I heard Brian Williams talk about this man tonight. What he said was utter nonsense. He claimed that Hasan's problem had something to do with a fear that he would not be promoted. What nonsense! The Wiki article about Hasan contains an inconsistency about when he joined the US Army. In fact he joined as an enlisted man after he graduated from high school in Roanoke, Virginia. He was stationed at Ft. Erwin, California where he attended after hours classes in an on post program by a local community college paid for by the government. Following some years of service as an enlisted man in an MOS that I have not so far determined, he was sent to Virginia Tech as a degree completion student by the Army at public expense and then commissioned as an officer. Then he applied to the armed forces medical school to which he was accepted and attended as an officer with all pay and allowances. After being awarded the degree of MD at public expense, he received a fellowship in psychiatry.
This forsworn traitor should die, and I would be happy to shoot him myself. If his politics were a problem, he should not have accepted a commission in the US Army. There is no higher obligation. pl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidal_Malik_Hasan
It seems to me this episode is a striking commentary on the many things wrong in this nation. What rational foundation is there for six months to go buy and this guy's trial has not begun?
And for the record, and anticipating some people perhaps, I am a lawyer. I know, relatively speaking, the complexities of both the military and civilian legal systems. And for the record, I am also keenly aware of (numbed by?) the standard bromides endless march out buy legal bureaucrats and shook at the general public to turn away the obvious questions about the delay. I still call them on it. And in the end, call on them, "what the hell are we waiting for?. One way or another...guilt or innocence, get on with it.
We could turn the finding of whether a ball was fair or foul into an excuse for endless phone conferences, and one or two on-site conferences.
Posted by: jonst | 07 May 2010 at 07:44 AM
Reading at the wiki link the time-line shows that he joined the army 1988 and consequently would,presumably,have believed that he was going to be protecting the US from the Soviets. I doubt he would have had any inkling he might be asked to fight in an occupied Muslim country. I appreciate that joining the forces voluntarily is making contract to do the bidding of political masters, who have not yet been elected, and may ask you to perform acts you view as immoral. As I have little trust in my government's - of any stripe - trustworthiness to 'do the right thing' the military was not a career option.
The thing that struck me most was just how many people had been sifting through his mail. If an obscure army doctor was getting this much scrutiny, despite not having done anything note worthy, just whose mail was/is not being read?
Posted by: JJackson | 07 May 2010 at 08:27 AM
Yes, that's what I always do when I fear I won't be promoted -- get a weapon and kill as many of my co-workers as possible.
Posted by: Larry Kart | 07 May 2010 at 08:41 AM
The firing squad or the gallows, either one works for me.
What still gets me is the fact that he had poor performance records and did things that questioned where his loyalties were. Yet he still received promotions and advancements in his military career.
How did all these warnings get passed by?
I didn't read all that's in the wikipedia article and some of the footnotes are no longer available.
Posted by: John Minnerath | 07 May 2010 at 08:49 AM
I am not certain but it (unfortunately) doesn't appear that a firing squad is an option. It is too bad since military firing squad would probably be viewed as the most appropriate justice and closure by a lot of us. Given his poor professional performance, I find it hard to believe he was allowed to stay in the Army.
jonst wrote “We could turn the finding of whether a ball was fair or foul into an excuse for endless phone conferences, and one or two on-site conferences.”
Alas, hockey has already reached (descended to) that level of bureaucratic review. Most NHL arenas have a video goal judge stationed in the highest level of the building who reviews (and rules on) all goals but especially disputed ones. Regardless of where the game is played, the final decision is often “elevated” to Toronto where the NHL’s "War Room" is located. A frightening emulation of our society.
Posted by: Russ Wagenfeld | 07 May 2010 at 11:51 AM
"Reading at the wiki link the time-line shows that he joined the army 1988 and consequently would,presumably,have believed that he was going to be protecting the US from the Soviets. I doubt he would have had any inkling he might be asked to fight in an occupied Muslim country. I appreciate that joining the forces voluntarily is making contract to do the bidding of political masters, who have not yet been elected, and may ask you to perform acts you view as immoral. As I have little trust in my government's - of any stripe - trustworthiness to 'do the right thing' the military was not a career option. "
He's had numerous opportunities to request separation before accepting a commission. In fact looking at the same timeline, there were plenty of opportunities for early separation even after 2003. There are enough Army medical and dental students who do take this option while repaying the tuition over time.
Posted by: Neil Richardson | 07 May 2010 at 12:51 PM
Dog bites man.
Brian Williams...NBC...
Anybody who kills GI's is OK in their book.
Posted by: graywolf | 07 May 2010 at 01:09 PM
I have to agree with Col. Lang. I can not think of a more reprehensible act than for an officer to do this on so many levels.
A Commission is a sacred trust, and it's for life.
On that point, I hope that the military will demote Hassan before they hang him. A ceremony modelled on what was (unfairly) done to Dreyfus would be appropriate.
Posted by: walrus | 07 May 2010 at 01:41 PM
I prefer hanging,traitors don't deserve the honor of a firing squad.In fact we should make it the standard means of capital punishment.From electric chair through gas chamber and now lethal injection we are making a simple process exceedingly difficult.
Posted by: par4 | 07 May 2010 at 02:35 PM
I doubt he would have had any inkling he might be asked to fight in an occupied Muslim country.
Who knows what his enlisted MOS was, but he was no more going to "fight" anyone as a college student turned MD than the man on the moon.
Hogwash.
He could have supported those who were really doing the fighting even if he disagreed with it politically.
Posted by: Cold War Zoomie | 07 May 2010 at 03:20 PM
walrus
He would be reduced to the status of "prisoner" before being executed. pl
Posted by: Patrick Lang | 07 May 2010 at 03:24 PM
The faith of the thousands of other Muslims on active duty isn't represented by the conduct of this man any more than the inmates of Ft. Leavenworth or the US Naval Prison in Portsmouth are representative of the opinions, or conduct of; other members of the same religious faith as those incarcerated. Major Hassan had many years since the beginning of the 'war on terror' to get out or request a change of status. Instead he stayed on the government gravytrain. The idea that he was seeking an exit (as wiki references a cousin's comments) doesn't appear to fit the facts. Regardless his disagreement with the policy of the US Government such disagreement does not justify 13 acts of murder; conduct which the Col. correctly identifies as treason.
Posted by: Fred | 07 May 2010 at 04:41 PM
Can somebody explain to me why treason charges aren't common for events like this? Lieberman talks about revoking citizenships, a concept I find dangerous, but I don't understand why treason isn't an appropriate charge in cases like this one and the NYC wanna bomber. What am I missing?
Posted by: Brian Hart | 07 May 2010 at 07:18 PM
As I recall, when the policewoman shot him, he was outside the facility where the shooting started, running after someone he'd already shot in order to shoot him again. I will never get over the fact that a "doctor" did that.
He pledged to serve America as an Army office and did not, he pledged to serve humanity as a medical doctor, and did not.
It's so funny, how so-called martyrs like this guy listen to their lawyers and shut up once they're caught. They get a nationwide platform to spout off, and they don't say a boo. How awful it must be for the victims' families to know that they were hurt or killed for ... nothing, a cause so unimportant it can be forgotten within days or even hours of arrest.
By the way, what about the many people who kept him going onwards and upwards through the Army's medical system? What should their punishment be, and what lessons will be learned and retained about all this?
Posted by: jerseycityjoan | 07 May 2010 at 09:49 PM
This assault on our troops by a major in our own army is similar in treachery as those politicians who misled america into agreeing to send our soldiers marching off to foreign lands on a fools errand.
misled is an understatement of monumental proportions.
Posted by: samuelburke | 07 May 2010 at 10:44 PM
Again my question who were his patients and what counsel did he give them?
He may have destroyed many other lives long before he took to killing with a gun.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 08 May 2010 at 12:49 AM