STORY SUMMARY>>>
Perhaps no two groups of people have been more affected by the events at Ft. Hood, Texas then military men and women and those of the Muslim faith.
Soon after Thursday’s massacre, which left 13 people dead and 30 others wounded, it was learned the alleged gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is a devout Muslim. There are also unconfirmed reports Hasan may have shouted something in Arabic before opening fire with a semi-automatic handgun.
“It's neither terrorism nor religion,” said Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii. “It's just insanity and plain simple evil.”
Instead of focusing on Maj. Hasan’s religion, Ouansafi says Americans should focus on Maj. Hasan the man.
“It goes contradictory to all the teachings of our religion,” Ouansafi said of Thursday’s massacre.
“It's a case of a person going insane and therefore his religion has absolutely no relevance.”For members of the military the alleged actions of Maj. Hasan are difficult to comprehend.
“There's no excuse for what he's done,” said Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, a first lieutenant with the Hawaii National Guard. “You don't imagine that you have to protect yourself from your brother who's standing next to you or your sister who's standing next to you.”
The breach of what soldiers consider a sacred trust hit Gabbard Tamayo especially hard. In August she was at the Soldier Readiness Center where the shootings took place as she and fellow guardsmen underwent medical checkups after being deployed in Kuwait.
“We were sitting in that waiting area; we were going through those vision checks. I can see in my head the path that he may have taken, opening those doors with the two handguns. Marksmanship is not that much of an issue,” she added. “I can see how that many people were injured and killed."
Rep. Mark Takai, a Hawaii National Guard major, is in the same unit as Gabbard Tamayo and was at the Soldier Readiness Center at the same time as his colleague.
"I can just imagine what it was like when everything went awry,” he said.
And although the act of a military officer opening fire on his comrades deeply troubles Takai, he holds no resentment against those of the Muslim faith.
“The people I had to work with in the Kuwait Navy were similar to people from Hawaii,” he said, “very laid back (and) very comfortable. I only have good things to say about the people that we worked with.”
Have a news tip? Contact Andrew Pereira at 368-7273.
