Who's Speculating Now About Hasan?

President Obama cautioned Americans not to speculate about the possible motives of Major Nidal Hasan for going on a killing rampage at Ft. Hood last Thursday and leaving 13 of his fellow Army soldiers dead and wounding another 30 before an investigation could be completed. In an interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper last night, Obama speculated on "the guy just snapped theory" invented by government insiders who are looking to cover their own asses and the political correctness crowd which seems to govern civil discourse in our country today with an iron fist in the face of overwhelming evidence that the devout Muslim acted out the Muslim terrorist role he told anyone listening that he so admired. Obama told Tapper Hasan's actions were "acts of violence that are inexplicable" and suggested he may have simply cracked under the pressure.

Tragically, Hasan had been broadcasting at the top of his lungs for the past two years that he posed a threat to his fellow soldiers; it's just that his superiors either chose to look the other way because of his political correctness concerns or were grossly negligent in performing their duties. Strangely, Hasan offered the most rational course of action to his superiors to take in dealing with devout Muslims like himself in a presentation he made to his fellow medical professions in the Army. A powerpoint slide from Hasan's presentation contained this wise recommendation to the military:

Department of Defense should allow Muslim Soldiers the option of being released as "Conscientious objectors" to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events."

I couldn't have said it better myself. The Amish and Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, have been exempted from military service for years because of their religious beliefs. Most Americans have respected their beliefs and not challenged their patriotism. [Editor's note: An avid reader and legal expert on conscientious objectors points out that your belief must be based on your opposition to all wars, and not just wars that require our soldiers to fight against Muslims; unless his Muslim faith required him to oppose all wars, which it obviously does not, then Hasan's CO claim, if asserted, would have been rejected. Note also that Hasan volunteered for military service; he was not drafted]. Perhaps after Hasan got his free medical education courtesy of the U.S. Army, he conveniently decided his devout Muslim beliefs were incompatible with military service. His presentation to colleagues praised suicide bombers and asserted that Islamic law trumped the U.S. Constitution. After he made that presentation, I would have been convinced the guy was trying to get out on a Section 8 considering he was supposed to be the grounded, trusted psychiatrist for our troops, but I underestimated the wilful ignorance of his Army superiors to deal appropriately with him. How the hell U.S. intelligence could have intercepted his communications with a radical imam tied to the 9/11 terrorists and a supporter of al Qaeda and concluded he posed no terrorist risk worthy of pursuing further action in the matter is beyond my comprehension. The finger-pointing between the Army, intelligence and law enforcement agencies is now in full swing.

And please spare me the "you're just an anti-Muslim bigot" comments. They won't be posted so head on over to Abdul's blog if you're interested in spewing that garbage to deflect from the real issue: How to protect the safety and well-being of our soldiers.

UPDATE: I wasn't expecting much intelligence from our congressman on this issue, U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, but even he has outdone himself this time. He had this to say to the AP:

U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat who is one of two Muslims serving in Congress, cautioned against focusing on the alleged shooter's religion and instead said the discussion should be about mental health issues.

"This is no way a reflection of Islam any more than Timothy McVeigh's actions are a reflection of Christianity," said Carson, who supervised an anti-terrorism unit in Indiana's Department of Homeland Security and comes from a family of Marines.

I love it when Carson attempts to project himself as an anti-terrorism expert based on his one-year stent on the watch desk at Indiana's Department of Homeland Security. His focus on mental health issues is a convenient "hey, look over here" instead of what undeniably motivated Hasan--his Muslim religion. Carson was a career excise police officer who finished 88th out of 89 in his police academy class before being plucked out of obscurity to take his dying grandmother's place in Congress. He only got the excise police job because then-U.S. Rep. Julia Carson pulled strings with the O'Bannon administration to force his hiring over more qualified candidates. Her campaign manager had been named as the head of the excise police and approved his hiring. The ex-campaign manager later faced criminal charges for trading sexual favors to overlook violations by an Indianapolis strip club owner.

Carson, not surprisingly, doesn't know what the hell he is talking about when he mischievously attempts to link Timothy McVeigh's actions in bombing the Oklahoma City federal building to his supposed Christian beliefs. McVeigh, an ex-Army veteran, made it clear that his actions were grounded in his anti-government views, particularly on the issue of gun control. McVeigh never passed out Bibles or a gave a shout out to Jesus while he prepared to bomb the Murrah building. Sure, the Clinton administration and the Left seized on the bombing at the time to suggest it happened because Newt Gingrich and the religious right had taken control of Congress and had fomented so much hatred of President Bill Clinton and his government that it led McVeigh to commit his horrific terrorist act.