Shootings at Fort Hood, TX

[Chad]

I missed Obama's speech about what happened, and after looking it up on YouTube, maybe I shouldn't have.

Read the comments:

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...3f3b731&ref=nf

[Zachstar]

I seriously hope the shooter is not of Muslim faith. The last thing we need is another run of racism and hatred in this nation. This could be very very bad for relations.

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by Zachstar

I seriously hope the shooter is not of Muslim faith. The last thing we need is another run of racism and hatred in this nation. This could be very very bad for relations.

Looks like he is indeed Muslim.

Personally, I'm not particularly surprised or troubled by that fact, nor do I think Americans are. I think we're all pretty used to the concept of Muslim extremism by now.

[d@rk51d3]

Reports coming in, are that he loved being in the army........... He just didn't want to go and fight in it.

Was being shipped to Iraq in about 2 weeks, and didn't want to go.

[Onkel Neal]

Sounds like he just cracked up. But don't blame everyone else for his actions giving Islam a bad name.

A spokesman for Houston's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says officials are worried about a possible local backlash after the Fort Hood suspect was reported to be Muslim.

“There's always that fear,” said spokesman Kaleem Siddiqui, who expressed concern that “prejudices against Muslims could take hold.”
Siddiqui said the Muslim civil rights group wants to communicate that most Muslims are good citizens.

CAIR's national branch has strongly condemned the killings.

[ajrimmer42]

Very strange indeed, although the impression I got from the link in the first post was that he did it in a last attempt to get out of going to Iraq. Although he must have been somewhat mentally unstable to do something as unbelievable as that, If that was the reason then you'd have thought desertion would have been better

[Aramike]

Originally Posted by ajrimmer42

Very strange indeed, although the impression I got from the link in the first post was that he did it in a last attempt to get out of going to Iraq. Although he must have been somewhat mentally unstable to do something as unbelievable as that, If that was the reason then you'd have thought desertion would have been better

The problem is, quite frankly, that the so-called Muslim "moderates" have been quite lax at attempting to distance themselves from the extremists. When an incident like this occurs they are quick to point out that it wasn't them but frighteningly slow at any condemnation of ACTUAL extremism.

So it is a perpetual cycle that fulfills itself.

[Boris]

Originally Posted by ajrimmer42

Very strange indeed, although the impression I got from the link in the first post was that he did it in a last attempt to get out of going to Iraq. Although he must have been somewhat mentally unstable to do something as unbelievable as that, If that was the reason then you'd have thought desertion would have been better

I seriously hope it was an extremist attack, because if he killed a bunch of guys just to get out of the army... well that has to be the most selfish thing ever.

[Skybird]

My impression at this point is that we have seen a mental shortcut here, caused by the ongoing harassement, the wounds in returning soldiers that he has seen, his isolated family life (found no wife to marry), and his worst case scenario of being sent to oversea deployement, where his cultural background would collide with the reality at location and the role the military plays in that, and in causing those wounds on the wounded he has seen.

How you can find a comprimise between being a devout Musolim, and serving in the US military and in it's current wars, is beyond me. As I see it you must seriously distort yourself in order to get both under one hat. This guy probably was no extremist or religious fanatic, at least I conclude that by his biography at BBC, but his life must have put him under immense pressures that his "inner dam" now could no longer tame - and so it broke into pieces...

[baggygreen]

Originally Posted by Zachstar

I seriously hope the shooter is not of Muslim faith. The last thing we need is another run of racism and hatred in this nation. This could be very very bad for relations.

hate to nitpick, but islam isn't a race, therefore any criticism of it, even if outright hate-speech, cannot possibly be racism.

the distinction is a big deal down under atm, so I just wanted to point that out.

You're right though, we've all had enough hatred.

problem is, whilst many on "our side" are willing to let things lie, the same can't be said of the extremists that are out there.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Skybird

How you can find a comprimise between being a devout Musolim, and serving in the US military and in it's current wars, is beyond me. As I see it you must seriously distort yourself in order to get both under one hat.

You often find compromises and contradictions in how Muslims self-identify in nationality as well. On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at his former mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, according to the imam at his mosque, Faizul Khan.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

RIP for those who fell.
A fast recovery for the wounded.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at his former mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, according to the imam at his mosque, Faizul Khan.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

RIP for those who fell.
A fast recovery for the wounded.

A desired feeling of identity diconnected from real identity in profane reality.

Beyond the above banal context of maybe confused-by-history national identity, IMO a general theme in Islam in special (supremacist demands to be seen as the superior culture and standard), and religion in general (the shift of life's focus from the present (life) to the future (afterlife). Regarding the rejection of history and present, in Egypt I met Palestinians who really got into emotionally excited, heated arguments when showing old keys to houses in their grandparent'S Palestine - houses that probably since decades did no more exist. Still they said they would one day return into "their houses", swinging their keys. It seems to be a ritual, this key-swinging, I'm not sure, but I read in two different books by different people that they also were confronted with key-swinging Palestinians.

[SS107.9MHz]

Originally Posted by Skybird

My impression at this point is that we have seen a mental shortcut here, caused by the ongoing harassement, the wounds in returning soldiers that he has seen, his isolated family life (found no wife to marry), and his worst case scenario of being sent to oversea deployement, where his cultural background would collide with the reality at location and the role the military plays in that, and in causing those wounds on the wounded he has seen.

How you can find a comprimise between being a devout Musolim, and serving in the US military and in it's current wars, is beyond me. As I see it you must seriously distort yourself in order to get both under one hat. This guy probably was no extremist or religious fanatic, at least I conclude that by his biography at BBC, but his life must have put him under immense pressures that his "inner dam" now could no longer tame - and so it broke into pieces...

It does seem like a unfortunate case of combined arrassment and stress meltdown due to his allocation to Iraq... THis has nothing to due with him being a muslim or a palestinian, at least in the assumption of "yeah is a muslim that made him due it"... It sems it's always more easy to find the reason we're confortable with than assessing the real reasons for what happened...

He was actually a therapist for wounded soldiers in Iraq before being comissioned there... He probably cracked after considering what he heard and what might happened to him... If he was suffering from a depression and in a delusional state he might have seen this as an act of mercy...It's messed up but it has happened before... We'll probably know more after he his questioned...

Above all, I want to send my condolences to the families of those slain today... I hope that they can cope with the loss.

PS: Skybird I can't see why a Muslim would be more unconfortable serving in the US Army than a Christian or a Jew for example... I think all these religions see Moses has a profit if aI'm not mistaken and that they must obey to the ten commandments, one of wich is "Thou shall not kill"... So I'd sy it's a level playing field here...

but his nationality as Palestinian

A dificult case