Thursday, November 05, 2009

Cultural Enrichment Comes to Ft. Hood

Before you jump all over me: yes, I know that the deadly incident at Ft. Hood today might not be an incident of cultural enrichment. Major Nadal Malik Hasan (or Nidal Malik Hasan, or Malik Nidal Hasan, or Malik Nadal Hasan, depending on which news story you read) may actually have been angry about being redeployed to Iraq.

Or maybe he got up on the wrong side of bed this morning.

In any case, as Mark Steyn has often pointed out, there’s a noticeable trend in America these days: whenever an indiscriminate mass shooting occurs, there’s a better than even chance that the perp will have a Muslim name.

Just a coincidence, you know. Nothing to do with Islam, which never condones acts of violence.

Before he was killed, Maj. Hasan killed eleven people and wounded at least thirty. The deceased murderer was an army psychiatrist, and was born in (sigh) Virginia. Here’s his photo, and this photo may also include Maj. Hasan, although I’m not certain. His ethnicity isn’t evident, so there’s no telling whether any Muslim tendencies he might have had came to him naturally, or whether he reverted to Islam.

As far as I can tell the media are not using the M-word yet. It’s not included in this FOX news report (nor, in fact, is the dead shooter’s name):


The information in most of the media articles is tantalizingly sketchy. Here’s one report from News Channel 10, and this account from The Beaumont Enterprise has more detail than most.

Maj. Hasan is listed in a Washington D.C. doctors’ database, and appears appropriately enough at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (the CSTS server is evidently taking a lot of hits, and is down right now).

This Stars and Stripes tweet says that “Shooter Maj Malik Hasan’s unit was Darnall Army Medical Center.”

Vlad Tepes is watching TV so that I don’t have to. He reports that the Ft. Hood base commander was scheduled to speak at a press conference, but at the last moment his appearance was canceled.

Vlad also says that a general was on TV talking about an “ideology which overcame Maj. Hasan’s loyalty”.

What ideology might that have been?
- - - - - - - - -
Marxism?

Zoroastrianism?

Scientology?

Please don’t keep us guessing, sir!

One final indication: if Maj. Hasan was not a Muslim, why did CAIR feel compelled to issue a press release very, very quickly after the incident?

U.S. Muslims Condemn Attack at Fort Hood

Posted 11/5/2009 6:15:00 PM


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/5/09) — A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group tonight condemned an attack on Fort Hood military base in Texas that left at least 12 people dead.

In a statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:

“We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law. No religious or political ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

Along with innumerable condemnations of terror, CAIR has in the past launched an online anti-terror petition drive called “Not in the Name of Islam,” initiated a television public service announcement (PSA) campaign against religious extremism and coordinated a “fatwa,” or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism.

As I write this, CAIR is conducting a press conference about the Ft. Hood incident. There’s no word yet about what is being said.

A second suspect was captured at a golf course and is now in custody. If his name turns out to be Mohammed or Ahmed or Walid, you can bet that the news of it will be kept quiet for as long as possible.

After all, we wouldn’t want people to think that the army was engaged in “profiling”, now, would we?

7 comments:

Martel said...

Hey Baron! Did you notice in the early hours after the shootings that all of the major news outlets were reporting multiple shooters? Even NPR was saying that there were multiple gunmen. And just minutes ago on 'Nightline', the mother of one of the wounded said that her daughter called her on her cell phone after being shot and told her: "They're shooting at us."

However, now, it's being reported as the work of "a lone gunman".

Yes, I know in the moments following this kind of event, things can often be misreported. But it certainly makes me wonder...are we getting the whole story?

Baron Bodissey said...

Martel --

I haven't heard any more about the guy arrested at the golf course -- have you?

Martel said...

No. I haven't. And I've been digging like mad. If anyone out there comes across any further info about that incident, please post it. I am absolutely convinced that this story is being "sanitized" for public consumption.

Martel said...

Here ya go Baron. A excerpt from an interview earlier this evening with a Texas Congressman John Carter.

http://tinyurl.com/ydulql4

In it, he says that two men were detained for questioning but have been released and that a third person remains in custody. If this man acted alone, why are the police seeking other person's of interest? Furthermore, who are the person's of interest the FBI have been questioning?

All of this is just too eerily reminiscent of the jihadist cell which was broken up recently in my own back yard.

http://tinyurl.com/ybg2wpd

They too were planning an attack on a military base. Curiouser and curiouser.

Anonymous said...

Maj. Hasan isn't dead. He's wounded and in custody, according to the DoD.

Baron Bodissey said...

randian --

We know. Read the post immediately following this one.

thll said...

BBC breakfast news this am identified the perp as a Muslim - it also said others had been arrested but had been released. In addition it said something about a local imam denying the perp had any 'extremist' leanings.