Yesterday's Wall Street Journal and today's Washington Post posted articles on the background of Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the man who opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas. The article in the Washington Post is written by Frank J. Gaffney Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for The Washington Times and host of the nationally syndicated program, "Secure Freedom Radio."
Mr. Gaffney reminds us that immediately following the shooting, the FBI immediately stated that the shooting was not an act of terrorism. President Obama cautioned us not to jump to conclusions. (The President was less cautious in judging the Cambridge, Massachusetts, police department). Mr. Gaffney further points out that Major Hasan is a devout Muslim who has followed the principles of Shariah since 2001. One of the dictates of Shariah is that the faithful must engage in jihad, or holy war, to achieve the submission of unbelievers to Islam.
The supposed excuses for Major Hasan's behavior have been a bit much. The Wall Street Journal article points out:
"As the meditations on Maj. Hasan's motives rolled on, "fear of deployment" has served as a major theme--one announced as fact in the headline for the New York Times's front-page story: "Told of War Horror, Gunman Feared Deployment." The authority for this intelligence? The perpetrator's cousin. No story could have better suited that newspaper's ongoing preoccupation with the theme of madness in our fighting men, and the deadly horrors of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, than this story of a victim of war pressures gone berserk. The one fly in the ointment--Maj. Hasan had of course seen no war, and no combat."
There were signs that there was a problem with Major Hasan. According to the Washington Times article:
"Maj. Hasan gave away his belongings immediately before the shootings, saying to one recipient, "I am going away" - an act of charitable form of cleansing consistent with Shariah's injunctions to would-be shaheeds (martyrs).
"The New York Times also reports that, in the words of a friend, the night before the shootings, Maj. Hasan felt he should quit the military because, "In the Koran, you're not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell.""
If Major Hasan is tried by the military under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, it is likely that he will face the death penalty for his crime. Although I believe that is an appropriate end for him, I am concerned that the death penalty will make him a martyr in the eyes of other terrorists.
I hope our leaders view this shooting as a wake-up call to the fact that the safety of our troops is more important than political correctness.
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