The Victims At Fort Hood Are Casualties of War: Why Won't the Government Count Them Among the Dead?

This story is insane! It's like saying that all the victims of the World Trade Center should have been war casualties or the victims of the Lockerbie Bombing should be listed the same. The Ft Hood incident was just a religious fanatic who was a coward afraid to serve his duty overseas and took the easy way out by killing innocent people. He's nuts and should be locked away for life if not executed for this terrible crime. My sympathies go out to the families.

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To me, what happened at Fort Hood seems like a classic workplace-violence act, rather than a casualty of war. It could be considered a casualty of war in a metaphysical sense, however, a look at the facts reveals something different to me. The Major had a poor work history. He was allegedly bullied (car was vandalized). He was sending up red flags in the form of his insistence that he did not want to deploy and his CO's were ignoring him

Compare this with Mark Ames' excellent article on this website just a week ago regarding the mass shooting in Alabama. After the Billionaires Plundered Alabama Town
Or even think about what happened in Orlando yesterday.

I do agree it is grossly unfair to dictate that only deaths occurring on Iraqi soil be counted as war dead (as opposed to those that may occur a day or so later after the wounded have been airlifted to a base outside of Iraq).
Suicides should be counted too. There have been numerous articles over the years about the military re-deploying soldiers deemed mentally unfit.

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I don't think so. Not even close. Thirteen people are dead (so far) because the U.S.Army in its infinite wisdom, despite evidence to suggest that the murderer had a questionable past, gave him poor performance reviews and rewarded him with a promotion to the rank of Major and tranferred him to Fort Hood to 'help' people despite his inability to get along with them. Now that's depressing. Oh, and the cost of his education which was paid for by the tax payers. I hope the guy lives so he can see what he did. Thanks to a smart cop he didn't get to blow himself away. Now he can spend the rest of his days scared to death because alot of people would like to get their hands on this guy. Maybe someone will. ANNA

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There are many inaccuracies in both the Alternet stories pertaining to Major Hassan, perhaps because they were written before more info came out about him.

He enlisted in the Army straight out of high school, at the age of 18, in 1988. (By the way, he was NOT "raised" in Southern VA (Roanoke) as the media says; anyone with half a brain can figure out that his Parents moved there when Hasan was 16. He was "raised" in the far more cosmopolitan Northern VA, and two years later he apparently escaped to the Army, "against his Parent's wishes."

Why is this key? Because they had taken on an extraordinary workload in Roanoke (two or three businesses) which perhaps, in the custom of their people, they fully expected their three sons to assist them with, but Nidal did not comply with this expectation. He joined the Army instead, insisting on the "freedom" most American youngsters have, to choose their own path.

Approximately 2 or 3 years later (apparently after exemplary Army service, probably as a re-up inducement) his superiors offered to put him through ROTC at VaTech. Four years later, Hasan graduated, with honors in biochemistry, and as a lieutenant, in the Army. Biochem is also pre-med, and they gave him a chance to proceed to med school in the Armed Forced Med School at Bethesda (on the campus of the Naval Medical Center--I saw it being built.) Apparently he graduated around 2001, but also during Medical School his Father died at a relatively young age (51) and in 2001 his Mother followed, at 49. The word is that he "required counseling while in Medical School". Well, given the GUILT about leaving his parents with all that work, and then their dying at such young ages (of overwork?) wouldn't ANYONE require supportive counseling not to throw in the towel with such difficult coursework? The word is that "when his Father died he became more religious (1997) and attended a Washington D.C. Mosque. Especially since his parents had not wanted him to join the Army in the first place was this not perhaps a crisis? I do not know him, but I do know the pathways of some children from very different cultures can be difficult.

When Dr. Hasan graduated from Medical School (the media appear reluctant to mention this) this was pre-9/11, I would think (May or June of 2001?)

Then 9/11 struck, and shortly after, the U.S. attacked in Osama's training camps in Afghanistan, sending troops.Newly-minted Dr. Hasan, still finishing his general medical internship at Walter Reed then chose a residency in psychiatry there, which he apparently began sometime around in 2003, thence to hear horrifying stories of the War fronts in Afghanistan, and then in Iraq, from returning military personnel suffering from PTSD.

No one has mentioned the horrible and brutal Israeli attacks on Gaza earlier this year. As they affected so many of us, what could they have done to this sensitive man, perhaps already wracked with guilt about his Palestinian parents and ravaged with six years of the incessant tales of the PTSD experiences of others?

In the meantime, he had done everything he could, for several years, hiring a lawyer, offering to pay back his tuition, etc. to get out of the Army.

There were so many red flags. Look where he was living (Army Majors --docs---do not live like this) in virtual poverty. Why was he punishing himself like this? WHERE was his paycheck going?

Those who are responsible for this are at higher levels, as well as himself. He had other alternatives. (He also killed five other mental health professionals. Did he feel hopeless about what they all were doing? Did he feel it was useless? Who knows?) He had clearly been driven mad. By guilt? By religion? By forced imperatives? Who knows?

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How long will we continue to compile evidence for Henry Kissinger’s claim that "Soldiers are just dumb, stupid animals, to be used as pawns of foreign policy?"

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The Muslim that did the shooting has been charged with murder.He should be considered a prisoner of war and as such should be held only till the war is over.There is no doubt that this is a holy war.The west is trying to eliminate all radical Muslim clerics and their followers and they(Muslims) are trying to defend what they see as a long standing attack against the Muslim world by the great Satan.As long as NATO insists on occupying Afghanistan and America,Iraq with drones bombing sites anywhere in the Muslim world that Amerika deems right,what can you expect?

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