The AP wrote:"Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" " an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" " before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment."
The AP wrote:"But his record at Walter Reed wasn't sterling. He received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said "I got the impression that he was a committed soldier." He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and he wanted out of the Army.
"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case."
I have heard/read that he wanted out of the military since 9/11. Unless the army has terms of service greater than six years, it wouldn't seem that he wanted out all that badly.
It certainly seems unlikely that Major Hasan was part of an Islamist sleeper cell, but it also seems unlikely that his being a Muslim is merely a coincidence.
I don't know what this tells us and I don't know if there is any action or approach that can or should be taken, but it will be ridiculous if the questions that arise cannot be considered because of PC sensibilties.
There's no way of confirming it, but my bet is that upon first hearing this story a vast majority of people thought about the gunmen (as it was being reported at the time) being Muslims. The thought might have been, "I bet these guys are Muslims," or "I hope these guys are not Muslims," or even "The first thing everyone else is going to think about is whether or not they are Muslims," but it is unrealistic to think otherwise.
How many Muslims are there in the US military, but how shocked were you to learn the shooter was one?
Again, I don't know what the fact that he is a Muslim really means, but I believe it means something much more significant than some other piece of biographical data, like he was born in Virginia or that he was a psychiatrist.
BTW - Although I think Chicago Joe's comment was essentially pointless, I don't think he was mocking the tragedy in general or the victims in particular.
