Fort Hood Tragedy: The Enemy from Within

Fort Hood, Texas, USA- US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan stands accused of brutally killing up to at least 13 fellow soldiers and wounding at least more than 30 others at FT Hood, the largest military base in the world in Texas Thursday afternoon. Major Nidal who was educated by the army as a psychiatrist that completed medical schooling as a soldier and was scheduled to be shipped out to Iraq or Afghanistan soon on deployment as a medical professional.

Major Hasan also interned at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was known to be a devout Muslim whose commitment to the army may have collided with his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was reportedly firmly against his deployment to the war zone and had argued with his superiors and others. Investigators in the US are examining internet posts promoting suicide bombings which they believe could have been written by Major Hasan.

Armed with two handguns, he walked into a training center and opened fire on fellow soldiers who were undergoing last minute medical check-ups before deployment to Iraq.

The FBI was also already aware of inflammatory internet postings by a blogger called Nidal Hasan regarding using suicide bombings, but officials have yet to confirm if this is the same as Major Hasan.

“If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory” said the blogger on the website Scribd.

Hasan, a Muslim by birth, was born in Virginia, and his family is believed to have come from Jordan. “He was just normal, loved sports, never got into trouble” said his cousin Nader Hasan . The family was “shocked and baffled” by the incident said Nader to reporters. Nader says that his cousin Major Hasan became more devout after his parents died in 1998 and 2001.“His parents didn’t want him to go into the military,” says the cousin. But according to Nader, Major Hasan had said, “No, I was born and raised here, I’m going to do my duty to the country. ”

Authorities are piecing together the details of this story and trying to understand who one of their own can commit such a despicable act on fellow soldiers. President Obama said that “It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battle overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil.”

Attacks such as these do nothing to stop the prejudice and stereotyping of the vast Muslim communities in the US and in Europe where millions of decent and peaceful Muslims citizens live their lives in their adopted countries.

There are a couple of wars going on, most of us know that already. But I am not only talking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am referring to one war between the moderate and secular West and the one between the religious and at times seemingly intolerant Islam in the East. This was termed as the clash of civilizations by scientist and writer Samuel P Huntington. An ongoing conflict going back to at least the Crusades, this conflict between the West and the East is centuries old.

Another, and some may say more important conflict, rages on within Islam itself between the extremists and Jihadi elements and between the moderate and progressive vast majority of the Muslim population worldwide. The smaller yet more vocal and certainly more violent extremists in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt and elsewhere around the world want to bring about this clash between the civilizations. These individuals envision the creation of country out of the Ummah (Community of Believers) similar to the grouping together as one nation under the caliphate of prophet Mohammed’s time.

To them, an inevitable struggle and war with the West is a foregone conclusion. The problem is that apparently as evidenced with the alleged actions of Major Hasan, these demented and disillusioned individuals do not just reside in the countries above. But tragically, some of them such as Major Hasan are the enemy from within.

Reported by Manzer Munir for www.PakistanisforPeace.com