Say Anything Blog

They were aware there was a problem.  They were just afraid of dealing with it.

Army psychiatrists at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who supervised Maj. Nidal M. Hasan’s work as a psychiatric fellow tried to turn his growing preoccupation with religion and war into something productive by ordering him to attend a university lecture series on Islam, the Middle East and terrorism, according to a Walter Reed staff member familiar with Hasan’s medical training. …

The idea that Hasan attend the lectures, which he did late last year or early this year, came up during discussions among the psychiatric staffs of the hospital and the Army’s medical university about what was perceived as Hasan’s lack of productivity and his constant interest in Muslims whose religious beliefs conflicted with their military duties.

“You’re at an institution of higher learning. He seems to want to do work in an area no one knows anything about,” the staff member, who also requested anonymity because he had not been authorized to speak publicly, said of the order. “You don’t want to close him down just because it’s different.”

Different?  Different?  Diversity is all well and good.  And in an academic environment, diversity in thought is important.  That being said, when the “different” you’re talking about is an increasing fascination with Islamic fundamentalism to the point of admiring and communicating with terrorist advocates isn’t just different.  It’s concerning, and should have been addressed.

But, despite some of his colleagues apparently thinking Hasan may have been “delusional” nothing was done.

During those discussions, psychiatrists commented in passing about whether Hasan could be delusional or hurt fellow soldiers, but did not think he was dangerous and never took steps to have him evaluated either for mental fitness or as a security threat. On the contrary, his demeanor was regarded as gentle and polite, and he often responded to inquiries about his well-being by saying, “I’m doing well, thank God.”

“He had his struggles, and he embraced his religion with such intensity that one wondered whether he” could have suffered from a form of “delusion,” the staffer said. He cited as an example — without speaking of Hasan in particular — the belief that the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are against Muslims rather than against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein’s government and then insurgents in Iraq.

I’ve floated speculation about Hasan’s problems being ignored out of a sense of political correctness before, but it’s becoming more and more clear that’s exactly what happened.