Criminal Justice

13 Dead at Fort Hood, 30 Wounded

November 5, 2009
by Celeste Fremon
73 Comments


I’ve put up a live twitter freed about the ongoing Fort Hood story, in the box to the right.

Terrible stuff.

This morning I was talking to a south LA mother friend about her worry about her son. Earlier in the week, the kid had been stopped and “hit up” by some gang members, although he’s not in a gang himself. We were talking about how impossible it feels sometimes to keep one’s kids safe. Most of them make it through life’s dangers fine. But sometimes there are those bolts of awful lightning that change everything in a heartbeat. And often the bad lightning isn’t at all what you’ve spent your nights fearing.

For 12 families, likely worried about their sons and daughters going to Iraq or Afghanistan, that awful lightning struck in Texas in the form of a fellow soldier.

73 Comments

  • The guy was a shrink in the army for less than a year from what I’ve heard. My opinion as a vet is that I don’t think I’d call him a soldier.

    This is a major tragedy.

  • “From what I’ve heard” Hasan received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001 and served at Walter Reed for at least six years. This is indeed a major tragedy in terms of the number of lives lost and touched. I won’t draw any conclusions about the guy until I learn more. My assumption is that for all intents and purposes he went nuts. It happens. I don’t know what this says about army officers or psychiatrists…any more than Debbie Schussel and Lou Dobbs know what this says about guys with Muslim names and/or religious beliefs. Probably nothing.

  • Horrible irony – “from what I’ve read” the guy was a graduate of Virgina Tech! They need this like CAIR needs a mass murderer named “Malik.”
    Had been in ROTC there, prior to going to the Army’s medical school.

  • I haven’t met a psychiatrist who isn’t nuts.

    This guy’s reported conversion to Islam shouldn’t have been a warning sign, should it? After all, haven’t most of you taken a position that profiling has no value?

    What a tragedy, but remember one thing….in the end, it’s Bush’s fault.

  • I don’t know if he was “converted” his cousin said he was born and raised Muslim. More info needs to come in before an informed opinion can be made. It will be really interesting to see what turns up and what’s in his computer.

  • This is small comfort, but I got the following info via my local OFA organizing network suggesting a couple ways to connect:

    – The local hospital has issued an urgent call for blood in the central Texas area. If you know someone or have contacts through your social network pages that are in the area, send them to http://www.sw.org/web/patientsAndVisitors for additional info (times and locations). I imagine the Red Cross is another alternative, but I haven’t heard anything from them

    – Soldiers’ Angels, a great volunteer organization that supports our troops around the world, has already stepped out. They are collecting cards and NEW stuffed animals for the families and children of the fallen/wounded heroes.
    Please send cards and stuffed animals/blankets/anything NEW that may brighten the life of a child to:
    Soldiers’ Angels Warehouse, 4408 PanAm Expressway, San Antonio, TX 78218
    They will also organize a HOLIDAY OUTREACH at a later date. For more details contact: ShelleMichaels@SoldiersAngels.org

  • “Woody Says:
    “November 5th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    “I haven’t met a psychiatrist who isn’t nuts. ”

    Again, speculation…but my guess is the feeling was mutual.

  • Well, let me add that my physician clients, with the exception of shrinks, universally agree that psychiatrists are nuts.

    – – –

    reg: 39-year old single guy in the military ? My guess is porn

    In your case, speculation would weigh heavily towards pictures of naked boys.

  • The far right loons are going to go to the race thing, naturally, considering the last name of the suspect, and their inability to rationalize beyond that factor due to their low IQs and attention spans, but I think the fact that he was a psychologist at Walter Reid is a bigger clue. Post traumatic stress, right here in the homeland.

  • Gava Joe, if you read this, thank you for cracking the case for us as to who was using my name. As you all well know, using my name is a FELONY, punishable by death. Gava Joe, expect to hear from some authorities soon regarding this matter, where then I can only hope you’ll leave a statement. We might finally put this StillNoScript to the gas chamber, God willing. He’s posting under my name. He supports marijuana. Scumbags like this only come around so often, and we’ve got him. Let’s hold the good thought.

  • What to rationalize asshole? Post traumatic stress my fucking ass you leftis puss, he probably went off due to our involvement in the Middle East and now it turns out he isn’t dead. Probably makes a piece of shit like you happy Robbie. Same thing happens over there and now we get a taste, fucking sad.

