Immediately after the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, the Army’s top officer, Gen. George Casey, said, "As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse."

The general is spot on.

There is no more precious national cause than the continued creation and veneration of diversity. Diversity trumps the safety and lives of our soldiers, ourselves and our children. The deaths of 13 brave men and women constitute a tragic loss, but we can take comfort in knowing that their lives were given in the name of protecting Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s right to remain a member in good standing of the American military.

It is entirely appropriate that the Army never acted upon suspicions raised by Hasan’s earlier, perhaps troubling to some, behavior. It is appropriate because — and we must continually restate this as almost a mantra until progressivism sets our collective heart in the right place — he is an American whose very presence completes our national identity. And although we deplore the acts of violence Hasan allegedly committed, we deeply cherish his contribution to America’s diversity.

Doug Van GorderQuincy, Mass.