Shooting at Ft. Hood Texas 11/05/09 13 dead, 43 wounded-(Murder Charges)

[Heart]

New York-Based Radical Muslim Hails Fort Hood Massacre

Sunday, November 08, 2009

NEW YORK —  A New York City bicycle cabbie who mocked the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and posted a prayer on the Web calling for the murder of Jews is now sending a "Get Well Soon" message to the suspected Fort Hood gunman, the New York Post reported.

Yousef al-Khattab, 41, a radical Muslim in the borough of Queens who runs RevolutionMuslim.com, claims on the site that the soldiers massacred at the Texas base deserved to be massacred, and he insists the victims are in "eternal hellfire." As for the suspected gunman — Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — Al-Khattab hails him as a hero.

"An officer and a gentleman was injured while partaking in a pre-emptive attack," al-Khattab wrote on the site. "Get well soon Major Nidal. We love you."

Al-Khattab, a Jewish-born New Jersey native formerly named Joseph Cohen, converted to Islam in 2004. Known by the FBI for posting radical messages online, al-Khattab claims that the 13 murdered and 38 wounded soldiers at Fort Hood were "terrorists" who deserved to die.

"These people are soldiers in a volunteer army," al-Khattab told the Post. "They expect to see combat. They know the danger."

"Rest assured the slain terrorists at Ft. Hood are in the eternal hellfire," al-Khattab writes online.
Related Stories

    * New York-Based Muslim's Web Site Calls for God to 'Kill the Jews'

On Oct. 7, al-Khattab posted a message on the Web calling on Allah to carry out "wrath on the Jewish occupiers of Palestine & their supporters."

"Please throw liquid drain cleaner in their faces," he wrote. " … burn their flammable sukkos while they sleep … Ya Allah (Oh God) answer my duaa (prayer)." ("Sukkos" refers to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, during which Jews build and eat their meals in outdoor huts known as "sukkahs," which represent the huts the Jews lived in during their exodus from Egypt.)

Al Khattab insists that his hatred is protected by the First Amendment. "If it was a threat, I'd be in jail," the 41-year-old al-Khattab told FoxNews.com in October.

Hasan — a radical Muslim — reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, before unloading more than 100 rounds at soldiers preparing to ship off to Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572998,00.html

     

 WHY WHY WHY is this guy still "free" to post anything. I would think after 911 his comments would be the same as threatening the president and considered "terroristics threat" ?? JMHO

I totally agree Txsflame.  And I do (freedom of speech), but then I do not understand why they are allowed to do what they do.

[Heart]

Work, family were center of slain Fort Hood civilian's life

By Mallory Simon and Jim Spellman, CNN
November 8, 2009 10:03 a.m. EST


Michael Cahill is seen here in a family photo with his grandson, Brody Vanacker. Cahill, who was killed Thursday in the massacre at Fort Hood, worked at the post as a civilian physician assistant. (Cahill family photo)


Cameron, Texas (CNN) -- Joleen Cahill had a gnawing feeling in her stomach.

She was at work on Thursday afternoon when she heard a gunman opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Program at Fort Hood, Texas, the same place her husband, Michael Cahill, worked as a physician's assistant.

Immediately, Joleen Cahill searched online to see if her husband was OK, but she found no answers.

She went to her Cameron home, where she and a friend huddled around the television.

"We were sitting at home agonizing," said Cahill's daughter Keely Vanacker. "We were calling every number, nobody could help, nobody could give us an answer."

Cahill tried calling her husband. She got no answer.

"I knew that he wouldn't be able to call us, and I knew just to wait," she said. "I kept hoping that no news was good news."

She held onto hope on news that those who were killed were all soldiers, but at 11:15 that night, while she was on the phone with one of her daughters, there was a knock at the door.

It was a military representative there to tell her that her husband had been killed in the attack -- the only civilian out of the 13 victims.

Cahill, who works for a district attorney, said she knows that violence happens and can't always be stopped, but she never thought it would hit so close to home.

Michael Cahill, 62, had worked for six years at Fort Hood as a physician's assistant, helping soldiers deploying and returning from overseas, after working as a rural doctor and serving in the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves.

