Hasan Warned Army about Muslim GI Morale

Washington Post: Fort Hood Rampage Suspect Said Muslim Soldiers Should be Released as Conscientious Objectors

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Dana Priest.

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The Army psychiatrist believed to have killed 13 people at Fort Hood warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid "adverse events," the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims.

As a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic of his choosing as a culminating exercise of the residency program.

Instead, in late June 2007, he stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.

"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he said in the presentation.

"It was really strange," said one staff member who attended the presentation and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the investigation of Hasan. "The senior doctors looked really upset" at the end. These medical presentations occurred each Wednesday afternoon, and other students had lectured on new medications and treatment of specific mental illnesses.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Tragedy at Fort Hood

An Army spokesman said Monday night he was unaware of the presentation, and a Walter Reed spokesman declined to comment. It is unclear whether anyone in attendance reported the briefing to counterintelligence or law enforcement authorities whose job it is to identify threats from within the military ranks.

Hasan spent six years at Walter Reed as an intern, resident and fellow beginning in 2003. He was transferred to Fort Hood as a practicing psychiatrist in July and was set to leave soon for Afghanistan. According to a relative, he had asked not to be deployed. It is not known whether he ever sought conscientious-objector status.

Maj. Gen. Gina S. Farrisee, the Army's personnel chief, said in an interview Monday that because of the investigation, she and other Army officials could not discuss whether Hasan had officially asked to quit the service or not to be deployed. However, she and another Army official said it would be highly unusual for officers with Hasan's rank and medical training to be allowed to resign, given their service obligation.

Investigators are examining Hasan's religious beliefs, whether he harbored extremist views, and whether he was in contact with others who may have encouraged violence against U.S. troops.

The title of Hasan's PowerPoint presentation was "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." It consisted of 50 slides. In one slide, Hasan described the presentation's objectives as identifying "what the Koran inculcates in the minds of Muslims and the potential implications this may have for the U.S. military."

He also sought to "describe the nature of the religious conflicts that Muslims" who serve in the U.S. military may have and to persuade the Army to identify these individuals.

Other slides delved into the history of Islam, its tenets, statistics about the number of Muslims in the military, and explanations of "offensive jihad," or holy war.

Another slide suggested ways to draw out Muslim troops: "It must be hard for you to balance Islamic beliefs that might be conflicting with current war; feelings of guilt; Is it what you expected."

Hasan's presentation lasted about an hour. It is unclear whether he read out loud every point on each slide. If typical procedures were followed, his adviser would have supervised the development of his project, said people familiar with the practice.

The final three slides indicate that Hasan referred to Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, suicide bombers and Iran.

Under a slide titled "Comments," he wrote: "If Muslim groups can convince Muslims that they are fighting for God against injustices of the 'infidels'; ie: enemies of Islam, then Muslims can become a potent adversary ie: suicide bombing, etc." [sic]

The last bullet point on that page reads simply: "We love death more then [sic] you love life!"

Under the "Conclusions" page, Hasan wrote that "Fighting to establish an Islamic State to please God, even by force, is condoned by the Islam," and that "Muslim Soldiers should not serve in any capacity that renders them at risk to hurting/killing believers unjustly -- will vary!"

The final page, labeled "Recommendation," contained only one suggestion:
"Department of Defense should allow Muslims [sic] Soldiers the option of being released as 'Conscientious objectors' to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events."

Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson contributed to this report.

[jihamed]

Islam must be forbiden as untolerant religion for morons only, believing that they will find wife only if they die...The simple reason is they cannot find any because local sheikh has 30-40 already, and needs stupid soldiers of faith to die for him - dying they"ll get 70 virgins (why not *****)in their paradise-obviously one has to be moron to believe in this!

[Jvince92]

I just want to state that Dana P., you're an idiot. I'm going to quote you now, "The Army psychiatrist believed to have killed 13 people at Fort Hood..." those of you who didn't pick up on this. Her keyword is "believed". How foolish can one be to actually say something like that? Who in their right mind would use such wording? Hasan was seen (doing the evil deed, it shouldn't be "believed" it should be "who killed") killing these people, beloved marines, who willing signed up for the job knowing they would be putting their lives on the line. You're scum, you should be ashamed of yourself. And those of you who are going to rip me, don't even give me that bu!!**** about how "oh it's an easy mistake to make" or "you just hate Muslims." Think about it, before you submit something, one usually checks over their work.

[Sloughfoot]

Locate and ID every muslim in the military. Form them into one unit, put them in charge of the brig in Cuba. Evacuate all other U.S. military personel. End of story. Fidel shipped us his unwantables, we now have the opportunity to reciprocate. (Oh, if their families want to be with them - ship them too.

