The Fort Hood shooting was a tragedy for all involved—the dead, the wounded, the shooter, the families, the people who were just standing around. Then there was the question of why and who to blame. More tragedy.
There are two early "Lessons Learned" from this event.
The first is, as Clausewitz teaches us, first reports are always wrong. It now appears the shooter and the policewoman who shot him are both still alive. Instead of there being two, three or four members of a conspiracy, it was a lone gunman. And on and on. I was impressed with the way Shepard Smith handled the breaking news yesterday afternoon, holding back items that he judged might mislead his viewers.
The second is how quickly information we might have considered private made it to the Internet. At this link to the Blog This Ain't Hell: But you can see it from here♠ we have this view of the shooters "ORB," his Officer Record Brief from the US Army. Part of me is hoping that this has been dummied up. The reason is that I don't want to think of my electronic health records being leaked to the public, let along leaked to the public this quickly.
In looking at the shooting in a larger context, the scary part is not that an individual, who happened to be Muslim, went haywire and shot up a facility on Fort Hood. The scary part is that this was a trained psychiatrist, who got his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Bethesda, Maryland) (graduated 2001) and was then a psychiatry intern and then resident and then fellow at Walter Reed Army Hospital and no one picked up on this chap's own problems.
Regards — Cliff
♠ I love that line. It doesn't have to be Hell. It can be any problem. For instance, regarding Kad Barma's comment on the October unemployment rate, we might say, "This isn't a depression, but you can see the depression from here." One of the classic lines of all time.
8 comments:
This was bound to happen sooner or later and comes as no surprise to anyone with any knowledge of Islam.
Expect even worse to come, including spectacular acts of sabotage against military/industrial targets. See links under
DAR AL-HARB - THE WEST AS THE DOMAIN OF WAR
HARBI - TARGETS OF WAR
INFILTRATION, SUBVERSION AND SEDITION
SABOTAGE
SUDDEN JIHAD SYNDROME
TERRORISM - MOHAMMED VICTORIOUS WITH TERROR
UMMAH - THE MUSLIM 'TRIBE' - EVERY MUSLIM'S PRIMARY LOYALTY
at The Religion of Peace™ Subject Index
Moss seems to forget, that Bush/Cheney attacked Iraq w/o provocation. Let's keep perspective when making grand proclamations.
Whoever you are, did you notice that RSoL was not damning the religion based on the acts of a broken mind.
If we want to go down that road...
And the big issue that comes up in what Cliff said about the guy's Eval is how do you screen for these types of things in the future without getting overly intrusive or violating civil liberties?
Moss' comment only proves how difficult that might be, given what some people are already predisposed to thinking.
Sort of separate issue: I can at least speak to the Navy side of this, but I'm pretty certain USAF and USA are similar (I'll give USMC the benefit of the doubt). There's such a strong desire for a Commander to not want to make waves, so even after some obvious *alarm* like a terrible security breach, an egregiously bad judgement call, or even just generally poor performance, you either go ahead and write an Eval that says the guy walks on water OR if there's a problem you just kick it laterally rather than deal with it.
If you're trying to advance in rank, it's just always easier not to stir things up too much.
Don't know what this type of event might change. By comparison, the school massacre years (1998-2000) did prompt a lot of changes in the way teachers and administrators deal with threats. The Catholic priest scandals also prompted change in the "kick the problem laterally" solution..
I am far from convinced that this stemmed from his belief in Islam. That belief however provided additional stressors to a mind already in turmoil. For a devout Muslim to kill another Muslim carries horrible consequences, and regardless of secular alignments, going against a brother of the faith is quite a test.
More important however is the system faults that allowed this to stew without any intervention. The medical profession, particularly the "black arts" of psychiatry, have been closed communities, unwilling to publicly acknowledge deficiencies within and thus, reluctant to take on a fellow member. Consider the uncounted numbers of docs, nurses, and techs who have been silent and protected alcoholics, drug addicts, and so on. Couple that with a Service philosophy of "take care of our own" and you have a prescription for this to happen.
Perhaps if we weren't so quick to demonize human fragility, some of our deficiencies might be allowed to come out into the light and thus be ammenable to correction. If you are an alcoholic, or addicted to drugs (like the ones that you doctor prescribes.....not the street ones), or have a profound and troubling emotional issue........and you admit it.....in the military your career just turned to burnt toast. In society in general, you face condemnation and even ostracization. So.......we labor in painful silence......until the pain can be borne no longer.
Regards,
Neal
Those in charge at Ft Hood locked down the Post, to the extent you could ever lock down something as big as Ft Hood. In that they acted correctly, considering what Moss states as being a possibility. If they had not and Moss' analysis had been correct, then those responsible would have been roundly condemned and properly so.
As it seems to have turned out, it is more like what Neal said, and Jack and Greg. We have a problem in that the stress of combat can hurt people. Not everyone is as capable as their brother or sister in arms in dealing with that stress. Heck, you can get PTSD from a bad marriage, where one of the partners is physically or mentally abusive to the other.
