November 16, 2009

Christopher Hitchens on Nidal Malik Hasan.

"[T]he three most salient characteristics of the Muslim death-squad type [are] self-righteousness, self-pity, and self-hatred. Surrounded as he was by fellow shrinks who were often very distressed by his menacing manner, Maj. Hasan managed to personify all three traits—with the theocratic rhetoric openly thrown in for good measure—and yet be treated even now as if the real word for him was troubled. Prepare to keep on meeting those three symptoms again, along with official attempts to oppose them only with therapy, if that. At least the holy warriors know they are committing suicide."

Read the whole thing.

54 comments:

Elliott A said...

well said!

Sprezzatura said...

Speaking of the Muslim death squad type; did folks catch Fareed on CNN this weekend when he had excerpts from the HBO special re the bombings in India.

It is unbelievable to listen to these terrorists talking to each other on cell phones (including the voice of the handler in Pakistan) as they are going about their destruction. It was the most surreal thing I've come across for quite a while.

And, it's amazing that the Indians had secretly planted these phones in the hands of the terrorist, which is how the terrorists' voices were recorded.

That HBO thing looks to be about ten million times more interesting than the latest from Hitch, which I did read.

traditionalguy said...

Death Panels inside the country and Death squads outside the country and Nuclear Bombs popping up in the Middle East like spring onions, but no one can say bad things about this commited enemy of ours that Obama is supposedly charming by surrendering to them.

miller said...

"Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" apparently doesn't apply to the people who declared their independence and established the Constitution.

Jeremy said...

tradional dolt - What exactly do you base your ridiculous comment on?

And since when does Christopher Hitchens suddenly carry so much weight with the local wing nuts??

You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama.

You're like spoiled little brats who aren't getting their way.

Andrea said...

Jeremy's profile is interesting: it says he's a "All around delightful, engaging, educated, personable, fun, funny, romantic, fit, and liberal human being." I'm sure we can all agree!

Alex said...

You're like spoiled little brats who aren't getting their way.

Says the spoil-est little brat of em all.

wv: driblee - the stuff running down Jeremey's chin

Sprezzatura said...

I think the Althouse blog would be worse off w/o Jeremy. Presumably some of the cons appreciate his push back because some cons don't like echo chambers.

miller said...

I don't mind pushback. I think I have facts and logic on my side, so I am willing to let the other side share their viewpoints.

I do mind just plain dyspepsia. And constant "power" language of vulgarity.

I tread Gene Olson (Jeremy) as just someone who is never interesting or on-topic and scroll over his comments.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

This is not at all a matter of the usual stupid refusal of the FBI and other security services to understand an early warning even when they have detected one.

Take it a step further. Say the election of Obama resulted in the connection of dots that contravene the post 9/11 view, that security should be the number one priority of our government.

Obama (change) did run as if Bush was the opposition candidate.
Is Hassan an early Obama chicken coming home to roost? Or do presidents bare any responsibility anymore?

Ben Morris said...

I don't quite understand the squabbling over Hasan's faith. It seems to me less relevant that he is Muslim than that he has ties and sympathies with and to America's enemies. Whether stemming from religious fanaticism or not, he is a good old-fashioned traitor, and should be treated as such.

miller said...

yeah, "tread" = "treat"

XWL said...

I'm going to assume that the introduction of the "suick" label on this post isn't a mistake, rather it's a shout out to those fine makers of fishing lures.

At first I thought it was a typo, either meant to be "sick" or "suck", but as Suick Lure Company is a fine Wisconsin based business, she wanted to throw them some support.

I'm guessing it's a subtle comment on how the politically correct multi-culti crowd are like fish who are easily fooled by a well made lure into ignoring the truth in front of their face (with deadly consequences).

The lure of 'tolerance' allows traitors like Hasan to operate openly and contemptuously within the system they hope to destroy.

Tolerating behavior from the radical muslim fringe what would be intolerable from anybody else isn't going to win over a single one of these women hating, tiny penised, goat botherers.

Instead, it just makes it easier for them to rack up a higher body count.

former law student said...

Great discussion about Hasan on Taco Donation today. Apparently the psych doctors he worked with kept wondering "Is Hasan psychotic?" But even though psychiatrists were entitiled to free mental health care, no one ever brought up the issue so that Hasan would be formally evaluated.

Sprezzatura said...

I see that XWL wants to start a contest. OK.

So far we have two entries for best three motivating factors for our enemies:

Hitch--self righteousness, self-pity, and self-hatred

XWL--women hating, tiny penised, goat botherers

As things stand I'm leaning toward XWL. Any other entries?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I guess Hasan's peers didn't bow to him enough.

