“If It Walks Like A Duck…”

On the afternoon of November 5^th, mere hours after the Fort Hood shootings, major media outlets were already scrambling to downplay Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s Muslim faith. ABC’s Martha Raddatz declared: “As for the suspect, Nidal Hasan…I wish his name was Smith.” Newsweek’s Evan Thomas said: “I cringe that he ‘s a Muslim, I think he’s probably just a nut case.” The media immediately embraced the “politically correct” view that Hasan was not an Islamic terrorist, but rather a pitiable man who snapped under the stresses of the U. S. Army.

This politically correct skew on the shootings is not only ignorant, but downright dangerous as well.  Hasan was a terrorist influenced by his religion, plain and simple, and the media should not try to conceal this fact. Here was a man who, in 2007, gave a presentation in the hospital where he worked on “The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the Military.” It contained an elaboration of the punishments visited upon nonbelievers, such as consignment to hell, decapitation, and having hot oil poured down your throat. This “really freaked a lot of doctors out,” reported NPR[1]. Furthermore, Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) before he went on his rampage, a clear sign that his actions were religiously motivated.  But perhaps the most damning piece of evidence that came to light after the shooting was that Hasan had attempted to contact Al-Qaeda, and had ties with a radical imam. Even after all this information was discovered, though, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said: “I don’t know if we’ll ever know if religion was a factor at Fort Hood.”

So, instead of accepting the obvious, the morally relativist U.S. media tries to paint Hasan as a victim of circumstance. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert and other like-minded members of  the media believe that Hasan may have been a victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This seems a convenient excuse: the catch is that Hasan never served a tour a duty. Granted, as a psychologist, he had to work to help other soldiers deal with stress – but this stress never drove other psychologists on the base to kill people[2]. Hasan never even expressed stress in his line of work, choosing instead to proselytize some of his patients.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time fervent political correctness has reared its ugly head in the military. It is becoming increasingly obvious, according to a report by ABC news, the US government knew that Hasan was trying to contact Al-Qaeda[3]. The question is, why was nothing done? It appears that Hasan got a pass because no one wanted to question a soldier who happened to be Muslim,at the risk of being branded an Islamophobe.

Don’t mistake, as so many politically correct journalists do, a disdain for Hasan as a disdain for Islam or Muslims in the military. I respect and admire the 2,500 Muslims currently serving in our military and I agree that they should be treated no different than any other soldiers that puts their lives on the line for our freedoms. We should not accuse Muslims of crimes just because of their religion but, at the same time, we also can’t let it color our judgment against accusing them of crimes. If justice were truly blind, and not subjected to the way of political correctness, the tragedy at Fort Hood might very well have been avoided.

Was terrorism one of Hasan’s motives when he killed these innocent people? We may never know for sure, but the preponderance of evidence coming to light suggests that he was. And sometimes, despite what the media may like you to believe, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it really is a duck.

The author of this piece would like to express his sincerest condolences to all those who lost loved ones during the Ft. Hood attacks.

[2] Saunders, Debra. “The Shrink and the Terrorist”. Real Clear Politics. Nov 10 2009.

[3] ABC News. Nov 13 2009.