He loved his job so much that he drove 60 miles in each direction to get to work each day.

Three weeks ago, when Michael Cahill had a heart attack, he didn't want anyone to worry. He called his son from the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and didn't even mention it.

Cahill left his daughter Kerry a message: "Yes it's a heart attack. Yes, I'm fine. Don't call until this afternoon, I'll be fine."

A week later, he was back on the job. He wasn't the kind of person to sit at home and wallow over his heart attack, his family said.

"He was ready, he had to go back to work," Kerry Cahill said.

Family members said they know had he not been killed, he would have been trying to save the lives of others who were shot on Thursday.

"He would have been right there, he would have done what he could," Kerry Cahill said.

For Michael Cahill, work and family were his life.

When he worked as a rural health care provider, he was on call 24 hours a day, his family said. And he would make time for every single person who called -- no matter what hour -- to try and help.

"He did what he always thought was right. He supported his soldiers, he gave them the best care that he could give them," Joleen Cahill said.

"Any of his patients, any of the health centers he was at, even when it meant putting his own career and his family's safety at risk. He stood up for people and said what he thought was right."

Michael Cahill was also passionate about the health care debate, sending letters to legislators and writing messages online - all arguing for universal healthcare and a public option.

James Cahill remembered his father as an intellectual man who read anything he could get his hands on and loved watching C-SPAN.

"He was a very intellectual person just like me -- he was someone I could talk to more than anyone else," James Cahill said.

He was so smart -- his daughters joked -- that they altered the rules to Trivial Pursuit to make him answer more questions because he would always win.

The family chose to remember those memories, rather than focus on Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the shooting.

"He's not the person I'm thinking about," Keely Vanacker said. "I'm thinking about my dad. He was a great person and it's going to be a great loss."

Family members stressed, however, they hope there isn't a backlash against Muslims because of the attack. It was one man's decision to unload his weapons, they said, and a larger group certainly shouldn't be held responsible.

"Being so angry at one group of people -- that's not going to bring my dad back," Keely Vanacker said.

Kerry Cahill, still wearing her father's plaid shirt that she just couldn't take off yet, became emotional when asked what she would miss most about her father.

"What would you miss if your dad died?" she asked before pausing, as if to give time to think of all of the memories anyone might have of their father. "I'll miss that."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/08/fort.hood.civilian.death/

Video:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/08/fort.hood.civilian.death/

[Heart]

Alabamians wounded at Fort Hood

Alabamians have a long tradition of military service, so it's not surprising that there were several people from the state caught up in the mass murders of soldiers and a civilian at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. But knowing that at least three of the 29 people wounded in the shootings have ties to the state certainly brings the impact home to people in Alabama.

News reports indicate that the injured include Warrant Officer Christopher Royal, who went to Elmore County High School in Eclectic; Staff Sgt. Chad Davis, who has family in Eufaula; and Maj. Randy Royer of Dothan, an Alabama National Guard member who was at Fort Hood with his Guard unit in preparation for deploying to Afghanistan.

Royal was shot in the back, but the wound was treated and he was released from the hospital in time to eat dinner with his family Friday evening.

"I'm thanking God that I'm able to sit here and have dinner with my family once again," Royal told the Birmingham News.

Royer is hospitalized and may require surgery. Chad Davis's father, retired Army Col. Mike Davis of Eufaula, told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that his son was treated for a wound in the shoulder and released from the hospital Friday.

Also caught up in the shootings was Alabama National Guard Maj. Kendrick Traylor, an Army National Guardsman and a ROTC instructor at the University of Alabama. Traylor was in the facility where the gunman opened fire with two handguns, but he was not hit.

"It was crazy pandemonium," Traylor told the Birmingham News. "Individuals were crawling on the floor and one individual soldier was hit in the leg but he was okay. We pulled him inside our cubicle."

Traylor said he was "just hoping and praying" that the gunman was not going to run into the cubicle and open fire "while we were all there, basically sitting ducks."

Traylor and Royer are members of the Alabama Army National Guard's 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, which is preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. About a dozen members of the Alabama-based unit were in and around the facility

Alabama has for decades been among the leading states in the percentage of its population who serve in the regular Armed Services and in the National Guard.

