Trump Cancels the Public Execution of Nidal Hasan.

Nidal Hasan in his military uniform 

Mary Sculley

Mary Scully on Facebook

In November 2009, Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan (born September 1970), a psychiatrist in the US military, walked into a facility at Fort Hood in Texas and shot down 13 fellow soldiers along with injuring 32 others. There is no possible justification for Hasan's decision to massacre fellow soldiers to protest his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan, his opposition to the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, and his opposition to the Islamophobic 'war on terror'.

Hasan was a Palestinian-American whose parents moved to the US in the 1950s most likely as refugees in the Nakba. He was a practicing Muslim and complained of discrimination against him in the military due to his religion. His opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was reportedly rooted in his opposition to the tsunamic tide of Islamophobia so pervasive after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and to his counseling veterans describing the horrors of what they saw and what they did in Iraq and Afghanistan. One can understand his distress at the slaughter and demonization of Muslims but one cannot justify him taking an antisocial political approach to protest especially when there was at that time an active antiwar movement in this country and around the world.

The court martial of Hasan was something of a circus sideshow, not made better by his legal antics (like defending himself), but he probably felt nothing but contempt for the military officers putting him on trial for mass murder when they were bombing and mass slaughtering Afghans and Iraqis. His contempt for the US military was absolutely justified. His decision to massacre soldiers on a military base was a criminal act for which he should have been prosecuted.

Earlier this month, the Orange Thing announced that Hasan would be executed in early December by a military firing squad. Firing squads are used in several countries, including the US, but it is an indisputably barbaric practice. The US Secretary of War Hegseth later announced that the execution would be livestreamed so that the world could watch it. What kind of barbarism is that?! Today, as a result of massive opposition, the Orange Thing announced that the execution by firing squad would not be livestreamed but it would remain a spectator sport for military personnel and the family members of those killed in November 2009.

We have come to expect the very lowest and most fascistic behavior from this administration. But it must be pointed out that the primary reason Hasan's execution is being turned into family entertainment is because he is a Palestinian Arab and a Muslim. It fits right into the 'war on terror' crap, the white supremacy gestalt of the US government, and into justifying the genocide against the Palestinian people.

We do not in any way find just cause for Hasan's mass murder spree. But it must be said that few US soldiers engaged in thousands of monstrous war crimes against Afghans and Iraqis have ever sustained any legal or criminal consequences as a result.

Hasan lost his way politically and personally. If you want to effect change, if you want to make this world suitable for human beings to live and love in, you do not operate with the same barbaric methods as the oppressors (like mass murder) but by an ethos rooted in love and respect for humanity.

We do not call for Hasan's release but rather for an end to the death penalty, for the outlawing of firing squads, and for the prosecution of all those military and political leaders responsible for the wars against Iraqis, Afghans, Iranians, and for the genocide of Palestinians.