That's what's got AQ all upset - we don't respect them enough.

We haven't sufficiently shared the wealth with the oil rich Arabs.

(Can any of the lefty trolls on this blog give me any coherent world view under which the left's actions make sense?)

Methadras said...

As long as political correctness coupled with multiculturalism rules the day, even in the military, then you will never see an engagement of people like Hasan and his cohorts on the left. How is it that this sub-human filth was known to many and yet no one did a thing about it? It's because PC/MC enabled him and people like him to skirt by because no one wanted to hang themselves out to dry with the banner of racist, bigot, islamophobe, and xenophobe on themselves, that's why.

Hasan killed those people in cold blood and leftist ideology and it's proponents helped him do it without an iota of resistance.

Kirby Olson said...

I like Hitchens when he rips into other religious traditions. I don't like it when he rips into mine, much.

But this sentence warmed my heart all over: "[It's] his superiors' fault for letting him openly rehearse it for so long, not mine for pointing it out."

Nice job there what. Hitchens is almost as good as Orwell when he goes against a group I don't like but which the MSM won't touch due to all the taboos erected by multiculturalism to protect them from their own stupidity.

Peter Hoh said...

self-righteousness, self-pity, and self-hatred.

I bet all three were enhanced by Hasan's visits to strip clubs.

Fred4Pres said...

Christopher, if you provide Althouse with an address, I will send you a bottle of scotch (decent) for Chri...I mean New Year. You deseve it.

Hoosier Daddy said...

You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama.

Oddball: Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?

Moriarty: Crap!


Kelly's Heroes, 1970

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I bet all three were enhanced by Hasan's visits to strip clubs.

I wander if HLS has strip clubs surveillance video in its arsenal?

I remember reading that some of the 9/11 hijackers also frequented strip clubs.

I mean what are the dangers.. that they are confused with football players ;)

traditionalguy said...

Jeremy the Great...The point made by Hitchens and by me is a realisation that Islam that wars against us infidels has a mile wide suicidal streak. The Al Queada guys who declared this war against The Great Satan 16 years ago openly bragged that we could never defeat them because we love life while their warriors love death. The last time we faced this type of a cult of death in an organised Army, the Marines had to accept that they could give them no quarter in battle. Obama wants to give them love speeches and an assurance that he is a Moslem too. But they said back thanks but no thanks Obama, We will Kill you. That previous death cult Army screamed "Malines you be dead in the morning" and sent 3000 troops charging 800 Marine Raiders on a ridge line. Since Obama was not there, the Marines had to rely on Merritt Edson's men in Alexander Vandergrif's Division who turned out to be the ones alive the next morning because they knew their enemy and had prepared a strategy to defeat him. Obama is preparing us to bow the knee to our enemy to bring us "Peace". Lots of luck doing that with a suicidal and death loving foe. In fact relying upon that strategy reveals that someone is a Mother of All Dolts or is a Traitor.

Paddy O said...

Fred4Pres, I would be willing to accept the Scotch on Christopher's behalf.

Fred4Pres said...

You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama.

? I would imagine Hitler might have negative things to say about President Obama. I have no desire to suck up to Hitler or any other racist bastard like that.

And Charlie Manson is a creature of the left. I remember walking around Haight Ashbury and seeking a matching mom kid outfit with little Charlie Manson heads all over it. Sweet.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama.

Compared to giving KSM (the mastermind of the worst attack on US soil) the rights and privileges of a full fledge US citizen, sucking up to Charles Manson (who is already safely put away in jail) is a Fred suggested child's play.

AST said...

OK. I read it. I wasn't impressed. Is it on the midterm?

This is the problem that paid columnists have now. They have to wait to be published, and by that time, bloggers have already said everything that could be said. So the writing had better stand on its own as literature. Hitch is a good writer, but even he can't make this stuff interesting on the 5th iteration.

The Drill SGT said...

traditionalguy said...
the Marines had to rely on Merritt Edson's men in Alexander Vandergrif's Division who turned out to be the ones alive the next morning because they knew their enemy and had prepared a strategy to defeat him


The Battle of Bloody Ridge (aka Edson's Ridge). One nit. Edson command the rump of the 1st Raider Bn combined with the 1st Para Bn. They were under the command of Vandergrif, but NOT part of 1st Marine Div.

John said...

It is nice to see whatever institution Jeremy currently resides is allowing him internet access again.

