Following the criticism of some BBC coverage of the Fort Hood killings, credit is due to the BBC’s Gavin Lee for including in his report this morning the following interview with a young Muslim from the same mosque attended by Major Hasan (the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen) :
Duane : I’m not going to condemn him for what he did. I don’t know why he did it. I will not, absolutely not, condemn him for what he had done though. If he had done it for selfish reasons I still will not condemn him. He’s my brother in the end. I will never condemn him.
Gavin Lee : There might be a lot of people shocked to hear you say that.
Duane: Well, that’s the way it is. I don’t speak for the community here but me personally I will not condemn him.
Gavin Lee : What are your thoughts towards those that were victims in this?
Duane : They were, in the end, they were troops who were going to Afghanistan and Iraq to kill Muslims. I honestly have no pity for them. It’s just like the majority of the people that will hear this, after five or six minutes they’ll be shocked, after that they’ll forget about them and go on their day.
The full segment from which this was taken can be heard here.
I wonder if this is the same Duane from the same mosque quoted in the New York Times (my emphasis):
Duane Reasoner Jr., an 18-year-old substitute teacher whose parents worked at Fort Hood, said Major Hassan was told he would be sent to Afghanistan on Nov. 28, and he did not like it.
“He said he should quit the Army,” Mr. Reasoner said. “In the Koran, you’re not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell.”
Well, it does make pretty good copy. Ratings vs. supporting institutional agenda… hmnn.. tough call.
Duane is probably quite lucky he lives, works, and teaches in the land of the free.
Actually, this bit seems sad but likely: ‘Duane : They were, in the end, they were troops who were going to Afghanistan and Iraq to kill Muslims. I honestly have no pity for them. It’s just like the majority of the people that will hear this, after five or six minutes they’ll be shocked, after that they’ll forget about them and go on their day.’
Mind you, this is Texas,so probably best not to jab Billy-Bob too hard in the chest when stocking up with ‘school supplies’ in the local gun shop.
For a while, anyways.
Wonder how long it will be before this interview is quietly dropped; or is spun in such a way that the young man will be described as being out on his own in his opinions in the ‘muslim community’. I would hope he is no longer a substitute teacher.
I believe that this mass murder will prove to be a seminal event. I’ve never read so many articles or comments across the media and internet from people who now have no qualms about saying what they think of the Moslems in our midst. I really hope the moderate Moslems we keep hearing about get their act together and reject the views of what we are constantly told is a small minority. Otherwise I fear a real backlash. I actually think it only has to start in one country and it will spread like wildfire to others.
It will be a while before the BBC reports on this.
Nidal Hasan: Fort Hood Shooter Participated in Homeland Security Disaster Preparation. In other words, he drafted policy recommendations for Obama.
I see this thread has been picked up over at Ace of Spaces 🙂
Regards
Mailman
Deegee,
There would literally be tens of thousands of people “drafting” policy for Barry, the bringer of light. Lets not get in to the habit of blaming everything on Barry, I know, I know, he blames everything on GW…but hey, he knows what he is doing. After all, he is the most scary heavy weight intellectual that has held office since the last democrat president! 😀
Mailman