General Interest Review 00016

Nadal Malik Hasan

Nadal Malik Hasan is an Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Tex., last week. The shooting spree killed more than a dozen and left scores more injured. Consensus appears to be forming around a group of common indicators that led to his behavior. His behavior was erratic, he was a Muslim fanatic, he was borderline psychotic. All of these elements add up to tell a familiar tale. A tragic event divorced from the norm in our culture is caused by behavior that is practically unknowable to so-called normal people.

But little mention has been made about the conditions within the system in which Hasan was operating. He entered the military by his own choosing, but existing within an extremely rigid, top-down system that has little tolerance for diversity doesn't seem a cakewalk. Add to that the military's policy in recent years and its conflict with his Muslim faith. Wars are of course fought against governments, but the people that bear the effects of war are the citizens. And religion is an outlet to interpret those effects, especially in the Muslim world, where religion is deeply intertwined with everyday life, and where the United States' wars are currently waged. After the death of an innocent relative, where else would someone go to get answers about a situation that seems to have none? The U.S. military wages intense propaganda campaigns in its current warzones of Iraq and Afghanistan to try to stamp out the influence of these clerics. But how is a heavily armored action figure a better alternative to a sensitive, non-foreign human being?

Faced with confusion and increasing isolation, Hasan likely found himself in a similar situation to the victims of military wrath. It is not irrational to feel mentally squeezed by watching death and destruction on a huge scale perpetuated by a force that is supposed to be doing good. Faced with destruction of people's livelihoods he felt intertwined with, he needed answers. So he sought out a cleric to get those answers. He likely wanted a human perspective from an increasingly mechanical structure that demanded he fall in line. This is hardly unknowable behavior to a population that wants answers about lesser matters from faith leaders.

Hasan's full-out snap was indeed a horrific act, and obviously rare in the U.S. military. (Despite the rise in post-traumatic stress-related killings - another new reality in this new warfare). But equally commonplace for that mighty military is broad destruction and devastation, an inescapable condition for people who happen to live where we choose to bomb. Within a system capable of propagating neverending hell, the effects are bound to leave a mark on those charged with carrying out these murderous machinations.