    Notice Robbie says nothing about the victims or how tragic this event is, typical for people like him. Arrogant fucking weak ass toad and nothing else, fuck him and any comment he makes.

  • Thank you for proving my point, S.F.

    You have absolutely no proof that today’s tragedy was politically motivated. Just a last name… You and people of your far right ilk are simply incapable of thinking beyond race, religion, or nationality whenever anyone other than a white, christian American does something. I feel sorry for you.

  • Surefire – you could have taken issue with Rob, but now your ass is showing. “Arrogant fucking weak ass toad” indeed. It’s called projection.

  • Sure Fire, how often do you show sympathy for victims of inner city violence when leaving comments on related stories? Show me a comment where you show sympathy for victims of inner city violence, that doesn’t immediately segue into a right wing political agenda. It’s the internet. People are going to discuss tragedies online without expressing condolences. And you’re no exception. Just a hypocrite.

  • You’re nothing but a troll internet idiot Robbie, I’ve posted all over the place, even here clown, about the victims of crime including the inner city. I don’t play politics with crime victims only some leftist little worms like you do. You’re a pathetic little man and nothing more.

    I actually posted this earlier Robbie which again shows you’re just a big mouth with no fucking clue…

    9.Sure Fire Says:
    November 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
    I don’t know if he was “converted” his cousin said he was born and raised Muslim. More info needs to come in before an informed opinion can be made. It will be really interesting to see what turns up and what’s in his computer.

    …and having Muslims in my family kind of gives me insight that you could only guess about. as that shows, I didn’t jump to any conclusion like your weak ass did.

    You’re nothing but a dick and a limp one at that.

  • I’m not the least bit amazed that liberals are defending this murderer as just some kind of crazy and saying that his actions have nothing to do with his religion…oh, yes, a “religion of peace.” I just witnessed the usual attacks by the Left against any rational views on Larry King, not to mention the attitudes here. I’m going back to FOX.

    My first response, based upon a long history of Islam, would be to assume that his actions were terrorist related rather than just someone snapping.

    I’m still sick as a dog, so I’m bowing out.

  • Sure Fire, you have never shown sympathy for a victim of inner city violence without segueing into a right wing rant, and you know it. So it’s flat out hilarious when you get mad at people for leaving an opinion about today’s incident without leaving any condolences. I’ll show sympathy for military deaths while holding my political views when you show sympathy for victims of inner city violence while holding your political views. Fair enough?

  • Just like S.F., Woody has not an ounce of proof that today’s incident was politically motivated in any way. All he has is the suspects last name, and that’s all the proof he needs. SF and Woody keep demonstrating to us just how the loony far right is incapable of thinking beyond race, religion, or nationality whenever anyone other than a white, christian American commits any kind of crime. They are flat out incapable. It’s a disease.

  • SF: “it turns out he isn’t dead. Probably makes a piece of shit like you happy Robbie”

    I, for one, am “happy” he isn’t dead for two reasons. First, if he was on some perverse mission as a “suicide bomber”, getting shot dead in the act is too easy an out. And, second, we will more likely learn something about how and why someone could explode in such an orgy of violence from a live perpetrator – which is useful in itself, will dampen wild speculatio and focus the reaction more on what actually triggered this horror. If that makes me a “piece of shit,” so be it.

  • Woody: “liberals are defending this murderer as just some kind of crazy”

    One nut case vouches for the sanity of another…

  • reg, don’t give condolences on his command. When has he ever expressed any remorse for someone killed in inner city violence? All he and his other far right sirens do whenever commenting on a story related to inner city crime is make snide remarks devaluing the life of the victim, then use the story as a soap box to segue into their right wing political rants. Now he’s demanding that we all sound off with our condolences for a bunch of fragged soldiers before we express our views on the issues? I’ll give my condolences when I feel like it, not when he says so. Who is he?

  • This sounds like a nutcase who’s education in psychiatry probably resulted mostly from being in therapy since he was 12.

  • How come all you bigots seem to forget the christian fundamentalist terrorist attacks we have had in this country over the last 15 or 20 years. Eric Rudolph, Tim McVeign, David Koresh, Scott Roeder all christian terrorist that murdered Americans. Being Muslim does not make you a terrorist. However, being a fundamentalist of any religion seems to make you more likely.

