Bad Day to be a Terrorist

I'm sure you've all heard about the shooting at Fort Hood yesterday. The psychiatrist, of all people! He's Muslim, too, so of course they have to figure out whether or not he's a terrorist, especially since someone with a screen name very similar to this guy's real name has been online comparing a suicide bomber to a soldier who dies to save his comrades. They are both sacrificing their lives for a greater cause, apparently.

Here's the article I read: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-fort-hood-shootings6-2009nov06,0,4341651.story?page=1.

In a meager attempt to explain the shooting, the article mentions that this psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was about to face his "worst nightmare"--being deployed to Iraq. I admit I don't know that much about the military, but isn't there another way of getting out of an assignment? Excuse my morbidity, but if nothing else, he could have shot himself. Why kill all those people? Yeah, you don't have to go to Iraq, but what you're about to face for shooting up the world's largest military base. ... Man, I'd hate to be in your shoes. I'd be wishing the lady who shot me had better aim.


I also read this article:
 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33712858/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/, which is more comprehensive. It says Hasan was being deployed to Afghanistan, not Iraq (I don't know if that changes the story at all). It also says that witnesses reported Hasan shouting "Allahu Akbar," which is Arabic for "God is great." I watched a video on radical Muslims in my Religion and Society class this week, and while most Muslims are normal people, these radicals are a very angry, hateful group who think America wants to take over the world--Islam specifically--and they want to destroy us for Allah's sake. Supposedly, God wants them to spread Islam. They teach their children to hate western civilization and that it's an honor to die for this "Jihad," which involves killing the enemy, aka all non-Islamic people or even Muslims who get in their way. So the fact that Hasan was shouting "Allahu Akbar" before he began shooting makes me very suspicious. Why would he yell that if he wasn't a radical? Does he have any idea how pissed off the U.S. gets at terrorists? 

He got shot four times and is still kicking. Sucks to be him.

Here's a clip from the documentary we watched in class. If you have time, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. It's called "Obsession," and it's pretty crazy.