Speculation on Hood attack

Ft. Hood:

By now you'll have heard of the horrible attack at Fort Hood. The reports are suggestive, though early reports are often wrong. Nevertheless, it seems clear now that the shooter killed was a Major named Malik Nadal Hassan, who was a psychiatrist from Maryland.

Speculation in the press seems to be that he was angry about being deployed, which perhaps he was. Still, these early reports suggest a more specific motive than 'anger.'

If the facts in the press right now prove to be accurate, the attack was executed on a unit in the last phase of pre-deployment. As a result, it would be likely to attack the morale and, therefore, the operational effectiveness of the unit once deployed. That motive, to produce a psychological effect on the unit, would be consistent with a psych-doctor being involved in the planning and execution of the attack.

If it was an attack on a unit deploying to war, intended to blunt the effectiveness of the unit, that would make this attack a form of 'levying war against the United States.' Treason by an officer of the United States military is almost unknown.

We'll have to see if these reports pan out; and if so, what might have moved an officer of the United States Army to treason and murder. If I do not mention it, someone will point out his recent conversion to Islam; but whether that was the key issue or not remains to be seen. Likewise, I have heard that there were other soldiers arrested and multiple shooters -- that is not confirmed to my satisfaction at this time, but would make the situation much more dire if true.

UPDATE: Looks like we might get a proper hanging after all. The allegations of others so far aren't proving out. Also, it turns out he may have been a lifelong Muslim, not a recent convert; but there are new reports of radicalism from officers who had served with him.

Still, I've known a few radical-sounding Muslims I didn't mind to have dinner with; just having a strong opinion doesn't make you an enemy. Of course, mostly they were Iraqis, and I reckon they have a right to some mixed feelings in spite of the good we always meant to do. We did our best, and I think we did both well and good overall, but a certain number of them have a right to some hard feelings in spite of the best we could do.