  • He was a worthless piece of crap, he should not have enlisted if he had objections to war!!! Was he just one of the system suckers that wanted all the freebies without actually having to work for it? For gosh sakes, he has been in since before 9/11, and I am positive he could have gotten out in that time, but nooo! He was making a six figure income. He only went wacko after they told him he had to deploy. Edith …Get me my slippers…

  • Archie that’s probably what happened. But expect some blowback from Misfire and Moody, as your logical, pragmatic theory gets in the way of their fascination and perhaps outright wishes that Hasan’s motives were political and that he was part of a terrorist group. Expect them to present sound evidence of this, such as his last name, “Hasan”.

  • Can’t argue your point on #29 Reg, still I like dead bad guys better but understand the up-side in their living to gather info.

    As for light weight brain dead Robbie Boy, you’re a simple minded leftist lying bitch who knows nothing about me. Post all the stupidity that fills that micro sized brain of yours because it doesn’t matter, you’re just a troll.

    It’s always amusing to see an obvious half-wit like Rob post to himself and than agree with it.

  • “As for light weight brain dead Robbie Boy, you’re a simple minded leftist lying bitch who knows nothing about me. Post all the stupidity that fills that micro sized brain of yours because it doesn’t matter, you’re just a troll.”

    But you keep anwering him – thats whats funny Bozo head.

  • Rob – I’m not expressing any condolences on anybody’s command. My personal feelings about how to respond to the tragedy itself and the victims, sans random speculation or snark in the broader context of these comments about the shooter, were expressed in #10.

  • “It’s always amusing to see an obvious half-wit like Rob post to himself and than agree with it”

    ****************************

    I never post or talk to myself, ask my friends, Conchita, Dacalicios, Santiago, Mustang Sally, Big Betty, Archie Bunker, Fred Blassie, Jimmy Tumors, or Big Betty !!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  • Soldiers who witnessed the rampage reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment before the shooting spree.

    Yeah, don’t forget. Islam is a religion of peace and we shouldn’t profile. This is all a big coincidence.

  • Woody is truly an idiot, but unfortunately I feel pressed to respond to his drooling on himself.

    There is zero chance that it’s a “coincidence” that this guy was ethnically Palestinian and raised a Muslim, in the context of this crime. There is also zero chance that it’s a coincidence that he spent the last six years treating – or trying to treat – men who had come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress symptoms. There is also zero chance its a mere coincidence, in relation to this crime, that the Iraq war tore the country apart because it was so badly conceived and prosecuted or the Afghan war is now approaching it’s 9th year with no end in sight. There is also zero chance that it’s a coincidence that this guy has spent 20 years in the military in some form or fashion. There’s also zero chance that this man did not, in some fundamental sense, crack under the weight of whatever demons he was carrying around for a bunch of reasons. I think there’s also zero chance it’s a coincidence that he’s not married and has no children. There also appears to be no indication that this was anything other than the act of a single, obviously isolated and deranged individual.

    I guess one could argue that the guys who shoot abortion doctors are doing it simply because they are good Christians and the Bible teaches them that abortion is so heinous they’re engaged in preventive acts against a greater evil. I also think that’s a ridiculous argument that totally obscures the complexity, spectrum and generally benign nature of most Christians’ ethical views and religious faith and the fact that these people are IMHO totally mentally unbalanced and delusional. Regarding Hasan, the reality is that individuals raised in our culture, as he was, and trained/educated primarily in the military but who turn and commit mass murders have, for what are probably complicated reasons, lost their way and have more than a couple of screws loose. To treat this mass murder as primarily political or religious – despite the obvious political and religious connections that can be drawn – rather than essentially pathological and deranged is absurd.

    Our persistent and self-absorbed troll Woody is looking for excuses drawn from external events to rationalize his own ingrown bigotry – as he’s always doing. It’s pretty pathetic – and pathological – when it’s not simply boring.

  • “these people are IMHO totally mentally unbalanced and delusional” refers – with an unfortunate lack of clarity – back to people who murder doctors, not to the generic Christians also referenced in that muddy sentence.

  • Woody – I’m not going to respond to you further on this, so you’re free to write comments about naked boys…or whatever. I don’t give a fuck. Go crazy !!!!

  • reg, I don’t care if you respond, because, after a quick skim, I saw that your comment to me was a denial of reality, so I didn’t go back to read it.

    But, I did get your points…(1)when Muslims act crazy, it’s Bush’s fault, and (2) Christians are as likely to commit acts of terror as are Islamic terrorists. Also, you believe that the moon landing was fake and that there are really flying saucers in Area 51…being flown by naked boys.

