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Political correctness at any cost, and in spite of tragedy?
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United States Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan
In the days following one of the deadliest incidents on United States soil, when United States Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people (12 soldiers and one civilian) and wounded 29 others during a shooting spree at U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009, several sources disclosed that the Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were aware of questionable or suspicious conduct on the part of Major Hasan, yet failed to take precautionary measures.
“There are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said.
These signs included cautionary statements made by classmates of Major Hasan at Uniformed Services University, a military college. One student warned army officials that the Major was a “ticking time bomb” after observing a presentation he made to senior Army physicians when he was a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in which he defended and justified the acts of Islamic suicide bombers.
“It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," Major Hasan allegedly said in the presentation. He added that, in order to avoid “adverse events,” the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.
According to the Washington Post, the presentation, titled “The Koranic World View as It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military,” included 50 slides detailing the conflicts Muslim soldiers faced and the ideologies of terrorists.
Despite receiving poor performance reviews at Walter Reed, Hasan received a promotion. A ranking officer in Hasan’s medical chain of command claimed that he was subject to the same promotion board requirements as other candidates though, according to a former United States army service member, Hasan benefited from an officer’s promotion board quota for minorities. According to the service member, the quota requirement and scarcity of Muslim officers made it virtually impossible for the promotion board to decline to promote Hasan.
According to federal law enforcement officials, Major Hasan attended the Northern Virginia mosque of Anwar al-Aulaqi, an imam who criticized the United States for waging war against Muslims and was also suspected of having connections to terrorist network al Qaeda, before Aulaqi left the United States after he was investigated by the FBI. Major Hasan exchanged 10-to-20 e-mails with Aulaqi during 2008 and 2009, when Aulaqi lived in Yemen. These e-mails were intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies, who determined their content was not suspicious enough to warrant further investigation because they involved mostly academic research.
“There was no indication that Major Hasan was planning an imminent attack at all, or that he was directed to do anything,” a senior investigator said.
According to several bystanders, including United States Army Private Joseph Foster, Major Hasan stood up on a desk and yelled “Allahu akbar” as he opened fire. “Allahu akbar” is an Arabic phrase which translates into “God is great,” and it has been frequently uttered by Islamic terrorists prior to committing violent acts.
After the incident, Aulaqi wrote on his web site that the Fort Hood attack was a “heroic act” and that “the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the U.S. Army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal."
Many officials remain skeptical of the thoroughness of the investigation of Major Hasan’s contact with Aulaqi.
“The very fact that you've got a major in the U.S. Army contacting [a radical imam], or attempting to contact him, would raise some red flags," said Intelligence Committee member Peter Hoekstra (R-MI).
“If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the US Army has to have zero tolerance,” Senator Lieberman said. “He should have been gone."
Based on statements made by intelligence officials, the e-mail exchanges did not clearly indicate that Major Hasan intended to commit any act against United States interests. Whether the totality of the circumstances, including warnings offered by Major Hasan’s classmates, were sufficient to merit further investigation remains uncertain. However, the role political correctness may have played in the lack of oversight in this instance is cause for concern.
One of Major Hasan’s classmates at Walter Reed wrote to Pentagon officials that he believed political correctness prevented members of the military from having an "intellectually honest discussion of Islamic ideology" because it would have been perceived to have been discriminatory against Muslims.
In the wake of the deadliest attack against the United States armed forced on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor, the United States Army Chief of Staff, President of the United States, and political commentators did not seem overly concerned about the loss of life and cautioned that Americans should withhold judgment about the incident and, in particular, the role Islam may have played in influencing Major Hasan to commit the heinous acts.
"I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers. And I've asked our Army leaders to be on the lookout for that," chief of staff General George Casey told CNN's "State of the Union."
General Casey strongly implied that the casualties sustained during the attack were less significant than scrutinizing minorities who may have connections to anti-American interest groups.
"Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse," General Casey added on NBC's "Meet the Press."