As devastating as the deaths and injuries were, it is becoming clear that it could have been even worse except for the heroics of two police officers who returned fire and wounded Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the apparent gunman. And medical personnel praised the first-aid response of soldiers on the scene, which helped to minimize the loss of lives.

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dragged on -- the U.S. fighting there has already has outlasted this nation's involvement in World War II -- there has been a tendency for Americans to take for granted the sacrifices that the men and women in its military services make to protect this nation's interests.

This shooting is a dramatic reminder of those sacrifices, which no American should ever forget.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20091108/OPINION01/911080312/1006/OPINION/Alabamians-wounded-at-Fort-Hood

[Heart]

Ft. Hood Victim Speaks - Video


Nathan Hewitt

One of the victims of the attack at Fort Hood, Corporal Nathan Hewitt was released from the hospital after narrowly escaping death. Don Teague speaks with Hewitt in a CBS News exclusive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCGvHrIrUYs



Soldier from Lafayette recounts Fort Hood shooting

Posted: Nov 06, 2009 6:07 AM CST Updated: Nov 06, 2009 4:17 PM CST

Fort Hood, Texas - The US military says one of the deadliest attacks ever on US military base was carried out by one of their own.

Nidal Hasan, a major, is accused of shooting multiple fellow soldiers at a processing center Thursday afternoon, killing 13 and wounding 30 more. He remains in a coma after being shot several times by an officer who managed to stop him.

Corporal Nathan Hewitt, a 27-year-old soldier from Lafayette, Indiana, was inside the room when the massacre began. He suffered two gunshot wounds in the attack.

Cpl. Hewitt was in the medical center to get a round of vaccinations before his January deployment to Afghanistan. Suddenly, he knew something was terribly wrong.

"All I heard was screaming, shooting and I tried to take cover," he said. "And then I got hit and I tried to get people out with me that could move, that I was getting out of the building."

Hewitt says he ran to an exit door trying to get soldiers out of the line of fire when he felt a stinging in his hip and what felt like a muscle spasm in his calf. He had been shot twice.

"I didn't even honestly know I was hit until I got over to the other building. I knew I was hit with something but I didn't know what," he said.

Cpl. Hewitt told Eyewitness News that he and others took cover, ending up in a secure building at Fort Hood. Moments later, the shooting ended in what has become the worst massacre in history at a US military installation.

"I think he's just staying focused on doing his job," said Elmo Robledo, Hewitt's uncle. "That's the type of individual Nathan is. He put everybody else's concern above his own even though he was wounded...making sure they were getting out of harm's way."

Released from a Texas hospital late Friday, Nathan Hewitt is trying to make sense out of a senseless act of violence. Eyewitness News asked him if he felt angry.

"A little bit. Not much. I'm just trying to make sure all my other soldiers are okay," he said.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=11455888

[Fanny Mae]

New York-Based Radical Muslim Hails Fort Hood Massacre

Sunday, November 08, 2009

NEW YORK —  A New York City bicycle cabbie who mocked the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and posted a prayer on the Web calling for the murder of Jews is now sending a "Get Well Soon" message to the suspected Fort Hood gunman, the New York Post reported.

Yousef al-Khattab, 41, a radical Muslim in the borough of Queens who runs RevolutionMuslim.com, claims on the site that the soldiers massacred at the Texas base deserved to be massacred, and he insists the victims are in "eternal hellfire." As for the suspected gunman — Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — Al-Khattab hails him as a hero.

"An officer and a gentleman was injured while partaking in a pre-emptive attack," al-Khattab wrote on the site. "Get well soon Major Nidal. We love you."

Al-Khattab, a Jewish-born New Jersey native formerly named Joseph Cohen, converted to Islam in 2004. Known by the FBI for posting radical messages online, al-Khattab claims that the 13 murdered and 38 wounded soldiers at Fort Hood were "terrorists" who deserved to die.

"These people are soldiers in a volunteer army," al-Khattab told the Post. "They expect to see combat. They know the danger."

