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PTSD Creates Fort Hoods Everywhere
by
David A. Love | 11.14.2009
In the aftermath of Fort Hood, more time spent on gratuitous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim scapegoating is more time that PTSD is not addressed among veterans and active-duty personnel. Additional Fort Hoods are in waiting. However, the larger issue is that society must deal with the mental health effects of trauma and violence - not only on the battlefield, but at home on the streets of America. Violence begets violence, and war is terror, whether it occurs in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Philly, East L.A. or Chicago.  Nidal M. Hasan It is an understatement to say the recent massacre at Fort Hood, Texas is a horrible tragedy. Pundits have said much about the alleged shooter, Army psychiatrist Nidal M. Hasan. And they will likely say a great deal more about his motives, his state of mind, terrorism, and al-Qaeda.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before the usual suspects would be rounded up, and the discussion would degenerate into a talk about Islamic extremism and purging Muslims from the military. Hate crimes and scapegoating of the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities are the unfortunate consequences in such an environment. All of America’s young white male ex-marines did not bear responsibility for Timothy McVeigh and his bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, so why should the Muslim community shoulder a burden that does not bear their name?
We should be concerned that at this tragic moment, society will miss a unique opportunity to address the effects of war, and the problems of violence and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The National Institute of Mental Health defines PTSD as “an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat.” PTSD can cause many symptoms, such as flashbacks, bad dreams, difficulty sleeping, depression, emotional numbness, and feeling “on edge”. Secondary trauma involves the emotional and psychological effects of working with traumatized people. Therapists, social workers and others who associate with victims of violence can develop symptoms of PTSD. As for an Army psychiatrist such as Hasan, listening to the horrific war stories of his clients on a daily basis must have taken its toll. As Sandra Bloom and Michael Reichert point out in their book Bearing Witness: Violence and Collective Responsibility, we live in a violent culture that promotes trauma and organizes around trauma. Sadly, we pass that trauma to the next generation, and create a vicious cycle of violence. And society is like the psychiatric patient who must hit rock bottom and show life threatening symptoms before crying out for help. “Our entire culture is doing the same thing - manifesting such extremes of pathology that we can no longer deny that something is pervasively wrong,” the authors suggest. “We manifest this cry for help in our rate of firearm deaths, crimes of violence, and in the epidemic of child-on-child assaults.” In a nation where Columbine-style school shootings are virtually commonplace, and aggrieved employees “go postal” and mow down their coworkers as a matter of course, Hasan is by no means alone. And as a repository for violence, the military is not dealing with untreated mental illness among its ranks. That Hasan was a mental health professional underscores the military’s failure to deal with a widespread problem. PTSD afflicts 300,000 veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps as many as 15% of returning soldiers. Yet, many do not receive the medical treatment they need. Last year there were 128 confirmed suicides by army personnel and 41 by marines, the highest on record. The suicide rate among soldiers in Iraq is five times higher than in the Persian Gulf War, and 11% higher than during Vietnam. In fact, the military suicide rate is higher than the overall U.S. rate, the first time since Vietnam. Further, stress-related homicides by soldiers - at home and abroad, active duty and after they return home - amount to a crisis situation that does not receive the attention it warrants. Crime has been on the rise on military bases since 2003, according to a recent U.S. Army study. The study also found that soldiers who experienced more combat, and whose units sustained more casualties, had a higher risk of developing mental illness, criminality, and conduct problems. Prisons are repositories for the mentally ill that eschew rehabilitation and treatment. Consequently, these institutions create sicker people and better criminals in the process. Above and beyond the inherent madness, violence and criminality that institutions of war already represent, the U.S. military seems to assume a similar role. And the ticking time bomb originates not from the jacket of an al-Qaeda suicide bomber, but from within the ranks of the U.S. armed forces. In the aftermath of Fort Hood, more time spent on gratuitous anti-Arab and anti-Muslim scapegoating is more time that PTSD is not addressed among veterans and active-duty personnel. Additional Fort Hoods are in waiting. However, the larger issue is that society must deal with the mental health effects of trauma and violence - not only on the battlefield, but at home on the streets of America. Violence begets violence, and war is terror, whether it occurs in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Philly, East L.A. or Chicago. (From BlackCommentator.com and Huffington Post.) |
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Comments
Are the two choices Islamophobia or wishful thinking?
Submitted by RichardKanePA on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 6:28pmI commend what David Love and those like him are trying to accomplish. I too appreciate the fact that the US is a bit of a melting pot where Muslims fit in far more than they do in Europe. The entire Muslim World ganged up against the Soviet Union when it was fighting in Afghanistan. Most of the Muslim world doesn’t agree with Hasan that it is the US against the Muslims. Maybe removing Muslims from the armed forces wouldn’t be enough to change the overall perception of the Muslim World toward the US, but the armed services are desperate for Arabic translators, manyof whom are Muslin.
However though I am willing to believe David Love’s claim that therapist can get PTSD by reliving their patent’s nightmares, this ignores how amazingly calm and relaxed Hasan appeared to be. And if he did have PTSD it could have started before he bought a $1000 repeat firing pistol back in July. Seeming to be making excuses for Hasan gives Islam haters more ammunition to persuade with.
There is something different about Hasan that maybe doesn’t involve Islam or al Qaeda. Many years ago a returning GI didn’t like his Muslim bumper sticker and repeatedly scratched Hasan’s car up with a sharp object. Hasan didn’t get angry at all. Hasan showed no anger as he aimed at soldiers scheduled for Iraq or Afghanistan, maybe in his own sick mind he thought he was sparing them of the misery of PTSD. I guess using the term PTSD for such a warped outlook made sense even if not totally accurate. But he could have had contact with al Qaeda. It is better for those who don’t want hate to admit this than just the fear-mongers against Islam.
