U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Malik Nadal Hasan, the American of Jordanian decent that brandished two handguns and opened fire on a large group of his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, is still alive. He was not killed on the scene as reported yesterday. He was shot four times and is in custody at the hospital. Reports now say that he’s expected to live.

What a shame.

On the scale of things, a field grade officer who is also a psychiatrist, turning a weapon on his own fellow soldiers, has got to be one of the most horrendous things you can imagine. At least it’s one of the most horrendous things I can imagine. Whatever happened to doctors doing no harm?

About six months ago, Hasan posted a comment concerning martyrdom and suicide bombing that seems to be defending the practice. Hasan wrote:

There was a grenade thrown amongs [sic] a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally [sic] took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. Scholars have paralled [sic] this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees [sic] in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that “IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE” and Allah (SWT) knows best.

It’s ironic that a Muslim U.S. Army major can post a comment on the Internet that essentially defends suicide bombings by equating the terrorists who do them as being heroes, but if he had posted that he was gay, he would have been quickly discharged. Federal law enforcement officials learned about Hasan’s Internet postings six months ago. If six months ago he posted that he was gay, he would not have been Fort Hood yesterday.

He would have already been a civilian.