The importance of the military carrying out this investigation should be obvious so I won't beleaguer the point here.
However, I believe a word of caution is in order when the media is discussing Nidal Hasan. I don't believe talking about the tragedy or reporting facts voluntarily offered by the investigators is inappropriate, however, there is this 'thread' of 'mind speak' that accompanies some of this discussion that should be averted.
In the NYTimes article it is stated there was more evidence that leads to the belief Nidal Hasan was a very disturbed man. I believe the article is done well and speaks to many possibilities as to why Nidal Hasan decided to kill so many people that day.
Nidal Hasan acted alone. He wasn't on orders from any extremist Islamic group or affiliated with any foreign entity. He acted no different than Timothy McVeigh did. He acted in violence against a 'thought/ideology' he had and felt compeled to 'handle' for whatever deranged reason exists.
Men like McVeigh, and it is primarily men, don't accept their own reality. They seek to change it inappropriately by blaming a 'monster' they can't control. That monster is usually the government. The government or military lacks compassion or outreach in a way that would change the lives of those angry for whatever reason, valid or otherwise.
Nidal Hasan, no different than McVeigh or others like them was seeking control. Their own 'comfort zone' was displaced and they blamed others for their circumstances. Their personal circumstances. I find the 'idea' that Nidal Hasan was having business cards printed at the same time he was losing control rather interesting. Somewhere in his thinking there was an 'idea' there was a greater need for his 'ability' in a society that would reward his talents.
A business card is a form of 'offical document' of one kind or another. It is an expression of whom one is and how that person can provide services. I am assuming the address on Nidal Hasan's business cards stated his home address and not an address in Yemen. A business card says one is important and valuable.
If the media doesn't report on Nidal Hasan well, it will be exhibiting bias toward Muslims. Why would the media treat him differently than McVeigh and extrapolate his acts into a international network of terrorists? Why? Because it exists and it is a ready explanation when all other explanations seem unavailable.
Nidal Hasan was an American and from what I can gather his parents were immigrants. People that immigrate to the USA do so to seek a better life. Immigrants often have strong emotional ties and sometimes even relatives in their country of origin and it is not unusual for immigrants to send monies and gifts to their relatives when their 'good fortune' allows them to do that. If that is the activities of Nidal Hasan's family it does not predispose him to violence. All to often it is in the USA that ethnic misfortune finds resolve.
If Nidal Hasan was upset over things in the news and felt he had to act, then he wasn't living with reality, but, a sense of himself derived from a need for feeling control and an 'authority' in that control. He made up his own mind while telling himself he was correct. He never stopped to ask if his belief system was perverse or imperfect. He granted himself the right to kill through some magical thinking that will be discovered by the military investigation. That magical thinking was no different than the magical thinking of mass murderers that came before him. It is not crazy or certifable. It is however a perversion of 'self' in a way that elevates the 'idea' of self righteousness, almost god-like.
When reporting about Nidal Hasan it has to be done with the removal that there was some greater danger than just the man. He was conflicted. He isolated himself in that personal conflict and 'decided' with full authority of his mind and self will to murder. Do not grant him the opportunity to be 'something greater' than he is by starting to lump him together with unknown individuals that are 'learning' to act similarly in society. When a discussion like that opens then one is talking about White Supremists and Black Trench Coat Mafia as well.
And we know White Supremists murder and they murder in large numbers in a gathering called a lynching. This is not a concept the FBI, Military Intelligence or the CIA is disfamiliar.
If Nidal Hasan was 'anything' he was an American Male with a huge identity crisis mired in a 'culture of violence.' It isn't a 'military thing' it is however a 'violent thing' in trends throughout this American fabric. Reflect first on that and then discuss Nidal Hasan.