Compare the media reaction to the guy who shot the gaurd at the Holocaust Museum to this. That guy was a 9-11 truther who combined our own Robert Cook's sound foreign policy ideas with Cederford's love of the Jews. The Weekly STandard was next on his list of places to attack. Yet, the media had no problem concluding he was a right wing extremist egged on by Rush Limbaugh. Hassan in contrast does everything but join the future jihadist of America club and the media tells us "we may never know what drove him to this". Pathetic.

Meade said...

self righteousness, self-pity, and self-hatred

women hating, tiny penised, goat botherers


lethally resentful of infidel boots occupying and defiling "their" holy moslem lands

Ken Pidcock said...

I like Hitchens when he rips into other religious traditions. I don't like it when he rips into mine, much.

The honesty is refreshing, and a reminder that those dirty New Atheists are the most strident allies of those who will not accommodate the Islamists. Sam Harris and Ophelia Benson have caught hell for exposing the truth. Problem is, of course, that they don't limit the myths they expose to theirs.

traditionalguy said...

Drill Sgt...Thanks for the information on the battle. I believe that the Japanese were still overconfident from their victories over the Chinese. They did use a better strategy later at Peleliu where they made the First Marines do the attacking of the high ground and their prepared positions; and the Marines had to reconsider their own over confident tactics after that one. So how would you use American forces in the hundreds of Afghan mountain valleys today?

Ironclad said...

On NPR today there was a great discussion of Major Hasan and his state of mind. While much of it was "off the record" from interviews with the people that worked with him in training at Walter Reed, there is no doubt that he was trouble. Trouble because he was always bringing religion into discussions and trouble because he was a poor doctor. But the gist of the discussion was that it was too much trouble to DO anything about it from a bureaucratic standpoint(firing or disciplining him) and too easy to shuffle the problem (and it was know that he was a problem) to another place.

The two main points from the discussion were 1) why the man was not declared "psychotic" and removed from duty by his fellow doctors (because they were afraid of the ramifications that they would be criticized for not respecting his religious beliefs) and 2) when the border is crossed between personal belief and action that endangers others. One of the better discussions on NPR because the guests were clearly making the host very uncomfortable with their observations and comments - they were not taking excuses and moralizing.

But the most telling point of the program was the statement - "we all discussing Hasan and his motivation - but who even knows the names of the 13 dead and other wounded? Who speaks for them to prevent this from happening again? Because while this type of behavior is still rare in the west, unless it is recognized and confronted, it will happen again.

Sprezzatura said...

"lethally resentful of infidel boots occupying and defiling "their" holy moslem lands"

Except that surrender-monkey W already raised the white flag and ran away in defeat in Saudi Arabia years ago. [Thought experiment; imagine if it was BHO who bugged out of Saudi Arabia a few years after 9-11.]

But seriously, these terrorists have a problem w/ their fellow Muslims who don't follow hard core Muslim stuff. Fair or not, there will never be a better target to blame than the US and the West, regardless of our lack of a physical presence on "their" land. That said, it would be prudent to give up on these ridiculous nation building dreams (we can't even nation build in our inner cities, which are occupied by folks that have educations and civil structures that are light years ahead of the backward parts of Afghanistan) so that we can as quietly as possible kill terrorists at the same time we steadfastly hold only the minimally necessary but strategically situated turf.

Alex said...

1pbj - are you actually advocating teh Murder of innocent wedding parties?

Phil 314 said...

As a physician and a former educator of physicians I can say that two aspects of this horror need more attention
1) this was a failure of the "therapeutic" community. surely all could see he was more than just "sick", that he was a danger. But it seems they couldn't get beyond the notion of "nudging" him toward "help"
2) This was a failure of the physician education system. Yes, we must provide due process in dismissing a dysfunctional resident. But from what I've seen/read this case goes well beyond that.

these two "obstacles" were compounded by the military's famous inability to be tough in it personnel assessment. Having read letters of recommendation from military base commanders regarding their medical officers who were applying to my residency, I can safely say that the "nothing damning; nothing glowing"letter of recommendation means "avoid this guy like the plague".

It is deeply troubling to contemplate that in a time of war the Department of Psychiatry of THE major medical institution of the Army did not have the ability to rid itself of this man. What does that say about the care our returning troops are receiving?

The Crack Emcee said...

"You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama."

I beg to differ (speaking for myself, of course) but this is yet another wonderful example of a deadly breed of cultism, living right under our noses, that not one person - even amongst a group of military psychiatrists! - seemed capable of catching before the deed was done.