[RL_Cudd]

The military "knew" about his radical thoughts, but his superiors were to damn worried that they would be accused of signalling him out because he was a Muslim. Sen Lieberman needs to ask hard questions and kick out those responsible for allowing this to occur. The warning signs were present, and ignored. AND these are our military leaders??? No wonder we aren't winning the war.

[wyodutch]

Perhaps we should forbid our military from being stationed within America's borders. It worked for the French Foreign legion.
.
After all... we don't seem to mind being involved in endless wars of occupation... so why not require that our military roost in those nests they've occupied.

[armyoftwelve]

If you want to enjoy the benefits of a free society..it doesn't matter if it confliects with your religion or not.

If your religion won't let you support the same free society you want to enjoy the benfits of...then LEAVE THE COUNTRY!!!

[warsux]

by armyoftwelve November 10, 2009 9:14 PM EST
If you want to enjoy the benefits of a free society..it doesn't matter if it confliects with your religion or not.

If your religion won't let you support the same free society you want to enjoy the benfits of...then LEAVE THE COUNTRY!!!



What if YOUR religion wont allow others to enjoy a free society?

All of these god idiots telling people who they can and cant marry, the president saying that god told him he needs to free to iraqis, abortion, gods will BS. Why doesnt everyone grow up and drop the religion thing. Santa Claus is fake, but the cloud fairey is real? Come on.

And btw, the us is not a free society. Far far from it.

[Farhat4]

Tonight the announcer said referred to criticism the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan as a "radical activity" Major Hasan engaged in - does this mean that anyone who criticises the illegal invasion of Iraq is engaged in "radical" activity? Has CBS been bought by Rupert Murdoch?

[lucy0909]

MANDATORY COUNSELING for ALL MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. Civilian or Military. They should all be required to undergo regular mental health evaluations.

[6591Hou]

Major Hassan forgot - he forgot why he was wore the uniform, he forgot his oaths to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States (and because so many of you forget to add: to obey the orders of superiors as may be given from time to time etc. etc.), he forgot.

He forgot because he elevated a religion above his nation, there are plenty of people who will argue that nationalism is a bad thing - but they must agree that theocracy is worse. Major Hassan traded his nation for his Koran, and his oak leaves for U.S. soldiers blood.

[Skirtlifters]

He forgot because he wanted our military to pay for that pricey education of his. He never intended to go into combat. But when it came time for him to perform his duty, as he was about to be deployed, well, he wasn't going to fight Muslims, no way, so...

[cattiej]

This Hasan is a coward and the picture about with the U.S. Flag next to his picture is really a terrible thing to look at. This whole mess could have been avoided just like the 9-11-2001 World Trade Center being hit by the airplanes that were being flown by those cowards!
I think the federal government are asleep at the wheel on a lot of the Muslim extremist's. How are these people allowed to stand on the street corners of America and preach their hate? Let's change the law's of our country because this should be a hate crime. Arrest them and throw them in jail for being terriorists.

[warsux]

Who is who allowed to stand on the corner and preach hate? I dont see any muslims standing on the corners preaching hate. Was the guy in Orlando a muslim? How about the lunatic that shot up the holocaust museum? What about the plethora of abortion clinic shootings? Oh right. Those are ok because they tend to side with your insane religious views right?

The only people I ever see on a street corner preaching hate are christians. They go to cemetaries and protest soldiers funerals because somehow, they believe they died because homosexuals are allowed to marry. I see thousands of misinformed morons dragging themselves out of their trailers like zombies being beckoned by mr beck and spewing their religious beliefs down everyones throats.

[mjlewis6]

Members of all ethinic groups and religious affiliations take advantage of our religious freedoms in the United States. This is an appropriate right of all peoples to be free from government tyranny regarding freedom of conscience and religion.

Major Hassan had some pretty strong views on his own and it would be more than enlightening to hear him rationalize his behavior around some precepts of his religion. THEN listen to the American Council on Islam refute some of the ideas Major Hassan puts out.

This is something we needed to do in Afghanistan by maintaining proper POW camps there and allow other Muslim nations to properly review and refute the religious militant dogma that most of these have been spoonfed for propaganda. Whether Shia or Sunni, the problem is lack of negotiation between those two religious groups going back centuries...so no amount of American Style Democracy is going to make a dent. But one thing is clear, there should be a focused Muslim effort to show that Islam is NOT the terrorist rationale for such destruction. I have not heard that effort yet from all those Muslim nations that are elected, monarchial, or dictatorial.

Let's hear it straight from the Imam that Hassan got it wrong...and why....take the hate propaganda and destroy it so that there are no recruits for suicide missions...and martyrdom...

[AndyMaxo]

Amen!

[ibsteve2u]

Think we'd be better off to take a direction that we CAN control: Eliminate oil as an energy source.

That would dry up the funding that the Islamic fundamentalists require to buy the arms and communications equipment needed to carry on a multinational offensive, and those who cannot control their lust for power and violence could get back - would be forced back - to killing each other over whether or not some prophet further down the line from Mohammad was the real deal or not.

