While opinione is not trying to make the shooter out to be a victim, just like other members of the academic community like Alfred McCoy, Chalmers Johnson, Andrew Bacevich and other members of the anti Imperialist School who are also retired members of the military,(like Opinione) the shooting at Fort Hood is another example of how the perpetual war and embrace of letting an All Volunteer Force be exploited while no other Americans are not asked to sacrifice anything, is taking its toll on the military and coming home to American Home Front.
What do you think about that? Is an all-volunteer military bad for the country? Does that have something to do with what's going wrong? From Tomdispatch we have this:
Even before Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on his killing spree, that base, a major military embarkation point for our war zones, was already experiencing the after-effects of eight years of war and repeated tours of duty. The suicide rate at Fort Hood was soaring (with 10 on the base in 2009 alone). Divorce rates were on the rise, as were mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, domestic abuse (up 75% since 2001), and murders among war-zone returnees. Even violent crime in Killeen, the town that houses the base, was up 22% (though it was down, according to the New York Times, "in towns of similar size in other parts of the country").
What's your opinion? Can all that be blamed on he wars?
Please feel free to leave a comment.
Much of the world, including Europe and Laci's perfect Great Britain, experience terrorist acts seemingly every day. The United States has been relatively terror-free in comparison. So when we have the occasional act of terror, suddenly everyone is looking for the cause.
ReplyDeleteHusan was a terrorist. Yes, I actually joined the list of about 20 people that are willing to say it. Husan is a terrorist acting in the name of Allah for some sick, twisted Jihad. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. That is the cause. Not PTSD, not depression, not because guns can be bought in a free society, not because guns were banned creating a fish-in-the-barrel scenario for him. The root cause is a terrorist hell bent on committing an act of terror seeking his virgins in paradise or whatever they get for doing something utterly violent and stupid to innocent people.
As soon as he recovers, he will be tried and if convicted and justice is served, he would face a firing squad. I'm sure the coward would not be able to stand up for that so more than likely he will die strapped to a gurney with a needle in his vein.
While I am not sure if it is the amount of posts you crank out everyday, or if the readers don’t have any interest in looking at how never ending war in America is beginning to take its toll. The sole comment by FatWhiteman indicates the readers of your blog will focus on the individual aspect of gun violence and tailer their argument to that point. The lack of comments on the post also indicated that they are only interested in talking about guns and their right to own them. While I can agree with that viewpoint,as a gun owner myself, more people that support gun ownership should also look at how their government in putting the screws to them and taking advantage of them on this issue. Part of the problem is also the duopoly status quo in american and only two political parties to vote for.
ReplyDeleteGuns is just a social wedge issue in America that the Republican candidates have done a great job at capitalizing on.