  • I can’t say whether or not he was a Christian because it isn’t mentioned, but he was from Texas. Perhaps we need a closer look at Texans: http://tinyurl.com/yhvdw5h

    Without the snark, I think playing the anecdote game detached from numbers is exactly how bad policy gets set.

    I do think that if evidence showed gun owners were more likely to commit murder (I’m not saying that it does – I’m using it as a hypothetical) and the government said that as a result we need to we need to keep a very close eye on gun owners, you’d be very unhappy. You’d be saying that it’s your right to own a gun and the government shouldn’t spy on you. But when it’s people from a category you don’t belong to – African Americans, Muslims, etc. – you’re very quick to suggest profiling is the proper solution even though their claims on the constitution are at least as strong as gun owners’.

    The “you” in that paragraph isn’t directed at any individual person. Just making a point.

  • I have to actually give Reg credit for a well thought out post and I would agree at least now that this guy was a lone nut. His religion was an absolute major reason for his actions though and no amount of debate could convince me that any other single factor was what caused him to become unhinged.

    Anyone with even a portion of a brain that would bring up home grown Christian terrorist type actions and call people bigots for recognizing the facts that have been shown up to this point in this case should really just shut the fuck up with such hysterical babble.

    All events like this, no matter the religion or ethnicity of the attacker should be condemned. The witness statement that have been put out, his internet postings, his comments to others and his actions prior to this tragedy shows that they were calculated and now appear to be due to his going over to the “dark side” of his religion.

    That makes him no different than those who take these type actions in so many other parts of the globe and by sheer number and caualty count they are different than those conducted by people operating on the “dark side” of Christianity.

    I still can’t believe you allow so many troll postings here Celeste.

  • “That makes him no different than those who take these type actions in so many other parts of the globe”

    The fact that this guy was a “home-grown” American, albeit with immigrant parents (who appear to be even more shocked by what happened than many of the rest of us, who just look at the name and go “Uh huh!”) and was a major in the US Army – and a psychiatrist, no less – with what appears to be considerable experience counseling men and presumably women who had come back from the wars with serious cases of what used to be called “shell shock” or “battle fatigue” and became, in our therapeutic culture, “post traumatic stress disorder”, makes him quite different than some teen-age suicide bomber in Jerusalem IMHO.

    I don’t pretend to understand the suicide bomber culture among fanatical Islamists or extreme Palestinian nationalists raised in the Middle East, but frankly I don’t worry about truly understanding it too much because it’s so disconnected from anything I’m familiar with. Also, I’m not a big fan of those cultures and my chief concern is that they become more modern and pragmatic and ditch religious and political extremism. (I actually think given the youth movement there that Iran is probably the most likely to do this in the foreseeable future. Saudi Arabia ? Not a chance. Palestine? Not likely, since they’re locked in a death grip with The Chosen People.)

    But the case of Hasan, frankly, disturbs me much more because it is something that came from within, despite attempts by some to isolate a Muslim Army Major as “other.” The Army is a pretty close-knit culture in itself, so one wonders how this could happen. Also, Muslims are a pretty diverse and assimilated group within the US, and to see this guy with such an “American” background go so far off the deep end is horrifying. That said, I don’t think any generalities can be taken from this case , about the American-Muslim experience other than a higher percentage of them are probably disturbed by one or another aspect of our AIPAC-oriented Mid-East policies than are, say, Irish Catholics (excepting Pat Buchanan, who takes sides against Israel.) This should not be news, nor does it make them any less patriotic than Jewish people who hold loyalties toward Israel that might well conflict with what someone else totally disinterested might perceive as US “national interest.”

    I do have questions about whether there was full communication between agencies that were monitoring some of his apparent internet postings. Soldiers don’t, to put it bluntly, have the same civil rights as civilians and it seems to me this guy should have been flagged if some agency was following his rants, especially given his responsibilities as a military psychiatrist. There are probably thousands of internet postings that might cause consternation or raise questions in retrospect, but an Army Major seems like a case for pretty rapid follow-up.

  • (Some thoughts I posted over at Coopertown, that might fit this thread a bit better…)
    I’m curious about this allegation that Major Hasan shouted the phrase “Allah Akbar.” Is there some confirmation that he actually said that before he started shooting? Is it possible that in the confusion and hysteria (I say hysteria because I’m assuming the moments of a mass shooting must be hysterical.) the notion that that phrase was uttered was attributed to him. Is it possible that survivors and responders to the scene projected this phrase? Perhaps as an after the matter attempt to begin to rationally understand the episode, people thought he must have said that. Aren’t emotions capable of distorting facts?

