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Terror strikes close to home, again By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on Nov. 12, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. We have all already seen the headlines from last Thursday.
The alleged shooter and al-Qaida sympathizer Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — himself a soldier and Army psychiatrist — shouted “Allahu akbar” before opening fire with two handguns at Fort Hood in Texas. Media members and government officials alike have been falling all over each other to say Hasan is not a terrorist, claiming he was not affiliated with a terrorist network and suggesting he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, never mind he has yet to experience traumatic stress since he had not yet been deployed out of country. It is true Hasan was not connected with al-Qaida — not through lack of trying — but he was clearly motivated by the same derangement that drives those he admires to strap bombs to themselves and board a bus full of civilians or commandeer commercial aircraft and fly into buildings. In fact, in June 2007, according to the Washington Post, Hasan told senior Army officials, among other things, that “fighting to establish an Islamic state to please God, even by force, is condoned by the Islam.” This was but one conclusion in Hasan’s presentation entitled “The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military,” a 50-slide treatise on Islam that concludes with Hasan’s opinion that Muslims should be released from the U.S. military as conscientious objectors. It is clear Hasan is filled with the same hatred and anti-American loathing fomented by radicals overseas. But, he is in the United States, a nation founded on a principle of religious freedom and one that of late has been bending over backwards to prove to the rest of the world Americans are not the enemies of Islam. Hasan repaid his life of privilege in the U.S. and the tolerance granted to his beliefs with gunfire, striking out against those who volunteered to wear the uniform and serve in order to protect his right to believe as he wishes. However, this isn’t the only thing that makes Hasan a terrorist. Last Thursday, when I heard of the shooting, my first thoughts turned to a friend from my college days. She was a columnist on my newspaper staff who after graduation went on to earn a commission as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. About the same time, I started getting calls from mutual friends trying to figure out if she was at Fort Hood. We knew she was in Texas, but we weren’t sure where. Fortunately, we found out she was at Fort Bliss, hundreds of miles away from the attack. She sent a message later in the day letting everyone know she was alright, much to our relief. The next day, however, she sent another message saying a close friend of hers from Officer Candidate School was at Fort Hood — and she was wounded by Hasan. This is the kind of thing that really brings home the magnitude of the attack. There are only two degrees of separation between myself and someone whose life has been irreversibly touched by a madman. Seeing messages saying someone is getting a bullet taken out of her on Monday and realizing this person is a friend of someone who’s smile and effervescent happiness brightened your fraternity house makes one understand the shooting was not some random incident — it was indeed a terrorist attack. Military members are trained to face combat and hostile action, and many would agree military members — along with police officers — are most capable of handling deadly situations. However, Hasan struck when they were at their most vulnerable — at home and unarmed. Hasan now lays in a hospital bed receiving the best care anywhere. He has also been afforded a lawyer to defend him on his road to the gallows. He has earned the praise of radicals who promote destruction. And he also holds another quality of a terrorist — he is a coward. Instead of renouncing his citizenship and joining those he admires, he broke his oaths and took advantage of the privileges granted to him as an officer to kill those he was charged to counsel. He now stands as an insult to all who have honorably worn the uniform and taken up arms, and he deserves the harshest punishment allowed by law. By trying to deny Hasan’s actions constituted a terrorist attack not only ignores the now obvious warning signs, it also elevates terrorists to something they are not. While portrayed as a larger than life, inhuman menace, real terrorists are nothing more than cowardly, pathetic scum lashing out at a world that won’t bend to their will. Their attacks are the bloody actions of petulant children, not borne of philosophical differences and deserving harsh punishment with little consideration. Yet, we talk about them with a hushed fear, the same way children whisper about the schoolyard bully. But like the schoolchildren who are greater in number, we are greater in ideology. Our concepts of freedom, liberty, tolerance, charity and spontaneous cooperation best promote the common good, although they require not only work to achieve, but also courage. Terrorists generally have a world view that has been handed down for centuries — that brutality, tyranny and fear are the tools needed to control the people. These tools are also the easiest to employ against the people, providing the path of least resistance. As I sit and write this column on Veterans Day, my mind can’t help but think of those who chose to serve and defend our freedom but were senselessly struck down before they were given the chance. I also think of how easily it could have been any of my family or friends who are serving. I am humbled and saddened by the thought the Fort Hood victims faced a horror I thankfully avoided, but the sense of loss is still profound. Hasan must be recognized for what he is — a terrorist — and be dealt with severely. We must then pursue and punish those who would act as he did and treat them with the same severity. To do otherwise would be a dishonor to those who fell at the hands of a coward. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
In the bloodiest terrorist attack against a U.S. military installation on American soil, one man killed 13 people and wounded 30 others, many of them critically, before being gunned down by a police officer.
