Today as Americans around the world reflect with heavy hearts on the carnage that occurred on Thursday November 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, the question of who is Major Malik Nadal Hasan, U.S. Army psychiatrist?, burns deeply in the minds of many Americans who still are trying to cope with Hasan’s vile acts of cowardice and betrayal.
Thirteen people killed (12 soldiers 1 civilian), 34 recovering from gun shot wounds. Scores of lives forever scarred. Malik Nadal Hasan the treasonous soldier who was determined not to deploy to Afghanistan or Iraq, committed the ultimate act of treachery and cowardice against America when he entered Fort Hood’s Soldier’s Readiness Center and mercilessly and callously drew two handguns and shot, killed and maimed the very same American citizens that he took an oath to protect and to defend with his life.
Lying in a coma attached to a ventilator, fighting for his life in an undisclosed hospital, Major Malik Hasan by virtue of his treasonous crime has opened a debate on whether or not Hasan’s Army superiors were negligent in missing the signs that this troubled officer, who served under their command, was actually a ticking time bomb ready to explode.
What’s interesting is that Hasan’s personal story is not the story of a Muslim immigrant who along with his family, migrated to the United States in search of the iconic “American Dream”; a story whose chapters reflect personal discipline, hard work and a tenacious determination that enables him to later become a successful doctor an officer and a gentleman.
Hasan’s personal story begins with him being born in Arlington, Virginia, an American by birth, born to a Muslim family of Palestinian descent. Hasan served eight years as an enlisted soldier before becoming commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Army. Military records show he also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry there in 1997.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July 2009, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. pursuing his career in psychiatry. He worked as an intern, a resident and last year he became a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Grieger stated privacy laws prevented him from going into details about Hasan’s “difficulties”, but noted that Hasan’s problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke badly of the Army or the United States.
However, for at least six months, Hasan has been under watch by federal agents for suspicious activities that involved posting internet blogs that equated the actions of Middle Eastern suicide / homicide bombers to those of U.S. soldiers who sacrificed their lives in order to save the lives of fellow soldiers by throwing themselves on hand grenades.
Federal authorities seized Hasan's computer Friday during a search of his apartment in Killeen, Texas, said a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
The feds have not confirmed Hasan as being the author of the blog postings, and a formal investigation had not been initiated before the shooting, said a law enforcement official who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
As an Army psychiatrist, it was Major Hasan’s job to counsel stateside Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who cope with suddenly living life without the threat of roadside bombs, insurgents and ambushes. Perhaps it was his interaction and counseling sessions with returning war veterans that triggered his own personal doubts as an American soldier.
A devout Muslim, Hasan expressed to peers and superiors that he believed that the U.S. war in both Afghanistan and Iraq was a war waged against Muslims and Islam.
Dr. Val Finnell, a classmate of Hasan's at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, says he got to know Hasan because a group of public health students that included him and Hasan took an environmental health class together. At the end of the class, everyone had to give a presentation. Classmates wrote on topics such as dry cleaning chemicals and mold in homes, but Finnell said Hasan chose the war against terror. Finnell described Hasan as a "vociferous opponent" of the terror war. Finnell said Hasan told classmates he was "a Muslim first and an American second."
Hasan recently was involved in a verbal confrontation with another Fort Hood soldier residing in his apartment complex, apparently related to his Muslim beliefs.
The manager of the complex, John Thompson, said the other soldier, John Van de Walker, allegedly keyed Hasan's car and also removed and tore up a bumper sticker that read "Allah is Love." Thompson said Van de Walker had recently served in Iraq and was upset to learn that Hasan was Muslim.
A report filed with Killeen police on Aug. 16 indicates that Hasan's vehicle, a 2006 Honda Civic, had been scratched by an unknown object causing an estimated $1,000 worth of damage. The report indicates that Van de Walker, 30, was arrested on Oct. 21 and charged with criminal mischief.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Virginia, said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and that he wanted to get out of the Army. She said Hasan had sought a discharge for several years, and even offered to repay the Army for the cost of his medical training.
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.
"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.
Days before Hasan’s attack on fellow soldiers and civilians, he gave away much of his food and furniture to neighbors, telling them that he was deploying to Iraq soon.
In reality, Hasan was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months. Hasan was to deploy with an Army Reserve unit that provides what the military calls "behavioral health" counseling.
As Malik Nadal Hasan’s life hangs on a thread and Americans ponder how and why the deadliest attack in U.S. history on a U.S. military base occurred, old and young soldiers alike are hoping that Hasan recovers so that he can face a military justice system that is prepared to try murderers and traitors. At least this old soldier is hopeful for his recovery and then most expeditiously, his court martial.
For individuals who may think that this story seems a little too harsh on Hasan, remember that as an officer, he could have resigned his commission based on religious conflict. There were administrative discharges that he could have pursued with the aid of Legal Services. Don't be fooled. Hansan had many other options other than murder.
As always Louisianans, the Examiner.Com is interested in what you think. Should Major Hasan’s Army superiors have seen this trouble coming? Were Major Hasan's superiors negligent in not reporting and documenting his radical views? And, if Hasan survives what do you think should be his punishment? Inquiring minds want to know.
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