    Remember that the Columbine tragedy gave birth to a whole raft of mythologies and legends that have been completely debunked. Who doubts that this whole event at Ft. Hood will go through quite a series of revisions?

  • The more that comes out about this Islamic terrorist, the smarter that I appear and the dumber you politically-correct types are proven.

  • Woody – nobody here is more “politically correct” with utterly predictable, stamped-from-the-wingnutsphere, knee-jerk, pre-fabbed opinions that invariably conform to a cramped world-view and narcissistic personality than you. You’re an inversion of some crank leftist who always comes up with “imperialism” as the singular reason for everything wrong in the world. The constant stuff about how smart and “educated” you are is particularly embarrassing. I don’t think anyone else who comments here ever brags about how smart they are – certainly not their college degrees – especially anyone endowed with so little. You’re not capable of anything other than shallow, self-serving drivel.

    You get called a moron for a reason..

  • The fact that this guy is a Muslim, who in the weeks prior to the killing showed a significant intensification in his identification with the religion, is obviously significant. The report from his neighbors that he was giving away Qurans along with all his belongings is also significant. The reports that he had expressed serious objections to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are significant.

    Put all this together and you have someone who was probably suicidally depressed, and took out his suicide in a way consistent with his increasingly significant religious and related political belief.

    In other words, I suspect we will find out that if he had not been a Muslim, he most likely would have suicided without an attack on the US military.

    There is also a significant probability that this flake would have been thrown out of the military had he not been Muslim, given the military’s very high sensitivity to issues of political correctness. He reportedly had been flaky for quite a while, and if the reports that he pronounced his doubts about the war to his patients are true, acting seriously unprofessinoal.

    That’s speculation, but it is informed speculation. There are too many cases where Muslims commit these attacks – especially given their very small proportion of the population.

    Time will tell.

    The person who brought up Christian terrorists (one of whom – Rudolph – was a real terrorist, one of whom was acting out of political motives unrelated to religion, one of whom was attacked, not an attacker) is simply trying to create a balance that does not exist. There are tens of millions of armed Christian fundies in the US, but very few acts of terrorism from them.

  • There are far more instances of Christian fundamentalists and Christian “identity” types going off the deep end and perpetrating violence here than there are of American Muslims. Granted there are far more crank Christians than crank Muslims in the US, but frankly, the notions that American Muslims are more likely to turn up as perpetrators in cases of deranged, religiously-extremist ultra-right killers flies in the face of the empirical evidence. (And extreme Islamists happen to be far-right, not far-left by any ideological measure that isn’t simply pulled out of one’s ass for political purposes – ultra-natrionalist, hyper-fundamentalsist, anti-modernist, misogynist, anti-secular, etc. etc.) I’m not even sure that there have been more cases of Muslims raised in the US going off the deep end than of native Christians on a per capita basis. This whole scare among the Woodys about Muslim Americans is pretty hyped up. As a group, they’re well assimilated. The issue of people like the 9/11 terrorists coming here, or of suicide bombers in the Middle East is another issue entirely and has little or nothing to do with American-born Muslims, particularly those who weren’t converts in prison or non-Arab weirdos who embraced Islam to “find themselves.”)

  • There are far more instances of Christian fundamentalists and Christian “identity” types going off the deep end and perpetrating violence here than there are of American Muslims

    In religious related killings, in the same time period? ‘fraid not. In fact, there are very few. There have been a small number of abortion-related killings, spread out over a couple of decades, and one of those killers (Rudolph) also engaged in non-abortion terrorism (the Olympics bombing). Beyond that? Care to give a list?

    Jihadism is taught in many US mosques (especially since the Wahabbists took them over), and hence they provide fuel for the unstable and the angry. Crusaderism (or whatever) is
    not taught in any but the most whacko Idaho “Christian” sects – hence much less likelihood of religious related violence.

    Of course, most native-born Muslims in the US are well assimilated. In fact, they assimilate much better here than in Europe. It is the writings of the religion, and the imported jihadism, that is the danger.

