There are some scenes of movies which remain etched in your memory long after you’ve seen a movie. They remain in your subconscious mind and come to the fore when you see or read something similar. The cold blooded murder of 13 people at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Hassan reminded me of one such scene from Guns of Navarone where Capt Mallory (Gregory Peck) was shown trying to convince Corporal MIller (David Niven) about the need for change of plans. They were both smoking and arguing with each other about their plans to successfully accomplish their mission. On the face of it there is not much in common in these two situations but if you look beyond the obvious there indeed is.

Corporal Miller needed to be convinced about the change in plans and he went ahead with it only after he was satisfactorily convinced about it. Similarly, Major Nidal Hassan did not want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan because he was not convinced about America’s military role in these two countries. He had on various occasions said as much. Though I was rather young at the time when I saw the movie yet I could make out that what Capt Mallory was doing was not correct. It should not be that way. He only needed to explain the situation to his team and the team should’ve done as told. My assessment stemmed from the fact that I’ve seen the Indian army from pretty close quarters. The soldiers don’t need to be convinced. They only have to explained and then told what to do. On most occasions they don’t even have to be explained about the whole situation. And they do what they are told to, promptly I might add.

This also goes for the officer cadre who though are explained about the over all picture. This does not imply that junior officers are not allowed to disagree with their seniors. They are and they do when they want to. It is just that that after having put across their point of view they leave the decision to the superiors and then follow whatever he decides, even if it means going against their own opinion. But that’s the way our army works. It is for this reason that Indian soldiers willingly brace the enemy’s bullets knowing fully well that they may not come back alive. Like in the Kargil war when our soldiers and officers did while fighting a well entrenched and prepared enemy. More than 600 of them sacrificed their lives in this battle. And they did so only because of their love for their motherland. They didn’t need any convincing for it.

Major Nidal was of the opinion that this was not America’s war and by an extension not his either. So why should he go to Iraq or Afghanistan if it’s not his war in the first place? Off course, his being a Muslim was a major factor in influencing his own feelings. But that’s exactly the point. His personal faith should not have had any bearing on the mission for which he was being sent for. Yes, it happened in India too but just once when during Operation Bluestar there were large scale desertion from the army by Sikhs but that was only because Golden Temple at Amritsar, which is the holiest shrine for Sikhs, was attacked. In Major Nidal’s case there no such thing wherein the foundations of his faith are being destroyed. It is just a fight against terrorists who happen to be from the same faith as his own. In our case I personally have come across many Muslim officers and men who have been deployed in Kashmir to fight terrorism. And they do it quite willingly. Their own faith is their personal matter and that’s the way it should be.

It is also quite likely that Major Nidal developed this feeling after he was racially discriminated against within the army. Unfortunately, there were more than a couple of such incidents which have come to light so far. We may not be wrong to assume that there were many more which didn’t. On top of that as a psychiatrist he must’ve heard of horror stories from these war zones. It would also not be wrong to assume that these soldiers must’ve told him not just about conditions in the war zone but also of the condition of civilians who are affected in these war ravaged countries. If you add all this up it is not really surprising that he went berserk and killed so many innocent people. It seems that it was something which was only waiting to happen. And mind you it was not that that he did this on the spur of the moment. He had planned this whole thing. He did not use army guns but personal guns and a large amount of ammunition to kill so many people. It was very much a premeditated act AND he knew what he was doing.

To understand this issue we need to understand the spirit of freedom in Americans in general. FREEDOM: This is the word on which the foundation of entire American society is based upon. This is the spirit which allows them to air their views openly without any fear of reprimand to the extent that they need not necessarily support their country and their govt even in wars. This is the spirit with which Americans grow up with. And it carries on with them when some of them go on to join the forces. The training may make them more disciplined and fit for war fighting but it cannot really change the values they grow up with. If we understand this spirit of freedom we can now appreciate why Capt Mallory had to convince Corporal Miller about the change of plans in Guns of Navarone. But this is also the reason why Maj Nidal was allowed to openly speak against his own govt and it’s war policies. This is also the reason why racial discrimination takes place in America and mostly the guilty are never caught, intentionally or otherwise. And yes, this is also the reason why American bankers thought it prudent to make a quick buck without thinking about the consequences which has plunged the entire world into a recession.

As for me, while I really appreciate the spirit of freedom in America I’d rather have less freedom within the forces in that country. Too much freedom can sometimes be bad, both for the country as well as it’s countrymen. Ideally, there should be a very fine balance between freedom and responsibility on the part of citizens and regulation on the part of the authorities.

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Posted on November 8th, 2009 India calling, Track the world • Tags: Afghanistan, faith, Fort Hood, Iraq, Islam, killing, Muslim, Nidal, Terror. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback