The whole debate about 'Was MAJ Hasan a terror...

2009-11-15T16:07:54.218+02:00

The whole debate about 'Was MAJ Hasan a terrorist?', wonderfully encapsulated by Ralph Peters' column, reminds me of a discussion we had during a law class in college. The professor was discussing 'hate crime' legislation and made the point that if you murder someone, then you're tried for murder...but if you murder someone of another race, then you're tried for a hate crime murder. His point? What's the difference? Murder is murder, and so what if you hated the person's race. Your victim is just as dead. It's like the judge saying "If you kill someone, we'll punish you, but, if you kill someone because you're a racist, we'll really punish you!"

This whole flap over calling MAJ Hasan a terrorist or not is just plain silly as well. He goes on a shooting rampage, but, because he was a Muslim, it becomes a terrorist shooting rampage. Who cares? We as a nation expend so much time and energy trying to label this thing (label affixed, mind you, by people with absolutely zero involvement in the investigative process) that we lose sight of what ought to be our goal - getting to the bottom of things and discovering the truth. Maybe once all is said and done, we can decide if he was a terrorist, or just deranged, but either way, the flippant way that we use the word 'terrorist' nowadays certainly waters down it's meaning and contributes to the divisive atmosphere in the US today.

"Where is the truth? It's obviously in th...

2009-11-14T15:11:49.047+02:00

"Where is the truth? It's obviously in the middle somewhere"

The alleged shooter was a Muslim, that is true. The alleged shooter was also a disturbed nutbag who should have been out of the military. That is also true. Did Islam drive him to his alleged acts? Of course not.

Someone shot Ronald Reagan to impress an actress. Jodie Foster is not responsible for the nutbag's actions. Likewise, Islam is not responsible for the alleged shooter's actions. But...did the MAJ's chain of command fail to follow up on the flags that marked this man as possibly dangerous because he is a Muslim? Probably. I can't imagine a fundamentalist Christian using his position as a field grade medical officer to proselytize to soldiers being allowed to stay in his position, nor would repeated contacts with extremist elements by this hypothetical Christian fundamentalist be ignored.

Comments on Building Peace: Reflecting on Ft. Hood

The whole debate about 'Was MAJ Hasan a terror...

"Where is the truth? It's obviously in th...