Everyone who isn’t a self-centred twit knows by now who Major Nidal Hasan is. If you don’t know (which means you’re a self-centred twit) he’s a Major in the United States Army who went on a killing spree in Fort Hood, Texas and killed thirteen soldiers. Whilst I suspect that he’s definitely going to be charged under military law and given the death sentence, I simply do not believe this attack was connected in any way to Islamic extremism.

I think that he was a man pushed over the edge by being forced into something he objected to. The death penalty is the only just punishment for that murdering bastard, but it’s clear a lot of people won’t even understand or care why he did what he did.

According to this story on CNN, Major Nidal Hasan wanted the military to allow Muslims to refrain from participation in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq on the grounds of conscientious objection. This is by far the best suggestion I’ve ever heard and I simply cannot believe that someone with the rank of Major wasn’t listened to.

All of this could have been prevented if Major Hasan had been in the Army Reserve… because as I understand it Major Hasan then could have simply refused to go and nothing would have happened. As is demonstrated by the book ‘Fifteen Days’ by Christie Blatchford, at least in the Canadian Forces, it’s usually Reservists who are eager and willing to be deployed and so the Reservists who wanted to do a tour wouldn’t be deprived of the opportunity.