Should NYU faculty and their dependent children receive full tuition remission?
Maybe John Surico felt that acknowledging Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's religious motivations for the massacre he committed would reflect badly on his co-religionists. Or maybe he just wanted to make an argument against President Obama's plans to add more troops in Afghanistan. Whatever the reason, finding the "real issue" did not seem like his aim in his piece.
Related
Surico argues that the "mental effect that Iraq and Afghanistan is having on our [soldiers]" is to be nervous about his deployment to the point of going on a shooting spree. Could Hasan have been crazy? Sure. But he was also a religious fanatic, and that is the underlying issue. To pin this massacre on shell shock, or other effects of war, is irresponsible.
To make sure this doesn't happen again, Surico suggests, the government should reverse its ideas of increased deployment of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. A better policy move, I think, would be an increased surveillance of suspicious activity by soldiers.
Col. Terry Lee told Fox News: "[Hasan] was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans ... He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that [the U.S.] should not be in the war in the first place." Lee added that Hasan said he was "happy" when a U.S. soldier was killed in an attack on an Arkansas military recruitment center in June.
Please do a better job of choosing editorial pieces in the future to maintain a reputation of informative pieces and informed opinion.
Thanks, Daniel Pessar, CAS junior
Sulayman
Nov 16, 2009
4:38 a.m.
The title of this piece has nothing to do with the actual text of the letter. If you make a claim you have to discuss it, not just say it in the title and leave it in the air.
To rebut an argument he didn't even try to make properly; We don't know if religion is the underlying issue. When he goes on trial soon, then we'll find out more. It looks like anxiety over the thought of deploying to Iraq. Not the first time a soldier committed suicide or homicide for that reason. When those soldiers before him did it, religion was not an issue. Muslims across the country and those 6,000+ in the armed forces condemned the act as being against the religion.
Ali
Nov 16, 2009
10:05 a.m.
Sulayman, as usual, apologizes for the horrors Muslims commit, as if each separate incident is an isolated, unconnected event.
Sulayman would have us believe Muslims killing innocent women and childredn in Sudan, Israel, Somalia, Southern Thailand, Southern Russia, Western China, Egpyt, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Bali discos, Tel Aviv night clubs, London buses, Spanish train stations, Pakistani funeral processions, Afghanistani wedding receptions, Iraqi pet bazaars, American skyscrapers and Fort Hood are all unconnected, isolated incidences having nothing to do with the common thread between each of them: Islam.
Yeah, Sulayman, I'm sure Nidal Hasan did it because he snapped when the military pressure became too much. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with him being a devout Muslim, communicating with extremist Imans, keeping a diary filled with his hatred of America and shouting out "Allah Akbar" as he killed and wounded dozens. No way Nidal did it because of his Muslim studies about how Mohammed killed, raped and enslaved in his quest to spread Islam as far as he could.
In fact, Sulayman, I'll bet when Muslims beheaded Daniel Pearl while reading sections of the Koran justifying their brutality it also had nothing to do with Islam. And, while you and I are at it, I'll bet when the 19 mass murdering Muslims spoke of Jihad and the fight against America before they flew the planes into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon that also had nothing to do with Islam. Is that right, Sulayman?
It's so hard to refute your argument Sulayman. Or, at least, it is hard to do so if one decides to shut one's eyes, cover one's ears and stick one's head in the ground as it seems you have done.
Alex
Nov 16, 2009
4:08 p.m.
Can we please stop this "Ali" from trolling the WSN with his hateful anti-Muslim propaganda? It's getting ridiculous.
Ali
Nov 16, 2009
11:23 p.m.
Alex, two things.
1) Do you believe in The First Amendment to the United States Constitution? It's the one that covers that silly notion of "freedom of speech".
2) I'm not hateful. I'm just saying it like it is. Unlike Nidal Hasan I have never killed anyone, nor even wounded anyone. I did once cause a friend's back to sieze up because I was driving a motor boat over a wave too fast. I am guilty of that, but I did not shout "Allah Akbar" while doing it. It was an accident. I swear to Allah (may peace be upon him) it was an accident.
I digress though. Alex, I'm sorry you do not like my contributions and feel I should be banned from contributing to this paper. Your feelings mean a lot to me!
That said, it seems to me an adult would act differently than what you are recommending be done. An adult would counter my points of view, and prove how my opinions are wrong and/or hateful.
Your approach, in my opinion, is both cowardly and immature. Be an adult and debate me. Show those who follow these comments where and how I am wrong, where and how I am hateful. I can take it. Go ahead and debate me. That is, in part, what the "comment section" of any paper is all about.
Andrew
Nov 17, 2009
1:03 p.m.
Ali, your understanding of the First Amendment is even weaker than that of Islam and political issues. It does not protect you from being banned for trolling from a website for whatever reason the administrator feels.
Anyway Pessar's argument is really bad it only offers one premise in support of its conclusion which is a quote from a Colonel. He doesn't really confront any of Surico's arguments. I'm pretty sick of people using the shooting to conclude whatever preexisting political ideas that they have whether it's:
1) Women should be in combat (Gawker)
2) We need to get out of Iraq/Afghanistan (most Liberals)
3) All Muslims are evil and shouldn't be allowed in the Army (Fox News/Conservatives/Ali)
The reality is we live in a society where mass-shootings/killings occur all the time, and will continue to occur as long as there are psychopaths who can get access to knives/guns/bombs, and there will always be psychopaths with access to these things.
There have been worse shootings on Army bases. There was a shooting at Walter Reed Hospital by a veteran recently. This case is unique because I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) it is the first time an American-born Muslim has committed an act of mass-murder, but it really shouldn't be viewed any differently than the VT killer being the first Korean-American to go on a shooting spree.
Ali
Nov 26, 2009
12:03 p.m.
Is the following news article an example of...
a) Muslim's medieval religion?
b) Muslims "Going Muslim"?
c) The seat of Islam's 2 holiest sites showing the wrold that reformation and Islam are oxymorons?
d) Muslim compassion and tolerance?
Somebody else help me with e), f), g) and h).
Here is the news article:
Saudi Arabia sentences TV host to death for witchcraft
"TV Presenter On Death Row For Witchcraft," from Sky News, November 24:
A man has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft because he makes predictions on television.
Ali Sibat is not even a Saudi national. The Lebanese citizen was only visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage when he was arrested in Medina last year.
A court in the city condemned him as a witch on November 9.
The only evidence presented in court was reportedly the claim he appeared regularly on Lebanese satellite issuing general advice on life and making predictions about the future.
The case is causing outrage among human rights campaigners but has made little news elsewhere despite the ludicrous nature of the charges and the extraordinary severity of Sibat's sentence.
"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
"The crime of witchcraft is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state sanctioned executions."...
leave a comment
Comments from unregistered users will appear once they are approved. Log in to have your comment show up immediately.