Below from filmmaker Kamran Pasha in today's Huffingtonpost.com. He interviews a Muslim soldier (anonymity required) about Hasan the Fort Hood killer and the subject who knew him as a fellow of the same Texas mosque he attends, tries to understand the situation. Apparently, Hasan liked the idea of suicide bombing and was pretty radicalized for some time. The combination of mental health work with returning PTSD vets and his own religious views, as well as a forthcoming deployment to the war, may have pushed him over the edge... I have been reading this stuff steadily for two days and no doubt when the shooter is well enough to talk, maybe there will be more info. Somehow the scenario is deeply troubling; a part of me wants this to help the decision about our involvement in the Afghan War. The courage to get the hell out of there does not seem to be forthcoming. Earlier in week, 5 British soldiers were killed by their Pakistani police colleague. If there were any sense to all this warring, all this would maybe add up. But one begins to see that war itself is the problem and constant usage of human beings to kill others is at the heart of the shadowy chaos. BP

This from Kamran Pasha's piece:

I asked Richard whether he believed that Hasan was motivated by religious radicalism in his murderous actions. Richard, with great sadness, said that he believed this was true. He also believed that psychological factors from Hasan’s job as an army psychiatrist added to his pathos. Hasan had spent months listening to horror stories from returning soldiers about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it had hardened his position on these wars. The news that he would be deployed overseas to Iraq, to a war that he rejected, may have pushed him over the edge.

But Richard does not excuse Hasan. As a Muslim, he finds Hasan’s religious perspectives to be fundamentally misguided. And as a soldier, he finds Hasan’s actions cowardly and evil. Hasan was not being sent into combat – he would have been working in a secure office in the Green Zone far away from the life and death dangers that Richard and his fellow combat veterans face every day. For Richard, a Muslim convert and patriotic soldier, Hasan’s actions were those of a sinner and a villain, one who will be held accountable by the U.S. justice system in this world, and by Allah in the Hereafter.

Kamran Pasha, Huffington Post

11-7-09



Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kamran-pasha/a-muslim-soldiers-view-fr_b_348973.html&cp