So much for all those who have painted military tribunals as kangaroo courts.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is facing a court-martial for the Fort Hood rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 32. And he’s been playing the system for all its worth.
Last week Hasan moved to dismiss his court-appointed lawyers (for the second time) and represent himself when his trial starts in about a month.
Earlier, he had successfully prevented the Army from forcibly shaving him, even though military regulations forbid beards. And the judge who initially ruled against him there got tossed from the case for bias.
But while Hasan milks the system for all it’s worth, the massacre’s survivors continue to suffer from lost medical benefits and care because the Pentagon has classified them as victims of “workplace violence.” This, notwithstanding that Hasan was in contact with the American-born al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki (killed in 2011 in a US drone strike) and that he’s said to have yelled “Allahu akhbar” as he fired away.
The Defense Department says calling those killed or injured at Fort Hood victims of terrorism would endanger Hasan’s right to a fair trial because that would mean “a branch of government has indirectly declared that [he] is a [foreign] terrorist.”
Ponder that one. With each passing day, Hasan’s treatment proves that our Defense Department is fully capable of honoring the full rights of someone accused of shooting the innocent in the name of Islam. Pity there’s not the same concern for the rights of those who got shot.