That said, we have to be vigilant for terror attacks. As we have hardened our facilities (diplomatic and military) overseas, we have provided a reason for our enemies to come to the "Zone of the Interior" to conduct those military operations known as terrorism when you don't like them.
But, this is a poor troubled soul. If one wishes to look at conspiracy theories, consider that he is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where in the last dozen or so years three people who might be classified, to some degree as "outsiders" have conducted mass killings. I am not saying there is a connection, but suggesting that it is easy to see relationships when there is just coincidence.
If my nephew, SAK (a VPI student), or any of his close relatives read this I am sure to get a rocket over bringing this up.
We should pray for everyone involved, including the shooter and his family. This is tragedy. And, that doesn't mean the shooter didn't need to be shot. Given the circumstances police sergeant Kimberly Munley, and her partner did an heroic and important service by shooting Major Nidal Hasan, before he killed again.
Regards — Cliff
Cliff,
Evaluating the Ft. Hood SOP of "locking down" during a crisis, is far removed from the bigotry and xenophobia expressed by Moss.
Had the Militia Wingnuts on the far right, y'know, the "water the tree of Liberty with the blood of tyrants", Timothy McViegh wannabes attacked Ft. Hood, Moss would be dead silent.
I am very concerned about the tone of this discussion, here on RSoL and nationally. Remember, men and women in uniform are engaged with an enemy that share some things in common with those they serve beside.
In WWII, we created units of Japanese to fight in Europe. Haven't we moved past this mindset?
Unit cohesion will break down if servicemembers become paranoid about the motives and intentions of those they serve beside.
Our nation is a melting pot. Thus, there is no place we can fight that has no connection to our servicemembers.
The kneejerk reaction to condemn Islam is based on a predisposition of hate. Those that spew such things are, imo, to be considered "domestic enemies."
"Go for Broke." the 442nd RCT. Nisei soldiers and Caucasian officers. I had a High School Social Studies teacher who claimed to have been an officer in that outfit. I remember him telling one of my Japanese-American classmates how proud she should be of those men—men old enough to have been her father.
I agree with Jack that the US is a melting pot. You come here, or are dragged here by your parents, because you can't stand your former government or you want a better economic deal. When you come here and become a Citizen or join the military (for which you don't have to be a Citizen), you give your loyalty to the US. We blew it with those of Japanese descent during WWII, although the 21 Medals of Honor suggest that those men were above average in their combat with the enemy, perhaps motivated to prove their loyalty. Heck, we blew it with Black Citizens in WWI, when someone decided that Black soldiers didn't make good soldiers. I doubt that was General "Black Jack" Pershing.
On the other hand, hyphenated Americans bother me. I don't think of anyone as anything other than American. There are, argues former Marine and now investigative reporter Carl Prine, 10,000 Muslims in Army Green. That is enough to field a couple of RCTs. Those are not Muslim-Americans. They are "just" Americans.
A little earlier this evening my wife, doing research on the Schlieffen Plan, noted that author Alfred Vagts (A History of Militarism) claims that if the Prussian Junkers dominated German military had been willing, pre WWI, to take in more offices from mere middle class families, they could have fielded another corps against the French—they had the soldiers.
And don't get me started on "dual-citizenship." I think it is wrong, but the US Supreme Court accepts it. Where is Congress when you need them?
Here is the thing. While some newspapers in Europe are making a big deal of the "Muslim" connection, the US Army isn't. And, the Army has interviewed some 120 witnesses and the vast majority do not have Hasan crying "Allah Akbar." Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but the investigation isn't supporting it.
One of the problems here is that we don't know what was going on in Major Hasan's mind. Columnist and former Army Intel Officer Ralph Peters sees it all as being about Islam and terrorism. On the other hand, another commentator noted: "Or did he, like many lone-gunman psychopaths, seek out an ideology that fit his needs—in this case, an extreme form of Islam that gave him a sense of power and community, when he apparently had neither in his own life?"
What we do know is that he has markers that point to being a lone-gunman—few friends, no girlfriends, poor job performance. How different is this profile from the shooter in Orlando, FL, the next day?
Not much different, I would speculate. That said, we need to be careful. On the one had there is the danger that in our "politically correct" world we will open ourselves up to unnecessary damage from terrorism. On the other hand there is the danger that we will turn on our fellow citizens. Based on Alistair Horne's recent article on torture and comparing it with the French in Algeria, I say err on the side of embracing our fellow citizens. The other path leads to a shame that won't easily wash off.
While I appreciate the concern Mr Moss expresses, I think he has gone too far to one side and lacks balance. As for the idea that this is bound to happen, sooner or later, I agree if we are talking about some future terror attack on the US. But, as to this being a planned attack, one of a set we should be expecting, I don't think that is what we are seeing. But, this is the US and everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, right or wrong.
Regards — Cliff
♠ Regimental Combat Team
Cliff, I've been following so much of what's been said about this from all sides and I haven't seen anything this thoughtful, balanced, and eloquent. Thank you.
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