Tragedy at Fort Hood begets more questions than answers

Tragedy at Fort Hood begets more questions than answers

Even before the dead are buried, the questions are being asked.

They must be asked, because as a people we need some type of answer when an inexplicable horror takes place. So it was when a federal building came crashing down in Oklahoma City. When two crazed classmates opened fire at Columbine High School. And now, after an Army psychiatrist, a man trained to give comfort and sworn both to protect his country and to do no harm, opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas. The toll at this writing stands at 13 dead and 29 wounded, with some of those wounded still in danger.

The starting point for all questions is Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man who is alleged to have fired an estimated 100 rounds and who only stopped shooting after he was brought down by police.

New anecdotes emerge daily about Hasan’s opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about his questioning how American Muslims could kill Middle Eastern Muslims (though, clearly, Middle East Muslims kill each other every day), about his complaints of being harassed, his attempts to get out of the Army and unsatisfactory reviews that led to his transfer to Fort Hood.

There will be investigations into every aspect of Hasan’s life by Army investigators, federal agents, state and local police, Congress and the press.

It is likely that much of what is uncovered will raise questions about whether Hasan was treated differently because of his rank, because of his minority status or because he had already complained about perceived discrimination against him.

Who is at fault?

But at the end of the day, if the facts bear out what is known now, the primary responsibility for his horrendous deeds will fall on Hasan, and he should be punished accordingly.

Certainly Hasan’s religion is and will be a central point in the debate. But it makes no more sense to blame Muslims for what happened at Fort Hood than to blame, for instance, Christians for the horrors perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan. History has shown that men will pick and choose scriptural snippets that justify their bad behavior. Few religions have been immune from being perverted by unscrupulous actors.

Some of the people coming forward to describe Hasan’s increasingly troublesome behavior are fellow Muslims. But it appears clear that few of his acquaintances, whether they shared Hasan’s religion or not, thought him capable of mounting a murderous attack on fellow soldiers.

Let the investigations continue, and as time goes by Americans may come to some understanding of what went wrong.

But for now, a nation that has become too accustomed to too many of its young men and women going off to die in foreign lands must mourn soldiers who died here, at home. Some had already seen war, some were preparing for it, but all were cut down before their prime. They have lost their lives; their families and friends have lost their love and comfort, and the United States has 13 more heroes.