"Rest assured the slain terrorists at Ft. Hood are in the eternal hellfire," al-Khattab writes online.
Related Stories

    * New York-Based Muslim's Web Site Calls for God to 'Kill the Jews'

On Oct. 7, al-Khattab posted a message on the Web calling on Allah to carry out "wrath on the Jewish occupiers of Palestine & their supporters."

"Please throw liquid drain cleaner in their faces," he wrote. " … burn their flammable sukkos while they sleep … Ya Allah (Oh God) answer my duaa (prayer)." ("Sukkos" refers to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, during which Jews build and eat their meals in outdoor huts known as "sukkahs," which represent the huts the Jews lived in during their exodus from Egypt.)

Al Khattab insists that his hatred is protected by the First Amendment. "If it was a threat, I'd be in jail," the 41-year-old al-Khattab told FoxNews.com in October.

Hasan — a radical Muslim — reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, before unloading more than 100 rounds at soldiers preparing to ship off to Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572998,00.html

     

 WHY WHY WHY is this guy still "free" to post anything. I would think after 911 his comments would be the same as threatening the president and considered "terroristics threat" ?? JMHO

"Freedom of Speech" as provided by our Constitution. They can stand on the corner in NYC or any city in the USA and spew their venom.. They come here to be protected by our Constitution and use it against us. They hate us, and they use what our founding fathers provided us to protect themselves. Our own government is trying to limit what we are allowed to say on the internet, but these terrorist can say what they like, when they like. How mixed up is that?

[Txsflame]

New York-Based Radical Muslim Hails Fort Hood Massacre

Sunday, November 08, 2009

NEW YORK —  A New York City bicycle cabbie who mocked the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and posted a prayer on the Web calling for the murder of Jews is now sending a "Get Well Soon" message to the suspected Fort Hood gunman, the New York Post reported.

Yousef al-Khattab, 41, a radical Muslim in the borough of Queens who runs RevolutionMuslim.com, claims on the site that the soldiers massacred at the Texas base deserved to be massacred, and he insists the victims are in "eternal hellfire." As for the suspected gunman — Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — Al-Khattab hails him as a hero.

"An officer and a gentleman was injured while partaking in a pre-emptive attack," al-Khattab wrote on the site. "Get well soon Major Nidal. We love you."

Al-Khattab, a Jewish-born New Jersey native formerly named Joseph Cohen, converted to Islam in 2004. Known by the FBI for posting radical messages online, al-Khattab claims that the 13 murdered and 38 wounded soldiers at Fort Hood were "terrorists" who deserved to die.

"These people are soldiers in a volunteer army," al-Khattab told the Post. "They expect to see combat. They know the danger."

"Rest assured the slain terrorists at Ft. Hood are in the eternal hellfire," al-Khattab writes online.
Related Stories

    * New York-Based Muslim's Web Site Calls for God to 'Kill the Jews'

On Oct. 7, al-Khattab posted a message on the Web calling on Allah to carry out "wrath on the Jewish occupiers of Palestine & their supporters."

"Please throw liquid drain cleaner in their faces," he wrote. " … burn their flammable sukkos while they sleep … Ya Allah (Oh God) answer my duaa (prayer)." ("Sukkos" refers to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, during which Jews build and eat their meals in outdoor huts known as "sukkahs," which represent the huts the Jews lived in during their exodus from Egypt.)

Al Khattab insists that his hatred is protected by the First Amendment. "If it was a threat, I'd be in jail," the 41-year-old al-Khattab told FoxNews.com in October.

Hasan — a radical Muslim — reportedly shouted "Allahu akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, before unloading more than 100 rounds at soldiers preparing to ship off to Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572998,00.html

     

 WHY WHY WHY is this guy still "free" to post anything. I would think after 911 his comments would be the same as threatening the president and considered "terroristics threat" ?? JMHO

"Freedom of Speech" as provided by our Constitution. They can stand on the corner in NYC or any city in the USA and spew their venom.. They come here to be protected by our Constitution and use it against us. They hate us, and they use what our founding fathers provided us to protect themselves. Our own government is trying to limit what we are allowed to say on the internet, but these terrorist can say what they like, when they like. How mixed up is that?

