Posted by Dan Ewert : 3/27/2003 01:48:00 AM (Archive Link)
As you know, Mark Fidel Kools, aka Asan Akbar, threw grenades into the tents of his superior officers in Kuwait. The fact that he did so, no matter the cause, should warrant the death penalty… let’s be clear on that. His was a murderous, treasonous act in a combat zone. So while the cause should have no bearing on the ultimate punishment, it’s interesting nonetheless to examine what it might be. While it hasn’t been revealed by the Pentagon, Akbar’s family says that it was racially motivated.

“His stepfather, William Bilal, who was once married to Akbar's mother, Quran Bilal, said that his stepson was resentful toward the military and had complained several years ago that it was difficult for a black man "to make rank" in the military.

“’Asan was pushed to this. We've got that clear,’ William Bilal told WBRZ, ABCNEWS' affiliate in Baton Rouge, La. ‘Everybody's got a breaking point, to put it that way. Everybody's got a breaking point. If he did this, he was driven.’”

This is hardly a justification for murder. Assuming that there was bigotry in the military, it doesn’t give clearance to anybody to go around killing their fellow soldiers. Everybody may have a breaking point, but you have problems if reaching it makes you murderous.

His father also said, “All I'm saying is that Islam has been misrepresented, and a lot of people don't understand the religion of Islam. And the problem is, the stereotyping and the discrimination, I can't say exactly, directly, if that was Asan's case.” He may not have said it directly, but he did everything short of it. Again, not a justification. Also, I have serious doubts that either racism or anti-Islamic feelings within the military had anything to do with it. Most soldiers will admit that the military is the least discriminatory environment they’ve ever been in. It’s the purest meritocracy among all American institutions. This isn’t at all to say racism or religious discrimination doesn’t exist there, just that it is comparatively small and certainly not big enough to be a factor here.