Manager: Muslim sticker removed from suspect's car

[Barack_America]

Manager: Muslim sticker removed from suspect's car

Associated Press


An apartment complex manager says the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood, Texas recently had a religious bumper sticker torn off his car.

The manager, John Thompson, says a fellow soldier allegedly keyed Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's car and ripped up the bumper sticker. Thompson says the soldier had been to Iraq and was upset to learn Hasan was Muslim.

Thompson, who manages the Killeen, Texas complex where Hasan lives, says the bumper sticker read: "Allah is Love." In Arabic, Allah means God.

A report filed on Aug. 16 with Killeen police says Hasan's car had been scratched causing $1,000 worth of damage. The report says an Army employee had been arrested. It didn't provide more details about what happened.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9BQ6MHO1.html

[951-Riverside]

1. Just curious, what did the innocent people he murdered and injured do to deserve such fate?

Instead of being a raging crybaby couldn't he just have taken the lowlife who did this to court and gotten restitution?

BTW, what he did is 1,000 times worse than what the other soldier allegedly did to his ...car.

[HipChick]

2. do you really think it was the one incident?

[leftynyc]

5. I couldn't care less

Making excuses for a mass murderer is sickening. Did you make the same excuses for the columbine boys?

[RaleighNCDUer]

12. Understanding the precipitants to a crime is not making excuses for it.

Anybody who claims to be a lefty should know better.

[Echo In Light]

15. No shit! There's already another thread on this & most posting in it are choosing to be obtuse

As if trying to establish behavioral patterns for those involved is synonymous w/justification when that's clearly not the case.

[arcadian]

18. Exactly.

And damn but there are some idiotic people on this board.

[AspenRose]

21. Thank you!

You'd think you wouldn't have to mention that....that it'd be a given, but...oh well.

[EFerrari]

13. I don't see anyone excusing these deaths. n/t

[Barack_America]

16. Apparently on DU no amount of sympathy or attempt to understand is tolerated...

One must simply label Hasan a "murderous Muslim fuck", insult his mother and then move on.

Any attempt to understand what might have led him to commit this atrocity is "excusing" it.

If you don't want to get flamed, you might consider disparaging him and his religion quickly.

:eyes:

[951-Riverside]

24. You call it "sympathy" and understanding I call it what it is

@One must simply label Hasan a "murderous Muslim fuck", insult his mother and then move on.

Like I said to you before he is a coward piece of shit who is hiding behind religion to justify his actions. His version of "faith" or "religion" cannot be understood because its skewered and perverted.

This is from another topic of yours: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6942054&mesg_id=6942054">(1)

There should be no "shit, shit, shit" reaction to a Muslim man having said this. The expression does not mean, "Jihad time". It means the man is calling for God's help and, of course, Muslims and Christian basically share the same concept of who "God" is.

If he adhered to his faith it never would have gotten to this point and BTW, to him Allahu Akbar likely meant "Jihad Time".

[Barack_America]

29. You are inventing motive when none has been provided.

Because of an inherent bias against those who are Muslim. Aren't you the one who declared the common saying of "Allahu Akbar" to be the same as shouting "white power"?

What about the shooter in Orlando today? Care to speculate about how his faith led him to kill? Or does he get a pass?

[Sherman A1]

26. Agreed & Well Said

There seems to be a strong undercurrent of absolutism, peppered with "I am right and you (and your opinions) could never be". It is not only on this particular issue, but crops on others as well. Some seem unwilling to accept that the world is not black & white, but a myriad of shades of gray. To me such an unwillingness equates very much with what we see in the RW media, teabagger protests and such. It is sad that closed mindedness is so prevalent or at the very least so very vocal.

[cali]

34. He's a mass murderer. I understand you feel sympathy toward

him. that's fine, but it is no better than not feeling sympathy toward him. As for understanding, I'm afraid that no number of incidents of bigotry that he suffered will explain his actions.

