots of courage. Munley's performance tells us she has the courage of a squad of soldiers.

Psychiatry is still a primitive medicinal practice. When compared to other forms of medicine, it sometimes seems no better than visiting a witch doctor. Too much is subjective, based on opinions and indirect inferences. And this case points out how even a "qualified" psychiatrist can not diagonose his own mental instability.

There have been sufficient cases of one individual being declared dangerous or incompetent by one psychiatrist only to be pronounced utterly sane by another. This is one reason I am always suspicious of any psychiatrist. Plus one always wonders about what kind of personal biases and prejudices the psychiatrist brings into the diagnosis.

Political correctness, inflexible Islamic teachings, psychiatrists who are not, themselves, subjected to "analysis" and defenseless victims all contributed to this tragedy. It is doubtful the military will change its policy of unarmed soldiers on U.S. bases due to safety concerns. Islam is unlikely to change either. But we can strive to choke off political correctness and make sure psychiatrists are more stable than their patients.

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