 BUT if you or I, or any American spoke AGAINST the president, and said thing about him, as has been said against our MILITARY men and women..we would be locked up.. if the proper authorities heard.. So why can anyone speak out and say our MILITARY men and women deserve to die.. THEY(the powers that be) can atleast make his life so miserable he ran back to his precious homeland.

[Fanny Mae]

HEART, I just want to thank you again for you fantastic and heartfelt work on this thread. I know that being a Texan just how hard this has been for you. I have been beside myself with raw emotion, but you have held it together and put it all out here. I just want you to know just how much I appreciate your work here, and I feel for you and what you are feeling too. You have a good heart, and you are well named. HEART.  

[Fanny Mae]

TXFLAME, Another for you too. 

[Heart]

HEART, I just want to thank you again for you fantastic and heartfelt work on this thread. I know that being a Texan just how hard this has been for you. I have been beside myself with raw emotion, but you have held it together and put it all out here. I just want you to know just how much I appreciate your work here, and I feel for you and what you are feeling too. You have a good heart, and you are well named. HEART.  

Thank you Fanny for your thanks. 

I have been to military bases more than once to see my army son deployed to Iraq.  I have experienced receiving the phone call notifying me that my son was involved in a suicide bombing and was in a hospital in Baghdad.  Thank God, that he brought my son through that practically unscathed. But I know how these family members feel.  And now I sit on pins and needles waiting to hear of the next deployment.

I have stood and watched with a heavy heart, these brave men and women, hug, kiss their family members goodbye and board buses to be shipped off to God knows where in order to fight and to protect us and others.  The love, the respect that I have for these men and women runs deep and really I cannot find the proper words to describe it.

Ever time I am in the presence of one of our military, I always try to converse and relay my gratitude while my eyes well up with tears.  Sometimes I think they think I'm a little nutty,  , but I don't think that we can ever thank them enough.

[Heart]

Alleged shooter tied to mosque of 9/11 hijackers

By PAMELA HESS (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — The family of the alleged Fort Hood shooter held his mother's funeral at the same Virginia mosque that two Sept. 11 hijackers attended in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there.

Whether the Fort Hood shooter associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

The family of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 and wounded 29 at the Texas military base, held his mother's funeral at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., on May 31, 2001, according to her obituary in the Roanoke Times newspaper.

In 2001, Anwar Aulaqi was an imam, or spiritual leader, at the Washington-area mosque. Aulaqi told the FBI in 2001 that, before he moved to Virginia in early 2001, he met with 9/11 hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi several times in San Diego. Al-Hazmi was at the time living with Khalid al-Mihdhar, another hijacker. Al-Hazmi and another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, attended the Dar al Hijrah mosque in Virginia in early April 2001.

In his FBI interview, Aulaqi denied ever meeting with al-Hazmi and Hanjour while in Virginia.

Aulaqi, a native-born U.S. citizen, left the United States in 2002, eventually traveling to Yemen. He was investigated by the FBI in 1999 and 2000 after it was learned that he may have been contacted by a possible procurement agent for Osama bin Laden. During this investigation, the FBI learned that Aulaqi knew people involved in raising money for Hamas, a Palestinian group on the U.S. State Department's terrorist list.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at Dar al Hijrah, said he did not know whether Hasan ever attended the mosque but confirmed that the Hasan family participated in services there. Abdul-Malik said the Hasans were not leaders at the mosque and their attendance was utterly normal.

The Falls Church mosque is one of the largest on the East Coast, and thousands of worshippers attend prayers and services there every week. Abdul-Malik said it's a mistake for people to conflate regular attendance at a mosque with extremism.

Many Muslims pray at the mosque multiple times a day, he said. "It's part of family life. It's like going out for ice cream after dinner."

Faizul Khan, former imam of the Muslim Community Center in nearby Silver Spring, Md., where Hasan also worshipped, said he was not aware that Hasan had attended services at Dar al Hijrah but said it would not be unusual for Hasan to attend more than one mosque concurrently.

Khan said he did not recall Hasan mentioning having been taught or preached to by Aulaqi.

The London Telegraph first reported the potential link between Hasan and the mosque.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Sunday it's important for the country not to get caught up in speculation about Hasan's Muslim faith, and he has instructed his commanders to be on the lookout for anti-Muslim reaction to the killings at the Texas post.