  • Here’s the list of anti-abortion violence in the US alone – which doesn’t include a whole range of other violent acts, including McVeigh and various Christian identity crazies who are clearly armed and dangerous. Also, the last time I looked, pro-health reform demonstrators weren’t threatening to come back next time with guns. Lots of the Tea-baggers are reaching that level of hysteria…which you are free to embrace.

    http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_violence

    As for “the writings of the religion”, that’s a problem with Christianity as well when it’s interpreted by fundamentalist dimwits isolated in cultural backwaters who are being fired up by demogogues into projecting their own insecurities on some external representative of “evil.” The problem isn’t with the religion – or the Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles would bear watching as potential “jihadists”, which I don’t think is a serious security issue in Southern California – it’s with retrograde cultures that reinforces the worst and the weakest in people. Add self-interested, mendacious demagogues – be it FOX News or Wahabbist mosques – and it’s a dangerious brew.

  • Yeah, maybe you need to read this.

    WHAT DOES THE FT. HOOD SHOOTER HAVE TO DO WITH 9/11?

    Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque that was led by radical imam who turned out to be a “spiritual advisor” to three hijackers of 9/11. According to the report, Hasan attended a mosque in Great Falls, Virginia in 2001 at the same time as two of the 9/11 terrorists. The imam is a man named Anwar al-Awlaki. He is known for, among other things, supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organizations.

    You guys are more concerned about backlash against Islamic terrorists than you are in American lives. Maybe you need to wake up and listen to conservatives.

  • Looks like political correctness was more important than getting a terrorist sympathizer, who turned into a terrorist, out of the military.

    Thanks liberals, you fucking assholes are behind the pc movement and look what it got you, a bunch of dead American soldiers.

    The Blotter from Brian Ross
    Officials: U.S. Army Told of Hasan’s Contacts with al Qaeda
    Army Major in Fort Hood Massacre Used ‘Electronic Means’ to Connect with Terrorists
    By RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE and BRIAN ROSS
    Nov. 9, 2009

    U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

    According to the officials, the Army was informed of Hasan’s contact, but it is unclear what, if anything, the Army did in response.

    Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he requested the CIA and other intelligence agencies brief the committee on what was known, if anything, about Hasan by the U.S. intelligence community, only to be refused.

    In response, Hoekstra issued a document preservation request to four intelligence agencies. The letter, dated November 7th, was sent to directors Dennis Blair (DNI), Robert Mueller (FBI), Lt. Gen Keith Alexander (NSA) and Leon Panetta (CIA).

    Hoekstra said he is “absolutely furious” that the house intel committee has been refused an intelligence briefing by the DNI or CIA on Hasan’s attempt to reach out to al Qaeda, as first reported by ABC News.
    “This is a law enforcement investigation, in which other agencies—not the CIA—have the lead,” CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said in a response to ABC News. ” Any suggestion that the CIA refused to brief Congress is incorrect.”
    Related

    Investigators want to know if Hasan maintained contact with a radical mosque leader from Virginia, Anwar al Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen and runs a web site that promotes jihad around the world against the U.S.

    In a blog posting early Monday titled “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing,” Awlaki calls Hasan a “hero” and a “man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”
    According to his site, Awlaki served as an imam in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia.
    The Associated Press reported Sunday that Major Hasan attended the Falls Church mosque when Awlaki was there.

    The Telegraph of London reported that Awlaki had made contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers when he was in San Diego. He denied any knowledge of the hijacking plot and was never charged with any crime. After an intensive investigation by the FBI , Awlaki moved to Yemen.
    People who knew or worked with Hasan say he seemed to have gradually become more radical in his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    On Sunday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist.
    “If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have a zero tolerance,” Lieberman told Fox News Sunday.

    A fellow Army doctor who studied with Hasan, Val Finell, told ABC News, “He would frequently say he was a Muslim first and an American second. And that came out in just about everything he did at the University.”
    Finell said he and other Army doctors complained to superiors about Hasan’s statements.
    “And we questioned how somebody could take an oath of office…be an officer in the military and swear allegiance to the constitution and to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and have that type of conflict,” Finell told ABC News.

  • Yep… the evidence is stacking up.

    It looks like this guy was probably a classic suicide terrorist – psychologically he fits the profile, and he has been growing closer and closer to the ideology of the movement and the Islam lifestyle.

    Sorry, libs, but guess what – and this shouldn’t be a surprise – the knee jerk reaction was correct – this was jihadism.

    But don’t worry, Obama won’t learn anything from this, so other budding Jihadists will still be protected by many layers of political correctness. The military is very efficient at that sort of thing.

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