Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hasan urged army to grant conscientious objector status to Muslim soldiers

The Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 13 people at Fort Hood reportedly warned senior Army physicians in 2007 that the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars to avoid "adverse events."

According to The Washington Post, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic during his senior year as a psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Instead, Hasan lectured his supervisors and two dozen mental health staff members on Islam, homicide bombings and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting against other Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a third generation soldier, a former dependent of a soldier and former resident of Ft. Hood (as both active service and growing up as a kid). It pained me deeply to see the massacre at Hood, in a building that I actually knew well, near a theather that I went to see many a movie as a teen. What was even more disturbing is that it could've been avoided! Why not allow a Conscientious Objector out of the military? This man had made his feelings, beliefs known to his chain of command, his co-workers and even to his patients.This should be a wake-up call to the Armed services to heed the objections or at least take a closer look at these soldiers and their concerns!