He says focusing on the Islamic roots of the suspected shooter could "heighten the backlash" against all Muslims in the military.

Casey says diversity in the military "gives us strength."

Casey declined to answer questions about the investigation into the shooting, but said evidence to this point shows that Hasan acted alone. He toured Fort Hood on Friday with Army Secretary John McHugh.

Casey appeared on ABC's "This Week" and CNN's "State of the Union."

Associated Press Writers Eileen Sullivan, Ben Nuckols and Matthew Barakat contributed to this story.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hDlRkRffovJlX8OT05h89h3zfgWwD9BRMIN01

[MuffyBee]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125769764441836773.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular
    * NOVEMBER 8, 2009, 10:03 P.M. ET

Lieberman Suggests Army Shooter Was 'Home-Grown Terrorist'

By BRODY MULLINS

A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a "self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist" who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.

Mr. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had opened fire Thursday at a soldier processing center at Fort Hood, Tex., killing 13 and wounding 29 in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S.

Mr. Lieberman, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," cautioned that it remained too early to draw any definitive conclusions. He said his comments were based on "reports that we are receiving" about Mr. Hasan's actions and comments.

The Army's top officer, Gen. George Casey, wouldn't rule out that the shooting was an act of terrorism, but cautioned against speculation at this point. "We all want to know what happened and what motivated the suspect, but we need to … let the investigation take its course," he told ABC News's "This Week."

Mr. Lieberman said that if news reports were true that Mr. Hasan had turned to Islamic extremism, "the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most-destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11."
We don't know enough to say now, but there are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act," Mr. Lieberman added.

The lawmaker said he would begin a Senate investigation aimed at uncovering Mr. Hasan's motives and asking "whether the Army missed warning signs." He also called on the Pentagon to begin an independent investigation to determine whether "warning signs were missed."

Mr. Lieberman said preliminary evidence suggested that Mr. Hasan had denounced the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "In the U.S. Army, this is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech," the senator said. "If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have zero tolerance. He should have been gone."

Gen. Casey said the Army was conducting an investigation to try to determine the motivation behind the shootings. "We in the Army will take a very hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves some very hard questions," he said.

He expressed concern that speculation about the shooting could result in a "backlash" against Muslim soldiers. "What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even-greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here," he said. "We have a very diverse army. We have a very diverse society. And that gives us all strength."

Gen. Casey said the Army has taken steps to help identify and help soldiers with mental health issues in an effort to prevent repeats of the shooting at Fort Hood. He said the Army encouraged members of the military to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress.

The Army has also partnered with the National Institute for Health on a $50 million study of suicide, and has a $125 million program aimed at giving soldiers and their family members the "resilient skills they need to make it through these tough times," the general said.
 Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com

[Heart]

Imam of mosque Hasan once attended denies alleged link to 9/11 hijackers

FORT WORTH, Texas _ The suspect in the Fort Hood shootings once regularly attended a Falls Church, Va., mosque, which the FBI has linked to two of the 9/11 hijackers, but the congregation's current spiritual leader Sunday insisted the government's claims of connections are wrong.

In 2001, Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center was led by Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born scholar now living in Yemen. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, according to new disclosures by a Fort Hood acquaintance, was an admirer of al-Awlaki, who has been described as a radical Islamist.

The 9/11 Commission report accepted FBI findings that two of the hijackers, Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour, briefly worshiped at the mosque after one had met al-Awlaki during the imam's previous religious posting in San Diego. But the FBI found no evidence al-Awlaki had prior knowledge of the attack, the Washington Post reported.

Shaker el Sayed, Dar's current imam, said the FBI turned over to the commission the fact that two of the hijackers used the mosque as their home address on driver's license applications, which el Sayed ridiculed as a specious link, noting even FBI agents he met could not provide credible proof of a connection with the congregation.

Moreover, no congregant remembers seeing either al-Hamzi or Hanjour at Dar, one of the capital area's oldest and largest mosques, the imam told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

El Sayid said he spent time with Hasan, but that was after being asked to assist finding the bachelor psychiatrist a wife.