And therein lies the rub: Those same righties that want us to hate Muslims indiscriminately are making way too much money exploiting our dependency upon oil to permit the world to give it up.

Knowing that, in turn, makes me wonder if the reason that they are so eager to arouse hatred towards those of the Islamic faith is so that we can be convinced to crush the Islamic nations and regain control of the oil fields that they lost to OPEC thirty years ago.

lollll...I don't think that the right has found it any easier to swallow that latter historic event than they did/do FDR's entitlement actions.

And they've been attacking the latter for the subsequent 70 years...

So I view the propaganda I see from the right's mouthpieces in the media - the agitprop designed to arouse hatred of those who practice Islam - with a certain cynicism.

After all, everybody around the world knows that they're willing to lie to accomplish their goals; witness Iraq.

[Skirtlifters]

Very Good!

Why don't we hear from moderate Muslims that DON'T believe in killing infidels or jihad?

Is it because their numbers are low?
Is it because they are afraid of retaliation?
Is it because ...?

You Muslims that wish to live in peace should all be speaking up right about now.

[SunDog8259]

Table dances and drinking like the 911 terrorists right before being martyred? Hasan had told the imam he desperately deeded to find a wife. I hope this was not all about sex and the promised rewards in the "afterlife" for those Muslims that die in a jihad. There is no 'black magic' -- what you see in this life is what you get. At least he isn't dead so we may find out what was going on with him, what made him do it?

[dontknowitall]

This bonehead suggested that the military should allow muslim soldiers to be released as Conscientious Objectors instead of fighting wars against other muslims. Why did they sign up in the first place and why did he sign up? Where was his religion when he has sitting in Strip Joints sucking down Beer and paying for a Lap Dance. The man is a fraud to his profession a fraud to the military and a fraud to his twisted religious beliefs.

[AndyMaxo]

lexern, I agree with you on your opinion of religious governments. However, of the seven major religions practiced on earth, Islam is the only one in which God demands that all others be elimnated. The non-believers (infidels) are the enemies of Islam. Therefore, Islam is always "Pushing up against' all other people who do not subscribe to Islam. The Muslim endoctrination begins at birth to instill the prophet Mohammed's "rules from Allah's mouth" into all ways of life.
In Iran the government is a true Islamic republic. At the top of the rule enforcement branch sits the all knowing, all seeing Supreme Ayatollah. It is his job to obey the Quran to the letter and rid the world of infidels.
On the other side of the coin, sitting 180 degrees out of phase with Islam, is the Constitution of The United States. The framers of our constitution built in a wall between the church and the state right up front. The US constitution does not allow religion to run our government. They did that for a many reasons, but they did it and so that is the law. Islam demands all government functions be in total and absolute adherence to the Quran. That's what Mohammed wrote down that Allah had told him.
Therefore, the Quran's religion of Islam and US Constitution are mutually exclusive. I have known this since the Iranian Revolution when I began to study up on Islam. By the time Iran released our hostages, 459 days later, I had learned more about Islam than I ever wanted to know.

By the way, this will not ever go away. We need to face that fact and sooner or later we need to come to where we can admit it, and then we can talk about what to do about it. I have no clue how to fix it. We can either decide to kill each other to the last man or we can decide that we need to leave each other alone.
I'll never give up my freedom. Islam will never stop condemming my freedom. I will never adhere to Islamic law. Islam demands that all people adhere to Islamic law.
I am sick of hearing about Islam, I am sick of seeing muslim suicide bombers killing crowds of people in the name of God. I don't want to be preached to about Islam and I'm tired of having to tip-toe around trying not to "Offend the Muslims" by being politically incorrect.

I'm tired of trying to help them stop killing each other and listening to how they hate us, and giving my tax money to them, and losing American soldiers to them.
I'm not a bad man, I'm just done with the totally depressing Islam. If there is a God, he has played the most horrible trick on Islam by commanding them to kill the infidels to get into heaven. What kind of God is Allah with such a lust for spilling human blood?

[Skirtlifters]

What kind of God is Allah with such a lust for spilling human blood?

A deity that asks it's disciples to strap on bombs to kill the innocent is just plain mean. If you find yourself chanting "name-of-deity-here" "Akbar", While killing people you've never even met, you might want to do some shopping for a new God.

[vaggeto]

Sadly what you are writing is completely incorrect. It seems you may be as misguided as the VERY FEW Muslims who believe that doings these types of acts are okay.

The Muslim religion does not state that people who do not believe in Islam should be killed. Instead, it preaches tolerance and respect to all religions, especially Judiasm and Christianity. There are very strict rules regarding the engagement of any type of fight or war, and being a different religion is not only tolerated/accepted in Islam, but supported and protected as well.