To say today's "educated" classes are deaf, dumb, and blind does a serious disservice to the deaf, dumb, and blind.

Sprezzatura said...

Alex,

I'm against taking out INNOCENT wedding parties.

Now, if someone invites Osama (or a lesser terrorist) to their party....

Alex said...

1pbj - and if there are children at that wedding party, you would MURDER them? You heartless evil pig.

traditionalguy said...

Crack the Baptist...The observation has been made that when we leave behind a traditional Christian belief system, that includes a whole lot of supernatural events all nicely explained and under adult control, then we are very open to believe any thing that hints of a supernatural component. Man is "wired to believe" in the supernatural. Your cruel neutrality is a tour de force that I admire because of your obvious love for the truth. IMO such a love for the truth is a gift from the Spirit of Truth, who is God in our Christian scriptures as a part of the Trinity with the Father and his Son who came to us as the Jewish man named Jesus from Nazareth, the son of David.

Sprezzatura said...

Alex,

Your faux saccharine assertions about the children seem a bit weak. You could have done better.

Wince said...

You assholes would suck up to Charles Manson if you thought he had anything negative to say about President Obama.

Well, I do have to admit that Charles Manson does offer some helpful household hints!

"You should try some lemon juice on that."

wv-"nactomi" = welcome to the party, pal

Chip Ahoy said...

However you look at it, and in whatever language, yelling "God is great" right before blowing away as many people as possible reveals a terrible misunderstanding about deity, among many other things. This calls for ridicule.

Ralph L said...

the Department of Psychiatry of THE major medical institution of the Army did not have the ability to rid itself of this man

Socialized (and politicized) medicine at its finest.

former law student said...

the Department of Psychiatry of THE major medical institution of the Army did not have the ability to rid itself of this man

Socialized (and politicized) medicine at its finest.

Fuck that. No doctor there had the balls to confront him. Pussies in the Army -- that's the problem here.

AlphaLiberal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ralph L said...

fls, that was my point. The military has long had too many mediocre doctors. Curiously, only recently has the stigma of going to a military psychatrist been reduced.

miller said...

WassamattaU, AL? Can't stay on topic whilst venting your spleen?

We get it: you don't like Palin.

You could save us all a lot of valuable download time if you just posted "I don't like Palin" -- and would save you valuable drinking time.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

Hitchens has seemed to me to be an arrogant know it all when he has attacked religious institutions that I have respect for; so it's hard to get to into the weeds of his argument here. He may not sound like the blind hog that has found an acorn to you. For me his finding an acorn would be purely accidental. The institution that has been surprising is NPR which seems to have departed from its leave it to the liberal slant.

You think our security agencies and institutions are going to be less tolerant of crazy jihadist talk? I would expect so. One thing I wonder about the armed services. It seems to me they generally put a premium on people not getting treatment. R. Ursano, who figures in this story, of Walter Reed has for instance been on expert on 'short term therapy.' That general view actually takes away from a 'therapeutic community' and uplifts idiosyncracy in the interests of personnel being 'deployable.' Maybe that should change some.

vbspurs said...

From the article:

(A phobia is an irrational or uncontrollable fear.)

Oh, thank God Christopher Hitchens cleared that up parenthetically. I wondered what a phobia was!

Cheers,
Victoria

vbspurs said...

Ben wrote:

I don't quite understand the squabbling over Hasan's faith. It seems to me less relevant that he is Muslim than that he has ties and sympathies with and to America's enemies. Whether stemming from religious fanaticism or not, he is a good old-fashioned traitor, and should be treated as such.

Benedict Arnold did it for the money and land he would be given in Britain, and Julius Rosenberg did it for ideological reasons, but whereas we can't be vigilant of ambition and greed, we can be vigilant of ideologies. And extremist religions.

Cheers,
Victoria

Jason said...

Hasan was not mentally ill. He was not psychotic. He is a violent jihadist.

The Army mental health community should not have dealt with them because they are doctors, but because they are soldiers.

If using a law enforcement model to address terrorism is stupid, using a therapeutic model to address terrorism is beyond asinine.

vbspurs said...

Jason wrote:

Hasan was not mentally ill. He was not psychotic. He is a violent jihadist.

Something I have seen in almost all the foreign newspaper comments sections, just underneath the main article on Hassan (for example, in the Daily Mail) is a variation on this theme:

"Aren't all religious people psychotic?"

So this is their conclusion:

"Hassan is psychotic and how you can tell is -- he's religious."

Cheers,
Victoria