Who promoted Peress? That was the question posed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the indefatigable red-hunter of the 1950s, regarding an obscure army dentist named Irving Peress who was promoted from captain to major despite having refused to answer questions regarding his loyalty. That right-wing rallying cry ought to be revived, only this time to pose a much more serious question: Who the hell promoted Nidal Malik Hasan?
The case of the Army psychiatrist charged with the murder of 13 persons at Fort Hood raises many questions -- about terrorism, of course, and whether the massacre could have been prevented. But it also makes me wonder how Hasan went from captain, which he was in April, to major, which is what he was the day he allegedly went on his homicidal rampage. The question is pertinent because while he was a mere captain and stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he was evaluated as supremely incompetent.
The evaluation, obtained by National Public Radio, shows that Hasan’s superiors had serious concerns about him. He was accused of having a “poor record of attendance,” of inappropriately discussing religion his patients, of being “consistently late,” of not being available even for emergencies, of permitting a “homicidal patient” to escape the emergency room and of simply not showing up for a night shift.
NPR went to private psychiatrists and asked them if they would hire someone with such a record. They all said no -- they’re not crazy, after all. That being the case, this raises the question of how and why Hasan went from captain to major. Was it because of an excess of caution regarding political correctness? Was it because no one cared enough or paid enough attention to stop it? Was it because Hasan filled a slot -- and the poor patients be damned? Whatever the case, Hasan moved up a grade. The Senate is now investigating what went wrong at Fort Hood. It ought to start with a simple question:
Who promoted Hasan?
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