If any of this is true the military really screwed up

[cali]

Officials Begin Putting Shooting Pieces Together

Tom Gjelten, Daniel Zwerdling and Steve Inskeep

November 6, 2009
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Morning Edition
<5 min 48 sec>



November 6, 2009

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

So, authorities have answered one question: They believe it was a single gunman. But in a way, that only deepens the mystery about Major Nidal Hasan. We've been learning more about him this morning, first from NPR's Tom Gjelten, who's covering this story.

Tom, good morning.

TOM GJELTEN: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: Who is he?

GJELTEN: Nidal Hasan was born here in the Washington, D.C. area in Arlington. His parents were Palestinian immigrants, it seems. He went to local schools, graduating from Virginia Tech, joined the Army. He spent basically his whole adult life in the Army. That's where he received his medical education. He was trained as a psychiatrist by the Army and served for several years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, ironically specializing in the treatment of combat stress. He was then transferred to Fort Hood earlier this year. He was due to be deployed, apparently to Afghanistan. We've heard from various sources that that bothered him, for whatever reason. We know he was a devout Muslim, took his faith very seriously. We can't say, of course, that that was relevant, here.

INSKEEP: OK, so due to be deployed, and you also mentioned that he spent a lot of time at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I want another - bring another voice into the conversation, here. NPR's Daniel Zwerdling has covered posttraumatic stress disorder over the years and has also spent a lot of time with people at Walter Reed.

And Daniel, good morning to you.

DANIEL ZWERDLING: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: I understanding you've spoken with someone who knew him, worked with him at Walter Reed.

ZWERDLING: Earlier today, I spoke to a psychiatrist who worked very closely with Hasan and knows him very well. And he said, you know, from the beginning -and Hasan was there for four years - the medical staff was very worried about this guy. He said the first thing is he's cold, unfriendly. At least that's who he came off. He did not do a good job as a psychiatrist in training, was repeatedly warned, you better shape up, or, you know, you're going to be in trouble. Did badly in his classes, seemed disinterested. But second of all - and this is, perhaps, you know, more relevant. The psychiatrist says that he was very proud and upfront about being Muslim. And psychiatrist hastened to say, and nobody minded that. But he seemed almost belligerent about being Muslim, and he gave a lecture one day that really freaked a lot of doctors out.

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120162816

[Arctic Dave]

1. Maybe now the military will be a little more open to listening

to people when they say let me the hell out of this place.

[Obamanaut]

8. Or a little more selective about who they let in the place. nt

[Arctic Dave]

10. True.

[ShortnFiery]

2. this psychiatrist colleague's of the killer assumptions are half-baked.

I would have expected better of a highly educated colleague. It seems if we read between the lines, nobody wanted to help this man. That does not bode well for either the Mental Health Command nor the soldiers/sailors/marines they have been entrusted to treat. :thumbsdown:

[cali]

3. sigh. you have no idea of these colleagues are half baked or not

you as a usual, jumping to the conclusion that fits your world view.

[snagglepuss]

34. Actually I think the poster is correct. because Hasan not only

got a failing overall assessment, but went on a harangue about his religion. That's total lunacy, its not in any way professional.

IMO this is an example of political correctness gone awry. None of his superiors wanted to confront the obvious fact that this guy had serious mental issues despite the fact that a Muslim psychiatrist took issue with Hasan religious diatribe.

How could anyone think this guy should be treating soldiers? It is outrageous.

[Deep13]

17. This other doctor knew the man. You don't. nt

[ShortnFiery]

35. If he KNEW the man instead of calling him a "shit bag" behind his back, he would

have done something to get him help. Did you bother reading the entire article? Further, it demonstrates that no matter how much intelligence some people are gifted, they still can behave trite and immature within their particular clique. :thumbsdown:

[Deep13]

38. What do you mean "get him some help?"

Was he sick? Being an asshole is not a disease.

[rucky]

4. Yep. And they're going to play up the "terra!" angle

to avoid confronting their awful screening of this nutjob.

[The Magistrate]

5. Interesting Information, Ma'am

[TwilightGardener]

6. Well, the Army shit the bed on this one. This guy was a ticking time bomb, if this is true.

[slackmaster]

7. "General Turgidson, when you instituted the human reliability tests, you assured me there was...

"...no possibility of such a thing ever occurring."



"Well, I don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir."

[FarCenter]

11. Best comment of the day!!

[babylonsister]

9. Also begs the question why he was promoted if he was so unstable. nt

[FarCenter]

12. Up and out solves Walter Reed's problem with this guy

Send the time bomb to Afghanistan.

He just exploded prematurely.

[cali]

13. sadly, I think there's a lot of truth in your cynical comment.

[slackmaster]

14. That's probably about as close to the real truth as anyone is going to get

They'd invested a lot of money and effort putting him through medical school, and training him. They needed his body to fill a position for a while, and were hoping he'd keep his shit together long enough to get out of their hair.

[TheCowsCameHome]

15. Yup. The timing mechanism was a little off.

[aquart]

16. Doctors come in as captains.

Get promoted on completion of specialty.

[Deep13]

19. He was only promoted once.

Medical doctors begin as captains and are promoted quickly. They are hard to get. Psychiatrists are especially hard for the military to get, so there is more of an incentive to promote. I know a man who joined the Marines as a doctor a few years ago and is already a Lt.Colonel.

[Hello_Kitty]

18. And to think they were going to send him to Afghanistan!

:wow:

[geek tragedy]

20. Iraq, which isn't any better. nt

[stray cat]

30. actually Afghanistan

[FarCenter]

22. If he'd shot a few soldiers in Afghanistan, they would have easily covered it up

[seabeyond]

21. bbc, i hear this. an hour later i hear another bbc story where no complaints of his work. nt

[FarCenter]

24. This AP story agrees with the NPR story

Fort Hood suspect said methodical goodbyes

[seabeyond]

26. i saw contraditions in this article too. interesting. thanks for posting. nt

[Deep13]

23. So it was probably a religiously-motivated murder-suicide...

...even though the suicide was unsuccessful.

[gorfle]

25. He's a religious nut.

No different than the countless other nuts of countless other superstitions who use their invisible friend as an excuse for killing people.

[stray cat]

31. I'm not in favor of murderers in general unless its defensive - religious or atheist

[MadMaddie]

27. He should have been gone four years ago but the military

doesn't hesitate to kick out qualified gay soldiers. The FBI started investigating him 6 months ago, he should have been gone then too but no they allowed him to continue to serve.

The more I hear the more disgusted I am about this incident that didn't need to happen.

[cali]

28. So true. So sadly true.

[stray cat]

32. They should have made him pay back the Medical School tuition and board we paid first

or taken away his MD degree and then kicked him out.

[MadMaddie]

37. Apparently he offered to pay back the money and they refused

[stray cat]

29. Hard to arrest someone before they commit a crime

[cali]

33. huh? where was anything like that mentioned?

A picture is emerging of an angry unstable man who had no business treating others.

[ShortnFiery]

36. Then there is no reason to defend the petty co-worker psychiatrist in this article. He was his peer

and he could have requested that they get this guy treatment and AWAY from patients.

[cali]

39. I' m not defending or (unlike YOU) accusing his co-worker

for all you know, his co-worker did request treatment for Hasan. duh.