... that Hasan was being asked to deploy into a theater where the purpose of the US military is killing Muslims largely because they are Muslims. Go on - name a reason other than that that we're in Iraq.

He was being asked to kill his own people, and had made no secret of his feelings about the US's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's no shock that he was unwilling to participate in what he considered genocide against his own people.

He'd tried to get a discharge. Didn't anyone in his chain of command notice that they were backing him into a corner, virtually ensuring that, at very least, they were forcing him to commit suicide?

Personally, I wish he had committed suicide, rather than going batshit crazy like he did, but surely there's a way out for Conscientious Objectors in this situation, for someone who wishes to serve the US military while vehemently opposing its mission in some areas (and with good reason)?

Can the US really force its personnel to engage in a Holy War against members of their own faith? Can they force someone to participate in indoctrination that paints all members of his faith as people who should be slaughtered indiscriminately?

..but I have heard this all day. There are NO army bases. They are POSTS.

Good point, Baron Scaria. I don't think that we live in a world where there are many choices. People are being backed against a wall. There seems to be no room for figuring out another way of doing things. The man seemed to have no choices, and we all live in the same frightening world; we just don't all know it.

I mean, Baron Sarpia.

If the claims of his relatives are substantiated, specifically that he requested a discharge and it was denied, than the people who denied it are going to be facing tough questions.

Those already in the service are in a different position than able-bodied recruits who file for "conscientious objector" status during a draft. The latter were looked upon at wusses during Vietnam, the former are likely to be told to "man up."

Crazy as in legally insane or crazy as in he did something he believed in which you don't understand? At any rate he's never going to regain conciousness and no one is ever going to hear it from his mouth.

I come from a poor rural area, so it has always affected my life and those around me. The same folks who have no health car,also have no option but to send their kids off to the military. This sheltered living and viewing has got to end. The consequences of who we vote into office rests with us as a nation.

I'm sure one of he reasons the film was finding a tough time finding distribution is that too many people who claim to have a liberal agenda, actually prefer to let poor kids die for cheap gas. It doesn't even matter if they can afford to fill their tanks and it costs more than the food budget for a month for struggling families, they want cheap rates for themselves on everything. This unending spiral of greed has to stop as well.

"Crazy as in legally insane or crazy as in he did something he believed in which you don't understand?"

Um... crazy as in he murdered a whole lot of people who weren't responsible for his predicament, and as a psychiatrist he was well aware that his superiors bear all of the responsibility for any anti-Muslim prejudice that was indoctrinated into those soldiers.

And oh, just by the by, if you're a Muslim soldier, and you're pissed about how Muslim soldiers are treated in the US military, what effect is shooting up a whole lot of people while shouting "Allah is great!" going to have on all the other poor bastard Muslim soldiers in the military?

So his behavior was multi-infarc crazy, first by virtue of the simple act of mass murder, and second because it would have the exact opposite result of anything he could possibly consider beneficial.

Anyone know what would have happened to a US military officer if he went on TV and announced he was refusing to go to war because he refused to kill Muslim civilians? Does he get cashiered or courtmartialled? If he's courtmartialled, could that mean life in a military prison?

Because that would be the proper course of action for a sane person in his predicament, assuming he could find a media outlet that would air him or print his story. Knowing that he would be punished for it, that would be an act of courage and morality, and would be defensible even to people who are predisposed to distrust him because of his religion.

As it is, his actions simply reinforce the belief of many Americans that seemingly normal-looking and normal-behaving Muslims in their everyday lives are just one stressful day away (or one phone call from an Islamic cleric away) from becoming homicidal maniacs. He probably hurt his own cause a whole lot more than he would have if he'd gone to war and simply killed the innocent people he was told to kill.

... what in hell is this story doing in the "Entertainment" section?

For the record, I don't feel especially entertained.

"that Hasan was being asked to deploy into a theater where the purpose of the US military is killing Muslims largely because they are Muslims. Go on - name a reason other than that that we're in Iraq."

Hell, Protect Oil reserves, Geopolitics, Neocon New World Order philosophy, that's just off the top of my head.

Nobody want s to 'kill muslims because they are muslims'...hell they are muslims in Kosovo and Bosnia too...guess which side we bombed in the 90s? Hint Hint...they were christian. I'm not even going to get into how stupid that is to say, but here is what was worth replying to:

"He was being asked to kill his own people"

Forget for a second that he wasnt being asked to kill anyone, his people? Gee, wouldnt that be the same crap that the ditto heads over at fox spout about? Huh, guess you cant trust muslims after all, because there people arent Americans, their alligance is to other muslims only.....There ya go.

Regardless of how he felt about foreign..was he an AMERICAN citizen? Did he join the freakin army and swear true faith and allegiance to the same? Guess what, HIS people were Americans...In fact HIS BROTHERS would have been other soldiers, which is why he would be a traitor.

'His people', you shmuck. If you're an American, Jewish/Christian/Muslim/Hindu/whatever...Americans are YOUR PEOPLE. Else, then that would be a problem, now wouldnt it?