Twilight – in no way was I attempting to justify the man’s actions. Such murderous intent can never be condoned. The human mind is such a fragile creation and no-one seems to understand what happens when it breaks down, least of all the psychiatrists and psychologists who only pretend they do and often cause more harm than good. Indeed, this man was one of them.
While I do agree a saner person may well have chosen to go AWOL, the fate of those who do can be very grim, as THIS ARTICLE from Dahr Jamail describes.

I do know that there’s the same underlying inefficiency occurring in this story as has been evident in so many stories unfolded in the past. The govt. was supposed to have had warnings prior to 9/11, but little was done to investigate it seems. Now we’re told that there was evidence of the Major’s interest in fundamentalist Islamic ideas and connection to dangerous individuals.
Why the heck wasn’t he confronted and discharged ?

And looking at the situation from his point of view…. the thing to do if he felt as you and many other people assume that he felt, why didn’t he just go AWOL – that’s what I’d have done in his situation – put myself at risk, not put more than a dozen other young people in their graves.

Sad, sad, sad.