A minor quibble. Hassan was not a paragon of medical practice. He was considered substandard, and probably should have been released from service... had we not been engaged in a pair of wars with 2/3 of our warfighting apparatus deployed, and medical officers not wanting to stay on active duty. As an officer, he may well have been harassed for his ethnicity and religion, but there ARE Muslims on post at Ft. Hood, and a couple of local Imams, and none of them were aware he was on the edge. His was a calculated action, against men and women he had worked with and with whom he was scheduled to deploy. He knew these people. He came in with a pair of weapons and ammunition designed to do maximum carnage. I'm not prepared to let him off as harassed and mistreated. If he'd felt that was the case, he could have used the recourse available in the Army which likely would have resulted in his release, and probably in discipline of any offending officers.
When a Chinese or Russian plane is cited, the manufacturers thereof are known to a very few people; most people know "China" or "Russia"... or Boeing or Airbus.
Not to mention reducing options for healthcare for a lot of women in those same (and other) communities.
A minor quibble. Hassan was not a paragon of medical practice. He was considered substandard, and probably should have been released from service... had we not been engaged in a pair of wars with 2/3 of our warfighting apparatus deployed, and medical officers not wanting to stay on active duty. As an officer, he may well have been harassed for his ethnicity and religion, but there ARE Muslims on post at Ft. Hood, and a couple of local Imams, and none of them were aware he was on the edge. His was a calculated action, against men and women he had worked with and with whom he was scheduled to deploy. He knew these people. He came in with a pair of weapons and ammunition designed to do maximum carnage. I'm not prepared to let him off as harassed and mistreated. If he'd felt that was the case, he could have used the recourse available in the Army which likely would have resulted in his release, and probably in discipline of any offending officers.
When a Chinese or Russian plane is cited, the manufacturers thereof are known to a very few people; most people know "China" or "Russia"... or Boeing or Airbus.