Posted on 11/06/2009 9:22:15 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Emerging Bias: Newsweek Claims Fort Hood Shooter Exposed Overstretched 'Military on the Brink' By Tim Graham Created 2009-11-06 11:26
In a case of trying to find liberal angles on a tragic shooting, switching the focus of blame and judgment from the mass murderer to the military, Newsweek's Andrew Bast asked on the magazine's blog The Human Condition [1]: "Is Fort Hood A Harbinger? Nidal Malik Hasan May Be A Symptom of a Military On the Brink."
So the shooting is the Pentagon's fault? And they may inspire more shootings to come? Newsweek is going there:
Details remained murky, but at least 13 are dead and 30 wounded in a killing spree that may momentarily remind us of a reality that most Americans can readily forget: soldiers and their families are living, and bending, under a harrowing and unrelenting stress that will not let up anytime soon. And the U.S. military could well be reaching a breaking point as the president decides to send more troops into Afghanistan.
It’s almost humorous to watch Bast write "details remain murky," but I’m going to venture forth and start spinning the MoveOn.org anti-war line:
It's hard to draw too many conclusions right now, but we do know this: Thursday night, authorities shot and then apprehended the lone suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. A psychiatrist who was set to deploy to Iraq at the end of the month, Hasan reportedly opened fire around the "Readiness Center" at Fort Hood, where troops are prepared for deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. And though this scene is a most extreme and tragic outlier, it comes at a time when the stress of combat has affected so many soldiers individually that it makes it increasingly difficult for the military as a whole to deploy for wars abroad.
Bast isn’t being very subtle. Our warmakers are causing our soldiers to kill themselves, and others:
Hasan's perspective is unknown. He had yet to fight abroad. But the accusations against him can't help but bring to mind the violence scarring military bases all over the country after the duration of two long, brutal wars.
It’s also not too early in the story for Andrew Bast to mock conservatives as "morally bankrupt" for their speculation:
And yet, some are already suggesting that Maj. Hasan's lack of combat experience precludes us from assuming the crimes were at all influenced by the stress of war. "They weren't in Iraq," author Dinesh D'Souza said on television Thursday night, analyzing the culprit. "They were living a normal, everyday life." But he is wrong. In the midst of two wars, those living as military and military family experience a different, often more distressing, everyday experience of 'normal.' And forgetting that, either in understanding this singular case, or making a decision about more deployments, is dangerous at best, and morally bankrupt at worst.
To Bast, conservatives are merciless in "pushing a thumb down on an already stressed-out military" and guaranteeing a repeat of the "homegrown terror on display" in Texas:
The U.S. is drawing down troops in Iraq at a quick clip, but General Stanley McChrystal has requested tens of thousands more to fight in Afghanistan. Though President Obama has made no decision about the way forward, some suggest that as many 80,000 more could be sent in as reinforcements. That would put nearly 150,000 American soldiers in country for at least the foreseeable future, pushing a thumb down on an already stressed-out military. Of course, the vast majority of those under that stress, no matter how brutal, will not pick up a gun and shoot indiscriminately, like Hasan did. But the situation is bad, and getting much worse. From there, it isn't much of a leap to argue that the to further tax our military would do as much as anything to guarantee that the homegrown terror on display today could well repeat itself in the future.
This is just another case of an anti-war blogger pretending they're for "the troops" because they want them removed from war zones.
These kinds of publications are a great way to identify the insane in our midst.
You wanna talk about a military on the brink? If this terrorist does not get the death penalty, I guarantee you thousands of US soldiers will quit.
IF he gets off the ventilator.
The knee jerk (and I mean jerk) reaction of these liberals never ceases to amaze me. I briefly channel surfed over Hannity last night, just long enough to see Geraldine Ferraro already blaming this guy’s actions on “harrassment” for being a Muslim. Based on reports, this guy was harrassing his patients, trying to convert them to Islam. Gee, I would think that would be a blatent misuse of an Army paychiatric’s position, but what do I know?
The bad thing is that there are a lot of people who read Time and Newsweek who think that this makes them sophisticated. As for this particular event, if it were a Christian who had done the killings, the media “take” would be very different. The focus would be on dangerous right-wing fundamentalists, not the stresses on an over-taxed military.
They want to use this mass murder and mayhem to promote their propaganda. It’s sickening.
If only Obamah had brought the troops home, this soldier wouldn't have been 'distraught' about being dispatched back to Iraq/Pakistan?
OUCH!!
Anyone want to take bets on how long before the fed up American public starts burning down these companies?
What are these guys nuts or what?
Every step these liberals take to destroy our country just moves us forward to riots...but that is probably what they want.
1. The shooter is a shrink.
2. He would never see the battlefield even if he was deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. He’s medical staff.
3. Six months ago he should have been dealt with (medical discharge or dishonorable discharge) by the Pentagon. He was clearly off his rocker posting hate speech on radical websites.
4. Would like it if the folks at the pentagon would review how a war was conducted in the past. It’s doubtful that a radical or wacko would have been allowed to run amock.
And I don’t think he had ever been deployed.
In the interim I hope they ship him to the Texas State Prison and put him in general population, I’m sure Bubba looks forward to meeting him.
This writer’s approach is a roundabout version of “it’s Bush’s fault” - the overstretched military on two fronts, multiple deployments, etc. The gunman’s personality, beliefs, and motives fade into the background
He’d never been deployed!!!
The shooter just carried out the hatred the left has for the US, the Military, and the war.
Remember how the left blamed Rush and Beck for the death of that abortion doc? Just using their logic.
He’d never been deployed, and, as a psychiatrist, how likely is it he would ever have been in combat?
This is a common response from the MSM and liberals
9-11: Moveon.org wanted people to “cool down” and think about having “discussions with the enemy” to “understand muslim’s anger”.
Israeli airlines (LAX) shooting: Arab man with “mental problems” and “family/job” issues.
DC Sniper: “Protester”....misguided youth side-kick....mental instability.
Synagogue shootings (Seattle, LA): Just disgruntal youths or a man with “mental issues”.
Fort Hood: PTS
They ignore the warning signs, they ignore the perp’s prior actions, and they can’t get past the PC filters.
They won’t change until the gunman visits their live studios, pulls out a gun/bomb, shouts “God is great” and starts killing. Even then, the MSM will make up excuses.
Funny, I don’t see gays ‘cooling down’ and ‘understanding Christian anger’ about gay marriage.
Bush’s fault.
It certainly is!
These events will happen again and more frequently. Not because of a "Military on the Brink" but because there are muslims in the military.
I believe a military trial is in order. Death by hanging is the appropriate resolution.
The guy just spent the last 6 years serving at Walter Reed. Where is that 'overstretched'?
It exposes Islam. Nothing else. Fools in the media will still deny it to the moment the large rusty knife is cutting their heads off.
I’m just saying Obama will step into all this a spare this terrorist’s life.
Me, two of my Cousins, my Step Brother and five of my friends, served two or more tours in Viet Nam and we have lived quite sucessful lives, I wonder what happened to us?
One thing is for sure, the media wasn't not going out of its way to show you any compassion.
True but the experience did help us focus on what is real as opposed to what is democratic. I did an interview at a GOE gathering two years ago and regretted that I wasn’t more vocal in the 60’s.
Lloyd the diversity czar is trying to do that now...this will unfold between now and March.
I think by next March we will know just how fast we will sink into civil war.
All part of the NBC News wing...not shocked at all.
The idiot scumbag had never been deployed and was hardly overstretched in his duties.
Was just a matter of time before the media blamed the military.
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