President Barack Obama addressed the situation during a statement to the Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian affairs. After spending several minutes thanking attendees and officials for their efforts in organizing the event, which included a “shout-out” to Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, the President turned to the tragedy in Texas and attempted to dismiss or minimize the role Major Hasan’s ideologies played in his decision to kill unarmed Americans.
"We don't know all the answers yet," President Obama remarked in the wake of the shootings, impliedly referring to the Major’s ethnicity and the connection between Muslims and Islamic terrorism. "I would caution against jumping to conclusions."
In July 2009, the President addressed an encounter between Massachusetts police officers and an African American Harvard University professor very differently after the professor was arrested for his conduct towards the officers.
“I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played," President Obama said.
After acknowledging that he was not fully aware of what transpired, the President reached the conclusion that “it's fair to say that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.”
During the President’s visit to Fort Hood to recognize those lost on November 5 and commemorate Veteran’s Day, he referred to Major Hasan as a “gunman” and refused to draw a connection between the Major’s actions and domestic terrorism.
In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Janet Napolitano released a report titled “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” In the report, the DHS wrote: “The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.” The report referred to Timothy McVeigh, a military veteran responsible for bombing the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, as a “right-wing terrorist” and warned that economic problems "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past."
In the case at issue, members of the federal government have refused to classify Major Hasan as an “extremist” even though he matched the report’s definition. In the report, it was admitted that Homeland Security had “no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence,” yet DHS made baseless and broad allegations against conservative activists. Major Hasan committed an act of violence but has not been identified as a “terrorist” by an administration which endorsed the report against its conservative political opponents.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley essentially excused Major Hasan’s conduct and the potential role of radical Islamic teachings, while placing blame on guns, American citizens, and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
“America loves guns,” Mayor Daley said. “We love guns to a point where that we see devastation on a daily basis. You don’t blame a group.”
Several members of the main stream media displayed incredible insensitivity when discussing the events which occurred at Fort Hood.
The Washington Post published an editorial depicting Major Hasan as a misunderstood victim of circumstance, living in an uninhabitable apartment and driving a dilapidated automobile. The Post editorialist failed to mention that Major Hasan lived in such alleged squalor by choice, as he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars during his career as a medical professional in the United States Army and received free education.
Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera expressed less sympathy for the victims and their families than those who he speculated would be discriminated against as a consequence of Major Hasan’s actions.
“The people I feel most sorry for tonight are the 12-15,000 Muslim G.I.’s who serve honorably and the four million Muslims in this country– the citizens who are patriots and believe in our country and now will be because of the way this story is being played be subjected to more of the kind of undertoned, widespread resentment and prejudice and discrimination that’s happened really since 9/11.”
Rivera said Major Hasan was not a terrorist because he didn’t conspire with anyone and “could have had a tooth ache and gone off because of that,” trivializing his conduct.
NBC’s Chris Matthews, host of Hardball, downplayed the significance of Major Hasan’s efforts to contact the most powerful terrorist organization in the world.
“Apparently [Major Hasan] tried to contact al Qaeda,” Matthews said. “Is that the point at which you say, 'This guy is dangerous?' That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it? Is it?”
On NBC’s “Good Morning America” and “The Early Show,” host Robin Roberts attempted to attribute Major Hasan’s acts to post-traumatic stress disorder, even though he was never deployed.
Why would the President, a high-ranking military officer, and several prominent members of the national media attempt to offer cautionary words, excuses, and justifications in defense of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who committed one of the most reprehensible acts in recent memory, firing upon unarmed comrades who were bravely preparing to embark on a mission to defend United States interests in hostile territory? Why did government and military officials elect not to conduct a more thorough investigation of Major Hasan’s activities after a controversial presentation and persistent contact with an individual who preached hatred of the U.S.? Did political correctness and a preference to overlook the suspicious actions of an ethnic minority facilitate this event? These questions remain unanswered. However, the reactions of these individuals in response to the tragedy at Fort Hood, in particular the staunch refusal to address the possible role of radical Islamic ideology, could suggest that the loss of American life is not a significant enough price to pay for honesty, integrity, and responsibility.
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