You believe you mentioned 9/11 being a starting point for people being against Islam. Something you probably don't know is more Americans converted to Islam the year after 9/11 than ever before. Why is this? Most likely because they tried to understand Islam and found the real Islam... not some warped view of it you seem to have. You really should consider asking a local Muslim scholar these questions you have. They would be happy to talk to you and correct your horrible misconceptions.

[Disinfectant]

Political correctness is the handmaiden of tyranny. Wise people know this. We seem to have a shortage of those, so the few we have left need to try their best to keep the rest from destroying all freedom everywhere.

[ibsteve2u]

I do believe that there are a whole range of peoples throughout human history who ignored the gradual fading away of "PC"-ness where their particular ethnicity, race, or religion was concerned at their own peril.

And lived to regret it. Those that lived, anyway.

I don't believe that the U.S. of A. should ever tolerate the painting of groups of people with a single brush, regardless of the actions of individual members of that group.

And, especially, regardless of how eagerly a few members of other groups reach for that fat brush of indiscriminate hate.

One thing that human history has taught us is that those who advocate such hatred against groups of people are quick - extremely quick - to refocus their hatred upon some other group of people when they run out of victims.

Civilization demands that those who are eager to spread hatred, bias, and bigotry be restrained by the force of law.

[peacefulperson]

This man's mental state and choice to kill is not the result of Islamic beliefs. He made the choice, whether out of an intense mental illness or a misguided conviction that it was the right thing to do. I know many Muslims and none of them condone killing. They are pacifists.

[AndyMaxo]

I'm REALLY sick of hearing this one. Have you ever asked them what they condone? Have you asked them point blank if they condoned Hasan's act and if the Quran condones his act? Muslims are pacifist? Please, give us a break - you can't possibly be serious and expect people to believe that.
Here is another person that knows nothing about Islam. Hey do us all a favor and have a serious discussion with you Muslim friends someday SOON and press them a bit about what they are commanded to do with the infidels like you and me. Come on, just ask them.

[krmopilci]

Muslims are like anybody else-they will fight invaders the way they can.

[ibsteve2u]

I think we fall into a trap when we even think of these events in the context of religion; when we do that, we're playing the game by THEIR rules.

They WANT the world to view their heinous actions in the context of religion, so why permit that?

Keep it simple: When bad people do bad things, you deal with it appropriately. If you have to, you kill them. If they're lucky, you capture and imprison them.

End of story.

[AndyMaxo]

I don't WANT to think about their religion, but they keep pressing it in my face. I want NOTHING to do with ISLAM. So, why don't they just shut it about it.

[krmopilci]

Who the hell are you?

[SusanStoHelit]

He was a coward - looking for any way to get out of his deployment - even suggesting that Muslims should be treated special. Muslim soldiers don't want that - they are proud to fight for America. We don't ask Christian soldiers if they really feel like fighting today, when it's a Christian country we are fighting.

[doctajim]

Not quite - I was drafted during VN (to kill "Godless Communists" - reminding me of my Grandfather, drafted to kill "Godless ****") and counseled vets at the VA after the war, while in grad school. Unless you have counseled soldiers - you have NO IDEA what nightmares they make you aware of! Alexander, Caesar, even Pompey knew that you NEVER ask soldiers conscripted from a region, to fight against others from that region - which is why mercenaries were so prized. CO status should never have been given but deployment to that region was pure military idiocy! And I saw a lot of that from 71' to 83'! More than Hasan was to blame for this rank stupidity!

[kluzer12]

This man was a terrorist, why did the Army not hear the warning bells, long before he acted. We are too politically correct for our own good, and not 13 brave Americans are dead because of it.

[flreason]

Extremists are not representative of their religions, whether Islamic or Christian. The fact that Hasan visited a Mosque where a militant cleric preached is about as informative as a Christian attending a service at the same church as Timothy McVeigh. People who become fanatics seek out and find others who support their radical views. There are thousands of people who attend the same events and are unaffected by the experience. The majority of people who practice Islam are neither radical nor violent. But if we lump them all together and victimize them in retaliation for the actions of a few, the unintended result may be to increase the numbers of violent extremists.

[AndyMaxo]

I never "Lumped" the Muslims together until Bin-Laden did what he did on 9/11. To see Muslims dancing in the streets and celebration worldwide was what "Lumped" them together. They love being "Lumped Together". They are eternally "Lumped" together in the Quran as a way to separate themselves from the huge "Lump" af all non-muslims/non-believers/infidels.
Bin-Laden started this fight. His un-intended result (as you put it), was to increase the visibility of Islam. Once it became visible we turned on it rather than embracing it as he thought we would.
Do you know anything about Islam? You need to get down from the cat-bird seat for a bit me thinks. I'm afraid the Muslims around the world totally disagree with your analysis.