The mass murderer Nidal Hassan is still unpunished. 

In light of the tragedy of the past week, and all the legitimate outrage regarding mass shootings, where is the demand for the swift and measured justice of another mass murderer, Major Nidal Hassan?

What miracle protects Hasan from this rightful outrage resulting from other mass murders? Where is his swift punishment? What of the victims and families of victims that died at his hand? What of the public demand for justice in his case?

Somehow Jared Lee Loughner, the insane gunman who shot up Representative Gabby Giffords and others while klling 6, has been tried and sentenced.  The Arizona shootings happened on January 8, 2011. Yet Hassan remains untried and unpunished even though his mass murder spree occurred on November 5, 2009, 14 months prior to the Arizona shootings.

In the past, military justice moved expeditiously.  Yet the Fort Hood incident and the prosecution of this murderer seem to warrant special considerations of a delaying nature.

The Loughner case litigated more quickly than the Hasan military preceding.  In a contest between cases of a similar nature, that is likely unprecedented.

We should sustain the same outrage seen in today's news, and maintain it upon an equally nefarious perpetrator who is hidden from the news stream.  The normal and proper time allotment dedicated to proper procedure and due process has long past for Major Hasan .  Delay in the pursuit of justice is not a virtue, as Goldwater noted. Additionally, having a justice system that acts diligently in one case, but behaves in an inconsistent and politically protracted fashion in another, is inherently subjective and unfair.

Bruce Johnson