The Two Faces of Maj. Hasan

[Danno 1,228]

The Two Faces of Maj. Hasan

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Updated 11/10/2009 ET

Nidal Malik Hasan was two men.

One was the proud Army major who wore battle fatigues to mosque; the other, the proud Arab who wore Muslim garb in civilian life.

What brought Hasan's identities into fatal conflict was his belief that Iraq and Afghanistan were unjust wars, and his shock that he, a Muslim, was to be sent to serve in one of those wars, against fellow Muslims -- a sin against Allah meriting damnation.

Hasan was conflicted by a dual loyalty -- to the country he had sworn to protect, and to his perceived duty as a Muslim. When Hasan told his neighbor that morning, "I am going to do good work for God," the call of jihad overrode his oath of loyalty as an American soldier.

Hasan proceeded to shoot, wound or kill 44 U.S. soldiers, and was willing to die on what he saw as the side of right, the side of Islam, against America. "Allahu Akbar!" -- "God is great!" -- Hasan shouted as he began firing.

An Internet posting by "Nidal Hasan" compared suicide bombers to medal-of-honor winners who throw themselves on grenades to save fellow soldiers. Hasan had decided to become a suicider for Allah.

Though this was an act of treachery against his fellow soldiers, of treason in wartime, of terrorism and mass murder, Hasan must have seen himself as a hero and martyr.

Few ever commit atrocities like this. But conflicts in identities and loyalties are common in the cauldrons of war.

"Let none but Americans stand guard tonight," said Washington at Valley Forge. Irish Catholics deserted the Union army to fight beside Mexican Catholics in the San Patricio battalion against what they thought was American aggression. Honored today by Mexico, the San Patricios were hanged when captured by Winfield Scott's army.

In Scott's march to Mexico City was Robert E. Lee. The hero of Buena Vista was Col. Jefferson Davis, who had married the daughter of his commanding officer, future President Zachary Taylor. Davis went on to serve in the Cabinet of Franklin Pierce and the U.S. Senate.

Yet, in 1861, Davis and Lee would depart the service of their country to wage war against the United States on behalf of their new nation and the kinfolk to whom they belonged and whom they believed had a right to be free of the Union. Were they traitors -- or patriots?

This is not to compare the deeds of the San Patricios, Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, all of whom declared themselves openly and fought heroically and honorably, with the crimes of Maj. Hasan.

But it is to raise the issue of conflicting loyalties in the hearts of men in a nation that has declared religious, racial and ethnic diversity to be not only a national good but a national goal.

Whence came this idea? No previous generation believed this.

In World War I, Wilson feared that if he went to war, German-Americans might march on Washington. FDR was so fearful that the blood ties of Japanese citizens and residents would trump their loyalty to the United States he ordered 110,000 transferred from California to detention camps for the duration of the war.

In Arkansas last year, a Muslim opposed to the U.S. wars shot two soldiers at a recruitment center, killing one. In Kuwait, before the invasion of Iraq, a Muslim soldier threw a grenade into the tent of his commanding officer, killing two and wounding 14.

This is not to suggest that all American Muslims or Arabs should be citizens under suspicion. Muslims have died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, as German-Americans died fighting against Germany in two world wars. But it is to say this:

America is unraveling. No longer are we one nation and one people. Tens of millions have come and tens of millions are coming whose first loyalty is to the kinfolk and country they left behind, and to the faith they carry in their hearts. And if, in our long war against "Islamofascism," we are seen as trampling on their nation, faith or kinsmen, they will see us, as Hasan came to see us, as the enemy of their sacred identity.

There is no American Melting Pot anymore. It was discarded by our elites as an instrument of cultural genocide. Now we celebrate America as the most multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural country on earth, the Universal Nation of Ben Wattenberg's warblings.

And, yet, we are surprised by ethnic espionage in our midst, the cursing of America from mosques in our cities, the news that Somali immigrants are going home to fight our Somali allies, and that illegal aliens march under Mexican flags to demand American citizenship.

Eisenhower's America was a nation of 160 million with a Euro-Christian core and a culture all its own. We were a people then. And when we have become, in 2050, a stew of 435 millions, of every creed, culture, color and country of Earth, what holds us together then?

[Peikko 1,575]

Good grief, talk about making political hay out of a tragedy. You should be ashamed of peddling this ####### Danno.

[Peikko 1,575]

What exempts you from being a contributor to this amorpherous fetid ethnic stew, Danno? You imported a furriner after all.

[Danno 1,228]

What exempts you from being a contributor to this amorpherous fetid ethnic stew, Danno? You imported a furriner after all.

Oh don't worry about that This marriage has a Shelf life... if she is not fully assimilated in 5 years.... Back she goes.

Actually, the More immigrants I meet, the more I agree with Pat.

I was at a families house 2 weeks ago and they tried to put something on the TV I might like to watch.... I swear, they did not know how to get anything in english to come in on the sat. dish.

They have been in this country ten years. The wife barely speaks english, her mother has come over and is just happy to collect her 600 bucks a month.