One doesn't need to disparage his religion to find what he did utterly heinous- and contemptible. And yes, it's fine to reserve one's empathy for his victims.

[liberal_at_heart]

19. violence is never the answer but

that doesn't mean you shouldn't address the problems that caused it to happen. When Columbine happened all you heard about was how evil the shooters were. They media never addressed the bullying they endured. That does not excuse their behavior. If they had lived they would have deserved to be put away for the rest of their lives. But people should be held accountable for harrassment and bullying, and I hope Columbine addressed the bullying issue and implemented a no bullying policy at the school. The same goes with this situation. No, harrassment does not excuse violence. I hope he gets life in prison. But that doesn't mean the harrassment shouldn't be dealt with. If there are cases(and I'm sure there are many) in the military of Christian soldiers harrassing Muslim soldiers then that needs to be addressed. Our military already has issues with having to much Christian religion tied into the fabric of the military. Anyone who isn't Christian is usually either pressured to convert or isolated because they supposedly cannot be trusted. My daughter is atheist and I have no doubt that if she tried to join the military people would ask her why should I trust you with my life?. I don't understand why Christians seem to think that they can only trust other Christians. There are many, many fine people in this world who are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Wicca, Buddhist, Agnostic, atheist, and many other religions and philosophies that are very trustworthy people.

[malaise]

23. Go tell that to Dick Cheney,

Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush.

[Barack_America]

6. Who has suggested the two incidents can be equated?

They cannot.

This nothing more than a possible piece to the puzzle of "why?". A very important puzzle to solve to prevent this from ever happening again.

[Raineyb]

17. I don't think they're interested in learning "why" because doing so would

require them to do something to prevent it from happening again. Can't have that!

All sarcasm aside, you might be interested in reading Violence by Dr. James Gilligan. It was written a few years back but how he looks at violence is interesting and he looks at it with an eye of preventing it not unlike how one would prevent disease.

[Jennicut]

7. It is not a cause, just an explanation for things slowly building up until he lost it.

Most people would not let incidents like this get to them and almost everyone would not open fire on innocent people over this. It is just a fact in this man's life, not an excuse and I am not sure why anyone would look to excuse this guy who was obviously mentally ill.

[nachosgrande]

3. The guy just had enough and blew up

Looks like the guy had multiple stressors bearing down on him. Continually fucked with by peers/colleagues since 2001 because of his religion, an imminent deployment to a war against the people with whom he shared a faith, and an intimate knowledge of the true horrors of war because of his occupation. It all built up and this was his "Falling Down" moment. It seems pretty straightforward to me.

No excuse for taking out all these innocent people and ruining probably 100's of lives (when you consider all the family members, etc.). Not to mention making things just that much harder for all of the other Muslim Americans in the military (or in society in general). It shows not only a lack of rational thinking on his part, but a lack of empathy as well.

[Barack_America]

9. It's very interesting you mention that film.

And I agree that it was likely a combination of stressors that led him to snap. And yes, I believed he snapped rather than planned this as a terrorist attack.

I may be proven wrong and I open to that possibility, but that is my hunch at the moment.

It still doesn't excuse it and, yes, he must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but I do believe he snapped.

[Bucky]

22. Except that his reaction against the horror of war to launch a war on his colleagues.

Yes, some bigots treated him badly. That wasn't who he murdered in cold blood. He murdered, execution style, whoever happened to be in his way. He's no different than Dick Cheney, just less of a coward.

[AspenRose]

25. Good points in your post, and welcome to DU

[Dogtown]

33. I have to wonder

why the Army would assign this man to counsel returning soldiers suffering from PTSD. It seems pretty callous, both to the veterans and to this doctor.

I know I would have been upset had I been sent to a Vietnamese doctor when I returned home from that war. I can only imagine that some of their resentment and anger would have been directed at him. How often do you think he heard terms like "rag-head" "camel-fucker" and "sand-ni**er"?

