Heere Motive, come here Motive, here kitty, kitty…. gooood Motive

Napolitano: Looking for Motive: it ain't religion, got that?

“News” that the military is looking for a motive behind Hasan’s killing of 13 people at Fort Hood.

Actually, they’re not looking for a motive, they’re looking for a “motive”.  That is, something that will fool enough of the people, enough of the time, including fooling themselves, that there’s a motive other than the one starting us in the face: Sudden Jihad Syndrome.  An egregious piece in today’s Herald Tribune  test drives several “motives” and does not just downplay a religious one, it does away with it altogether!

“Investigators are still trying to determine Major Hasan’s motives, exploring his job pressures, harassment as a Muslim and his strong opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Oh, ok then, it does mention religion, but only from the point of view that others were, maybe, perhaps, horrid to him about his religion.  Meantime, Obama says “don’t jump to conclusions”, by which I think he means: "don’t come to the conclusion that’s staring you in the face until we’ve had a chance to tell you what his motives are, and they won’t, they just won’t, have anything to do with religion."

Here’s Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, for example:

"This was an individual who does not, obviously*, represent the Muslim faith."

*["obviously"? "obviously"??  Napolitano obviously knows nothing of the "Muslim faith" to say that]

And Senator Lindsey Graham :

“At the end of the day this is not about his religion — the fact that this man was a Muslim,” Senator Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Ignored in the search for our little Kitty, “Motive”, is the real motive:

Hasan proselytized about Islam when he should have been giving a medical presentation, he dressed in Islamic garb before he went on his rampage, he gave away his Korans and property before the killings (indicating premeditation), he shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he killed and harmed his colleagues  -- that is, he told the world, as clearly as he could “I do this for my God, I do this for my Religion.  My religion asks this of me.”

Any chance that the teachings of Islam, the commandments to kill the Kufaar, had anything to do with the shootings?  Naaah.  

One of the best comments on the race-religious harassment "motive":

5. David Thomson: 
Nov 7, 2009 - 3:17 pm

The evolving elite consensus contends that Major Hasan is somehow a victim of our racist society. He must have suffered from low self-esteem because of his Muslim minority status. This is pure crap. Hasan is a fully credentialed psychiatrist and military officer. In other words, he represents the top ten percent regarding formal education and financial earnings. What is the likelihood that he has been severely persecuted because of the color of his skin and religious affiliation—in the year 2009? Let’s be blunt: next to zilch! At the most, Hasan may have overheard a couple of low ranked soldiers describe him as a towel head. A mature adult is expected to blow off such minor irritations, especially if they are a mental health professional. We can pretty well take it for granted that nobody dared call Hasan a “filthy Arab” to his face. That rarely, if ever, occurs in our present era. Thus, what does he have to complain about? Hasan is a guy who pretty well has it made. Numerous Americans would have been thrilled to trade places with him. Are Muslim-Americans supposedly so overly sensitive that any perceived slight offense is enough to set them off to commit mass murder? Good heavens, give me a break.

Update:  In the International Herald Tribune article I hold in my hand (The International Herald Tribune is the Global Edition of the New York Times), the quote is as above, top of the page.  In the online version of this article, via the NYT website, the very paragraph I have quoted above is amended to the one below.  So from this they have removed even the racist/Muslim harassment "motive", and the opposition to the wars "motive".  Hmmm, why would they do that?  The effect is to throw the whole "motive" onto one possibility, the "strains of the profession", the poor dear.  Will this little kitty do?   Seems rather a burden, for such a weak little "motive".   

"Major Hasan’s motives are still being investigated. But those who work day in and day out treating the psychological wounds of the country’s warriors say Thursday’s rampage has put a spotlight on the strains of their profession and of the patients they treat."