Fort Hood Shooting, Research Paper Example

Abstract

He was supposed to protect and to serve his country. He was trained to ensure the mental stability of the men and women fighting for their country. His job was to teach the soldiers how to deal with the stress of the war and combat. He listened to the horrors of war over and over, while facing them first hand. Major Nidal Malik Hasan was personally unable to separate his own harassments and mental irregularities to think rationally. His own identity or his experiences on the battlefield made the possibility to return to Iraq more than he could handle. Around lunch time on November 5, 2009, Hasan opened fired in a medical building on the army base, killing twelve and wounding thirty-one. This is one of the largest mass casualty tragedies that have ever occurred on an army base. There are many theories as to what led Major Hasan to take such drastic measures, but there is no way to truly know what cause him to act in such a way. As a result of his actions, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is charged with thirteen counts of premeditated murder and thirty-two counts of attempted premeditated murder. If convicted, Hasan could face the death penalty.

Fort Hood Shooting

A very difficult part of criminal justice is facing situations where there are casualties involved. Understanding what makes a person tick in such a fashion where human life becomes invaluable. Even worse are incidents where there are mass casualties. This is especially true when it takes place on the very grounds established to defend and protect. On November 5, 2009, shots were fired at one of the largest military complexes in the world. The chaos, bloodshed and lack of understanding aided in this horrific mass casualty’s incident. The very individual who was armed with the education and experience to deal with the stress of wars acted without regard and took innocent lives. The shootings and events that transpired that day at Fort Hood left the world in shock.

The scene played out in the Fort Worth Texas Medical building, while soldier were waiting in a soldier readiness facility. This facility was used to validate the ability and readiness of a soldier to return to the field. The gunman walked into the building and began spraying bullets. The shooter was identified as Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan used a pair of pistols, one was a semiautomatic. The shots he fired into the crowed killed both soldiers and civilians. “When the assault ended minutes later, the attack had become what is believed to be the largest mass shooting ever to occur on a U.S. military base. Twelve were killed, 31 wounded.”(Slevin 2009) Even harder to comprehend was it was a United States soldier that did this. Not a terrorist or retaliation from another country.

Army psychiatrist, Major Hasan was thirty-nine. He practiced at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for six years. This was one of the main hospitals for United States soldiers recovering from both mental and physical issues. Major Hasan was promoted in May of 2009 to Walter Reed Fort Hood. During this time span he participated in a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry. His job was to listen to the stories of war and what the soldier endured at the field. The mental stability and rationale of people who faced war, especially while serving overseas. Hasan was to aid in the thinking process of those returning home to help with addressing the stress levels, inevitably to prevent a mental breakdown resulting in mass casualties. He was evaluated as performing subpar, but his mental stability was never in question. He had no formal complaints or disciplinary actions.

When researching situations with mass casualties it is important to look at the factors that lead Hasan to such an extreme measure. He was raised in a Palestinians house and against his family’s wishes he joined the military. A devout Muslim and his Middle Eastern decent left him subject to an extensive amount of harassment. He would frequent the Mosque daily for prayer. He was open with his religion and his ethnicity was visible to most. He withstood harassment and stereotypical comments and actions as a result. Soldiers joking he was a terrorist because of his Middle Eastern heritages. There were also soldiers who questioned his intent and loyalty, building on this ticking time bomb inside of Hasan. Hasan had federal attention when he was suspected to responsible for internet postings of suicide bombings and alternative threats. This investigation never tied Hasan directly to these postings. The website was Scribd. He wrote, “If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory.” (MacAskill 2009) They also never validated that the content had any validity behind them. Perhaps this was the Major Hasan’s first cry for help in these blogs. If the Federal government would have pursued this further, maybe these mass casualties could have been avoided.

The point where it was believed that Major Hasan “cracked” was when he received news he did not want. Hasan had been notified he was scheduled to be deployed. “Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was ‘pretty upset’ about his deployment, which she said was to be to Iraq.” (Gunman Kills 2009) Knowing that he was scheduled to leave at the end of the year is believed to have played a part in his actions. He was trapped and had no option to avoid Iraq once the orders had been given. Hasan went as far as hiring a lawyer to see if he could honorably avoid deployment. His attempts failed. Hasan was of good health, no family or children and no real grounds to avoid deployment.

The shooting was said to happen after lunch. On the very base that had deployed more than 500 soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the shooting spree ended, the soldiers who were trained in battlefield began ripping their clothes to make bandages and tourniquets. They sealed off the building to provide necessary attention. “It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas,” Obama said. “It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.” (Wong 2009)

Eleven of the victims died on the scene, the twelfth died at the hospital. These were all military personnel except for two who were civilians. Nidal was shot and was believed to be dead. But later reports said that he was wounded but survived. Two other suspects were arrested, but released. After the shooting, others came forwards to discuss questionable behavior or warning signs that Hasan exhibited. Colonel Terry Lee, who had previously worked with Hasan in a mental ward, said Hasan was unhappy. He disagreed with the US foreign policy and disagreed with the United States being in Afghanistan and Iraq. There was a fatal shooting at a Little Rock Arkansas recruiting base that Hasan had a very hard time with. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad is the suspect facing murder trial. There are no known ties between these two individuals.

Currently Major Nidal Malik Hasan is charges with thirteen counts of premeditated murder and thirty-two counts of attempted premeditated murder. If he is found guilty of the charges at hand, he will face the death penalty. He will have a military trial with a military Judge. Because the death penalty is on the table now, Hasan must plead not-guilty. For the family and friends of the lives lost, they want justice. They have mixed emotions on the desired outcome, whether that means the death penalty or life imprisonment. Hasan’s lawyer has not disclosed if he will be using the insanity defense or goes an alternative route in this case. A three member-panel will determine if Hasan is competent to stand trial and his mental status during the shooting. Nidal is paralyzed from the waist down, as a result of the shooting at Fort Hood. He is imprisoned in Fort Hood pending his trial.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was the very one who was trained to help soldiers with stress, yet still acted without regards. Veterans for Common Sense have warned the military the psychiatric facilities has been way understaffed for a long time. The soldiers need these resources when they come back and rushing them through the system is only laying the ground work for a repeat of Fort Hood. It is possible that this horrific tragedy could have been avoided if they had acted on the warning signs. The military and the government have taken this incident of mass casualties to make necessary changes to prevent future warning signs from being swept under the rug. The US military needs to continue addressing the stress related situations for their soldiers that return home. With proper training and staff, there will be enough psychiatric help available for all soldiers in need. The shooting at Fort Hood was tragic, and hopefully history will never repeat itself.

References

Gunman kills 12, wounds 31 at Fort Hood. (2009) Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33678801/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/gunman-kills- wounds-fort-hood/

Slevin, Peter (2009) Shooting at Fort Hood Rampage kills 12, wounds 31. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/05/AR2009110503467.html

Wong, Kristina (2009) President Obama Speaks About Fort Hood Tragedy. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/11/president-obama-speaks-about-fort-hood-tragedy/

MacAskill, Ewen. (2009) Major Nidal Malik Hasan: Soldiers’ Psychiatrist who Heard Frontline Stories. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/06/nidal-malik-hasan-fort-hood-shooting1