My wife relays all the negative stuff that gets talked about at every ESL class, no one including (or especially) the Teacher from Africa, cares anything about this country except what they can get from it.

The teacher talks all this ####### about the USA, most often giving false information to the students. I am going to sit in on a class and see if he opens his mouth and if he does, I will not hesitate to correct him.

Edited November 13, 2009 by Danno

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Good grief, talk about making political hay out of a tragedy. You should be ashamed of peddling this ####### Danno.

Breath mint anyone?

[trillium13 84]

My wife relays all the negative stuff that gets talked about at every ESL class, no one including (or especially) the Teacher from Africa, cares anything about this country except what they can get from it.

The teacher talks all this ####### about the USA, most often giving false information to the students.

If this is really the case, that makes me angry and sad. You would think that people would appreciate the rights they are afforded in this country, especially if they didn't have them before coming here.

Of course there are plenty of people born right here in the US who don't appreciate the rights they have.

[Danno 1,228]

My wife relays all the negative stuff that gets talked about at every ESL class, no one including (or especially) the Teacher from Africa, cares anything about this country except what they can get from it.

The teacher talks all this ####### about the USA, most often giving false information to the students.

If this is really the case, that makes me angry and sad. You would think that people would appreciate the rights they are afforded in this country, especially if they didn't have them before coming here.

Of course there are plenty of people born right here in the US who don't appreciate the rights they have.

I know a number of people who keep two passports in case "things get bad" in the USA, they can still go home.

I'm not speaking of anything more than the few Doz people I am in contact with, it's not science but you look at Immigrant communities... do they look like they want to be "in" America ... or actually "be" Americans?

[justashooter 430]

to paraphrase paul, "be ye in America, but not of it."

[nowhereman 1]

Hasan was definitely conflicted & obviously he ultimately chose the wrong path by killing 13 innocent people & wounding many more. However we have to strike the balance between being vigilant concerning radical Islam & protecting the rights of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims. Not an easy thing to do but it should be the goal IMO.

[Danno 1,228]

Hasan was definitely conflicted & obviously he ultimately chose the wrong path by killing 13 innocent people & wounding many more. However we have to strike the balance between being vigilant concerning radical Islam & protecting the rights of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims. Not an easy thing to do but it should be the goal IMO.

I'm sure most might agree with that but this piece was more about a country (ours) which seems to be cultivating groups which naturally hold higher loyalty to other principles or home lands.

And from the looks of things they are coming so fast... there is very little assimilation going on for many.

[pedroh 21]

so all foreigners should forget about their land and customs and immediately assimilate as americans? I don't see the problem with maintaining loyalty to the homeland and living here. Yes, there are different levels of integration, and some people might not even care about integrating ever... but, OMG they don't watch english tv!! I don't see the biggie there..

either or, you just can't force foreigners to integrate, of course a quick assimilation to the country is desirable, but you can't say 'omg these guys can't integrate, traitors!!!!'

[Danno 1,228]

so all foreigners should forget about their land and customs and immediately assimilate as americans? I don't see the problem with maintaining loyalty to the homeland and living here. Yes, there are different levels of integration, and some people might not even care about integrating ever... but, OMG they don't watch english tv!! I don't see the biggie there..

either or, you just can't force foreigners to integrate, of course a quick assimilation to the country is desirable, but you can't say 'omg these guys can't integrate, traitors!!!!'

Once apon a time when people left the "old Country" they came here and assimilation began, the job was not often complete until the second generation.

Today it is much different, do to the technology of Sat. TV, phone cards, cheap airfare etc. immigrating groups into the second and third generation are still looking and acting like they are from the "old country".

Their loyalties and interests are clearly divided (thats being kind).

We are not a melting pot, a "melting Pot" suggests we are all breaking down into a common culture or a common people, nothing could be farther from the truth, we are becoming a collection of tribes.

[Peikko 1,575]

Danno, you don't even know the history of your own country. The USA is the sum of its parts, it is not nor has it ever been this mono cultural fairy tale that you are mourning.

[SuperDuper! 230]

Good grief, talk about making political hay out of a tragedy. You should be ashamed of peddling this ####### Danno.

So you never stir the pot Cleo with a hot button news article?

THatz calling the kettle black.

[pedroh 21]

Danno, you don't even know the history of your own country. The USA is the sum of its parts, it is not nor has it ever been this mono cultural fairy tale that you are mourning.

somehow there's a bunch of people who believe that fairy tale called Americana.. and I don't know where they get that from.. Americana has never existed, that homogeneity of yesteryear is just a mirage for people who maybe don't wanna see other 'tribes' into their country, because they are 'too different'...

if his story were true, then there wouldn't be chinatowns, little italies, deli restaurants in NY, or even staple american things, as bourbon, or the 'american' apple pie..

diversity is too much of a threat for some people I suppose.. and not being homogenized fast enough, just fuels the xenophobic mentalities (short sighted mentalities I should add) established by a paranoid former administration