The Hasan Scandal Gets Deeper

The scandal behind the Fort Hood shooting keeps getting deeper. It should have been clear to the army that Nidal Malik Hasan was a security risk long before he launched his personal jihad. Christopher Hitchens summarizes some of the details in his characteristically devastating piece at Slate.

On his business card, [Hasan] described himself as "SOA" or "slave," or possibly, "soldier of Allah." Neither would be especially reassuring in this context.

He had attracted considerable attention by repeatedly using his postgraduate classes at the Uniformed Service University in Bethesda, Md., for the purpose of Islamic proselytizing, for a version of Islam that, to say the least, did not overemphasize it as a "religion of peace."

He had, in spoken and written communications, demonstrated a fascination with the love of death and the concept of suicide martyrdom (better described as suicide murder) that is the central concept of Bin Ladenism.

If none of this came to the attention of his superiors, then they weren't looking or they were ignoring what they saw.

But NPR has a report that adds a new dimension to this story. Hasan was not only a jihadist waiting for his moment to board the paradise express, he was also a dreadfully bad psychiatrist.

On May 17, 2007, Hasan's supervisor at Walter Reed sent the memo to the Walter Reed credentials committee. It reads, "Memorandum for: Credentials Committee. Subject: CPT Nidal Hasan." More than a page long, the document warns that: "The Faculty has serious concerns about CPT Hasan's professionalism and work ethic. ... He demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and a lack of professionalism." It is signed by the chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed, Maj. Scott Moran.

When shown the memo, two leading psychiatrists said it was so damning, it might have sunk Hasan's career if he had applied for a job outside the Army.

"Even if we were desperate for a psychiatrist, we would not even get him to the point where we would invite him for an interview," says Dr. Steven Sharfstein, who runs Sheppard Pratt's psychiatric medical center, based just outside Baltimore.

If anything, that understates the matter.

The memo ticks off numerous problems over the course of Hasan's training, including proselytizing to his patients. It says he mistreated a homicidal patient and allowed her to escape from the emergency room, and that he blew off an important exam.

According to the memo, Hasan hardly did any work: He saw only 30 patients in 38 weeks. Sources at Walter Reed say most psychiatrists see at least 10 times that many patients. When Hasan was supposed to be on call for emergencies, he didn't even answer the phone.

Whether the Army missed the "Slave of Allah" stuff, it did not miss the fact that Hasan was an absolute disaster as a psychiatrist. And yet they kept him, promoted him, and sent him to Fort Hood to work with men and women who deserved a lot more than a competent psychiatrist.

Whether this was a result of the military culture of sensitivity or of mere incompetence on the part of Hasan's superiors, it is something Congress should put on his schedule of hearings as soon as possible.

Comments

[Erik]

KB: I'm with you on this one. I had an (ex) Brother-in-Law with some serious mental problems and it took the Marines, three years after he did several tours of duty in Iraq, to properly diagnose him. But after they did, he did get some very good care. One of the underdeveloped threads of the Hasan story is the carelessness of his superiors and the incompetence. I'm glad that it is getting the attention that it deserves.

[NavyHelo]

Thank you for the reference to a great article on Slate.

Radical Islam however, does not seem to be in danger of going away in the next few years.

What to do about the failure of Army leadership at Walter Reed; not the first time we heard of this, is it? As long as the American public demands simple solutions to complex problems, murderous fanatics like Hasan will slip through the cracks of Army leadership. The Army is disastrously short of senior enlisted and Majors/Captains. Depending on who you believe, 20-35% of those coming back from the wars suffer PTSD. And 10-20% of those serving there are on psychotropic drugs to manage their anxiety from combat. As tragic and clearly avoidable as the acts of this terrorist/murderer were, this is part of a larger problem.

How about searching for fewer knee-jerk answers and starting to properly focus our goals and resources in the War on Terror so we actually have the probability of increasing American security without such a high cost in destroyed lives among our troops. This will require the active engagement of the American Electorate to enforce proper resourcing of our soldiers and accountability for leadership in the Pentagon and their civilian bosses.

Remember the march to war in Iraq? Then-General Shinseki said it would take three times the number of troops to properly occupy conquered Iraq. Now he is in charge of the VA and trying to clean up the mess that was allowed to develop, not over months, but years while a distracted electorate had their sights set somewhere else.

[dom youngross]

The scandal behind the Fort Hood shootings is even deeper than you think.

If you recognize Nidal Malik Hasan as an Islamic terrorist, that's good for and on you.

If you also recognize President Obama traitorously doesn't want to call the Ft. Hood massacre an Islamic terrorist act, again, good for and on you.

And if you recognize a civilian trial of Khalid Sheihk Mohammed is duplicitous bash-Bush political hay-making grand-standing by President Obama, that's three in a row for you.

Now here's the BUT part:

But if at the same time you still support President Obama's bogus, self-serving, no-win Afghanistan war of Presidential Candidate Obama and Hamid Karzai's 2008 necessity, what difference does it make being right about the above three things?

It doesn't make a difference -- and it won't make a difference.

If you are in for an Iraq-drawdown/Afghanistan-buildup buck you get the bundle. That bundle includes Nidal Malik Hasan, Gen. Diversity Casey, President Obama, and SOS Clinton.

Worst of all that bundle includes our service personnel, who will bear the brunt of it all.

When you are doing something you shouldn't, in a place you shouldn't be, you just can't get good enough at doing it -- which includes 'resourcing' it.

Google Matthew Hoh to catch up with reality.