What atrocities to Arabic people did he have to hear reported? How many horrific secrets that he couldn't even report because of doctor/patient privilege?

I read a report that he'd been "counseled" about his interactions with patients. Doesn't seem like that counseling was very effective.


Before any one jumps, I'm not excusing the man. I'm just blaming the Army, at least a smidge.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

36. Where is the evidence he was fucked with by peers/colleagues since 2001 because of his religion?

[rucky]

37. Yep. It's too complicated to point to one thing.

[Blue-Jay]

4. I had a Darwin fish removed from my car once.

Instead of shooting people, I bought another one.

[Barack_America]

8. Nothing excuses his actions, but it appears this was not an isolated incident.

The NYTimes today reported that he had previously filed grievances regarding his treatment as a Muslim soldier.

Why was he so terrified or angry of going to Iraq that he was compelled/decided to go on a murderous rampage? That is a very important thing for the Army to know.

[debbierlus]

10. Talking about what might have contributed to his state of mind does NOT excuse his actions

I haven't read one post that states otherwise.

[Barack_America]

14. Try my other thread.

The flame-fest called "Allahu Akbar means "God is great"".

I have learned to preface everything with "nothing excuses his actions..." in order to avoid an islamophobic pile-on.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. fine. Now, how about someone steals that one. And then next week, cuts

your tires. And then next week spray paints your door. And you saw someone walking away, but can't prove it's he that did it. But he smirks at you every time you meet. He mutters things under his breath every time he sees you. He and his friends laugh and look at you. His friend spits in front of your shoe as you pass.

And this goes on for eight years.

You don't know what he was dealing with. Few people, other that his therapist, know. But it is certain he didn't shoot 40 people over a bumpersticker.

That's like saying you got a divorce over squeezing the toothpaste from the wrong end of the tube.

[Barack_America]

32. Or worse yet, being able to prove who did it.

And having the powers that be take his side over yours.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. It's discrimination with an extra component.

A SOLDIER ripped off the sticker and another SOLDIER keyed his car.

Hassan was a Major in ranking, an officer. You cannot use your rank or command when you have blatant insubordination in the military. His existence was invalidated and then he was told he couldn't leave such a hostile environment. He was let down by his superiors and insubordinates.

[Bucky]

20. Well he obviously didn't believe it, anymore.

Lock the evil little fuck away forever. I can entirely understand where that soldier was coming from. Hopefully leaders will step forward and remind the angry public that this was a flawed ugly little angry man doing evil, not a representative of our Muslim neighbors and fellow citizens.

[Barack_America]

28. Which soldier? The one who keyed his car and defaced his sticker...

...because he didn't like the fact the guy was Muslim?

Who is that you "understand where was coming from"?

[Bucky]

35. I misread. I thought the keying incident happened after the shooting.

[TexasObserver]

30. It's important to know all the factors surrounding this event.

It's surprising that so many here cannot understand the difference between determining causative factors versus attempting to justify the attack. They are not the same, yet some seem incapable of gleaning that distinction.

Those who think with their need to blame others will always blame those who are not so inclined for refusing to be likewise. No one has attempted to defend what this guy did. Many have wanted to discuss the abuse he suffered and the attitude of the Army toward him. Those are natural areas of inquiry.

Given the handling by the Army of the Jessica Lynch and Pat Tilman events, there is no reason to believe the Army is truthful, or that they aren't either making up things or covering them up.

The goal should be to fully understand the event, and we cannot do that if we don't understand who this guy was, what happened to him, and why he may have snapped. He seems like a disgruntled employee who was owned by his employer, who was likely abused in his workplace, and who went over the edge.

He may recover, and if he does, he'll be put away forever for what he did. But it would be enlightening to hear what has happened in his life at the hands of the Army, and it might provide some direction for the Army in the future.

[Barack_America]

31. That is very well said.

Thank you.