Since 9/11 America hasn’t been attacked. Many believe because our security apparatus stopped them. Hasan sailed though a lot of security check points. Maybe al Qaeda had no intention of riling America up with a massive second attack, which would make the US more willing to throw troops around the world.
All over the world al Qaeda wants Balkanization. Bin Laden jumped into the Danish cartoon controversy. You might think he would have instead appreciated that Denmark didn’t send troops to Afghanistan like many European countries did. Bin Laden might even favor Muslims being kicked out of the West and thus less subjected to evil Western influence. Al Qaeda systematically attacks any local Muslim willing to be a translator for the Americans. If Hasan’s rampage led to US Muslims no longer translating Arabic while in the US army, al Qaeda would be very pleased. So Hasan’s rampage could be a very successful al Qaeda hit especially if Islam haters change the US the way they want to.
Conservatives constantly gain points by claiming liberals ignore danger. This, despite the fact that some in the Bush administration were talking of a need for a wake up call, and warning about al Qaeda was not the way to get promoted in the government, and since Cheney left office even some defense officials accused Cheney of trying to bait an al Qaeda attack. I think it is bad news to downplay the possibility that Hassan was planning to induce significant change. Blaming the rampage on therapists getting PTSD just makes the harsh world both Cheney and bin Laden want, more possible.
Before 9/11, the Taliban was scorned all over the Muslim world for not allowing any music or women to see doctors, as the Northern Alliance was slowly heading for a complete victory. Muslim girls defiantly covered their hair a little less than they were supposed to, as boys and girls secretly winked at each other. Radical Islam wasn’t recruiting the young folks.
Bin Laden changed all this as he had tremendous success at making this a far more Balkinized world. But he had his failures.
George Bush removing US troops from sacred Muslim soil in 2003 cut back on al Qaeda’s ability to recruit. Since al Qaeda at that point started attacking local contractors, Saudi officials and the Saudi Arabian people began to take fighting al Qaeda seriously. Obama went along with Sharia Law in the Swat Valley and the emboldened local al Qaeda attacked Pakistan. This finally got Pakistan mad and took total control the Swat Valley. If there was someway to negotiate, a withdrawal only guaranteeing that those who worked with Americans wouldn’t be retaliated against, al Qaeda would have huge problems trying to recruit. And without a lot of retaliation al Qaeda would have trouble taking the credit. It would be obvious how few al Qaeda suicide bombers were stationed in Afghanistan. But this won’t be easy. In Iraq the US troops agreed to stay out of the cities unless the Iraqi government asked, or a huge tit-for-tat bloodbath was occurring. The Shia stopped retaliating against provocations and peace looked near. But the determined al Qaeda started suicide bombing non-Kurdish residential areas of the Kurdistan province, to try to bait tit-for-tat reprisals to start up again.
American Muslim leaders have been united in condemning Hasan’s bloodbath. But they have been ignored. I urge them mix their statements of condemnation, with speculation of Hasan’s motives, that might allow the American people hungry for news to finally learn of the Muslim statements condemning Hasan.
Iranians are furious at bin Laden, Al Qaeda destroyed the holiest shrine the Golden Dome, causing a tit-for-tat bloodbath between Sunni and Shiites that caused millions to flee their homes. If it wasn’t for US and Israeli tension with Iran, Iran would be trying to destroy al Qaeda. I would like to see an American Muslim whose assets were frozen for being too close to Iran, condemn Hasan while clearly speculating on his motives while referring to Iran’s past condemnation of al Qaeda trying to bait Iran into war with the US.
I thank David Love and the other progressives for trying to end hate. I know that you are usually right in not letting the right determine the terminology and parameters of a debate.
Is anyone else out there both trying to encourage ethnic peace and claiming that Hasan had serious well-thought-out plans at the same time?
RichardKanePA
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
double post removed
Submitted by RichardKanePA on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 6:31pmdouble post removed
Partial apology
Submitted by RichardKanePA on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 11:43amFor two reasons I sort to need to apologize for my above comment
Instead of typing a semi apology from scratch I will paste what I said elsewhere.
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Another problem is the fallout from reflex shooting training, meaning that someone can kill on reflex. Automatically shooting when a target appears without deciding whether to pull the trigger,
http://blackbeltcombat.tripod.com/id28.html
Being awakened at night by a howling cat, before totally waking up, the cat can be blown away. Nidal Hasan bought a $1.000 rapid-fire pistol in July. Had he decided to use it before getting advanced basic training, he would have been nervous, sweaty, shaky and slowed by second thoughts. People who try to discuss this end up talking about therapists getting PTSD from talking too long with PTSD victims, but to claim a calm cool looking person is traumatized seems like a lame excuse from a distance. Perhaps basic training for all should be done away with, so skilled translators, doctors etc., wouldn’t learn reflex killing, and while we are at it, when someone’s service is clearly over, they should be systematical de-conditioned so years later as an Alzheimer patient they might not be a potential menace if they see a gun, to those around them.
I have different thoughts that I hope I don’t ruin this essay with, is that some noted that Hasan made a spectacle in the days before November 11 to look like an extra pious Muslim to either inspire Muslims, or get Muslims blamed, and that some official or even officials for some reason could have guessed that Hasan was up to no good but let him pass to get a wake up call,
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/major-hasan-of-fort-hood-a-patsy-in-a-drill-gone-live/
One part of me wanted to leave this paragraph out but another part of me was afraid that if Lieberman’s hearings become shrill like the Joe McCarthy hearings, thus posting this ahead of time would be important. If not it should have been left out. If the Lieberman hearings don’t get shrill and heated the above link will be proven wrong.
RichardKanePA
RichardKanePA.blogspot.com
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