Guiliani also calls Hasan's rampage a terrorist act.
Republicans and the odd man out Joe Lieberman have already labeled Nidal Malik Hasan a terrorist because it fits their political agenda. It fits their belief that Islam, by its nature, is bad. It's their good guy, bad guy simplistic way of thinking. How does labeling Hasan a terrorist fix anything? Label him a terrorist and that's that. Ignore everything else. Many republicans would like to see Muslims kicked out of the military. They make no distinction between Islam and radicals who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam. Look at all the killing that has been done in the name of Jesus Christ.
How dare they make politics out of a mass rampage. I contend that all terrorists are psychopaths but not all psychopaths are terrorists. Terrorism is an act for political gain. I don't see that Hasan was trying to gain anything. He seemed meek and very troubled. Why did he turn radical? All signs point to a psychopath, not a terrorist. The simplest lesson learned here is that when someone says radical things, believe them. If it turns out that he was ordered to kill or was part of a cell, then we could call him a terrorist. Shrinks and others say the republicans, as usual, are trying to gain politically:
It’s being “politicized,” said Harvard Middle East expert Stephen Walt in an Arena post. “There is no issue that is immune to exploitation by politicians and media commentators. The problem is that there are an infinite number of ‘lessons’ one can draw from a tragic event like this — the strain on our troops from a foolish war, the impact of hateful ideas from the fringe of a great religion (and most religions have them), the individual demons that drove one individual to a violent and senseless act, etc. — and so no limits to the ways it can be used by irresponsible politicians and pundits.”
“Speaking with my other hat on, as a psychopathologist,” said Emory University’s Drew Westen, “I've been concerned that the coverage of this case, and the whole question of whether it was a terrorist act, has been really uninformed by the psychiatric issues involved, and we're not privy to records that could help us understand that. We don't know, for example, if the gunman was in a psychotic episode or had a serious personality disorder, in which case, this whole discussion of whether it was a terrorist act could really be misplaced. The media would do well to focus on some missing college student or the ‘Octomom’ for now if they have nothing more enlightening to do than speculate on matters about which they lack the necessary data to inform until more data are available.” Politico
