Amidst the politically correct carnage which is the American corporate media trying to write something, anything, on the meltdown of politics and religion triggered, quite literally,  by Major Hasan Nidal at Fort Hood, without offending anyone……..perish the thought! -  something is troubling me greatly.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations are ‘urging calm‘ amidst fears that retribution will be exacted on the Muslim population in America. We must spare a thought for these potential victims.

The FBI are claiming ‘this is not a terror attack’. You just thought you were terrified, see?

The Christian Science Monitor is concerned about ‘overwhelmed Army psyciatrists’. ‘ Nidal was a victim too’.

CNN is wailing that Nidal ‘would have experienced emotional toil after intense exposure to patients stories of horror’.  Nidal the victim again.

The BBC, God rest their lily livered soul, is consumed by fears that this ‘devout Muslim’ may have been broken - broken, no less – by plans to deploy him to a war zone. Obviously a totally unexpected action on the part of the Army which had put him thorough medical school. A war zone, whatever were they thinking of? Pity poor Nidal.

Other commentators have detailed how deeply upset he was when another soldier tore off his bumper sticker saying Allahu Akbar – he reported it as a ‘hate crime’.  His local convenience store has said he ‘appeared perfectly normal’ when – see screen shot right – he appeared at 7am in his white dishdasha and skull cap to do his morning shopping.

The Army and local law enforcement were  apparently unperturbed at forcing a man to Afghanistan – only because he had refused deployment in Iraq  – who had described the US Army as ‘the aggressor’ in Internet postings.

A former superior officer at Walter Reed, meanwhile, acknowledged anonymously that issues with Major Hasan’s performance in the psychiatry unit had arisen in his years there, and that he had been put under special supervision and required counselling. He had also been heard voicing his misgivings about the war in Iraq and getting into arguments with fellow soldiers, which carried on at Fort Hood.

The ‘moderate Islamic community’ were apparently unperturbed by a man who trotted out of his regular Friday prayer meetings at the local mosque to purchase a semi-automatic ‘cop killer’ and ammunition in the ‘Guns Galore‘  store across the road. His previous Mosque now reports that he gave his Nationality as Palestinian when he lodged his details during a futile search for a ‘devout Muslim wife’. A little strange for a member of the US Armed Forces?

His next door neighbour, Charlie Bell, reports that Hassan had phoned him at 5am to say Good-bye, which he thought was ‘just a nice touch’.

In all this comment, I have failed to find one word regarding the near 70,000 troops stationed at Fort Hood, most being battle weary men ‘held over’ for a relatively short period to evaluate their physical and mental health before being ‘released’ into the community on leave.

Men who are prepared to give up their lives on the order of their commander-in-chief simply because it is their duty deserve every support. They deserve guns which fire straight, and plenty of them. They deserve the best in armour, vehicles and aircraft. They deserve the best in food and medical equipemnt.

When they return from battle in Islamic lands, traumatised and injured in myriad ways, they deserve a damn sight better than to find they must attend a mental evaluation with a shrink in a long white dress, quoting from the Quoran at them, who is patently traumatised at the thought of being asked to deploy to the battle field.

Did no one think to report that this Shrink was simply unfit for purpose, as much use as a gun that wouldn’t fire or an aircraft with no wings, long before he started shooting?

Is there no simple Army requirement that a Shrink must, at a minimum, be saner than his sickest patients?

Or was the fact that he was a Muslim considered to be a reasonable excuse for all his little peccadilloes?

What to do with a Shrink on the Brink? is a post from: Anna Raccoon