"I met him personally because he sought my help to get him married. This was unsuccessful," said the imam, who learned little of the man's world view.

Like most worshipers, he said Hasan "joined prayers, finished prayers, then left. I didn't see him hanging out with people, joining discussion groups or classes. But there has been a lot of blogging about our mosque, a rightwing conspiracy, trying to make a mountain out of cardboard."

Contrary to numerous reports Hasan was a brooding loner in Killeen, Texas, a more detailed picture of Hasan has surfaced that said he had at least one close friend, an Army officer who had converted to Islam several years ago. They had worshiped through the night together during the final days of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting holiday.

Kamran Pasha, a Pakistani-American novelist, quoted the Fort Hood officer as saying he befriended the Army psychiatrist, prayed side by side with him hours before Thursday's mass killings and had once challenged Hasan's view that Islam condoned suicide bombings.

Hasan also argued Jews were "cursed by God," according to the officer, who had contacted Pasha long before the shootings to discuss his novel, "Mother of the Believers," an account of Islam's beginnings as seen through the eyes of Prophet Mohammed's wife Aisha. The officer, a 22-year Army veteran, declined to be identified or speak to reporters because of his past work in special operations in Iraq, Pasha said. No independent corroboration could be made Sunday.

The following is what the officer purportedly told of his relationship with Hasan, according to Pasha:

At their very first meeting in July, Hasan insisted the war on terror was actually a war on Islam and that Muslims should have no part in the U.S. military.

Despite his disagreement, the career officer and Hasan were to forge a friendship. Hasan also got to know the officer's family and the 10-year-old son, who wanted to study medicine, began to consider the Army psychiatrist as a role model.

The officer respected Hasan's evident piety and they often met at Killeen's mosque, which the psychiatrist attended daily. But Hasan's black-and-white interpretation of Islam that afforded no room for nuance or debate, sometimes leading to flare-ups between the two men. At the mention of al-Awlaki, he recalled Hasan's eyes "lit up."

Another hint of radicalism surfaced when Hasan angrily told the officer he should not have asked a group of Muslims if the Taliban followed Prophet Mohammed's true path or were misguided. While others present defended the the right to ask, the officer was taken aback by Hasan's vehemence, which transformed what had been an amiable gathering.

At predawn prayers Thursday, the officer was asked by the imam to recite the call to worship, or azan.

But before he could begin, Hasan rose from his seat and performed the ritual, smiling and winking at his friend.

The officer, who began studying Islam after 9/11 "to know one's enemy" and later decided to convert, believes Hasan -if he is indeed the shooter -might have been influenced by radical religious views and from months of hearing his patients recount horrific stories from Iraq and Afghanistan, which only hardened the psychiatrist's extreme positions. Then an imminent deployment possibly pushed him over the edge.

That puzzles to the officer, who told Pasha Hasan would likely have never gone near combat but most probably would have been ensconced in a heavily protected compound.

After the shootings, the officer told his son Hasan might have been responsible for a very bad deed and could no longer be his role model, Pasha added.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/137492796

[Heart]

Links to imam followed in Fort Hood investigation

The suspect had attended a mosque once led by an imam who now supports Al-Qaida. But "the jury's still out on motivation," an official cautioned.

http://www.startribune.com/local/69535822.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUZ

[joesamas mama]

Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Frequented Local Strip Club

I'm not suprised the 9-11 hijackers did the same. 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573052,00.html


KILLEEN, Texas —  The Army psychiatrist authorities say killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at the Fort Hood Army Base Thursday was a recent and frequent customer at a local strip club, employees of the club told FoxNews.com exclusively.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came into the Starz strip club not far from the base at least three times in the past month, the club's general manager, Matthew Jones, told FoxNews.com. Army investigators building their case against Hasan plan to interview Jones soon.

"The last time he was here, I remember checking his military ID at the door, and he paid his $15 cover and stayed for six or seven hours," Jones, 37, said.

Hasan's presence at the club paints a starkly different portrait of the alleged killer from that offered by his imam and family members, who have described him as a devout Muslim, and one who had difficulty finding a wife who would wear a head scarf and would pray five times a day.

Starz is a strip club located just down the road from the main gate entrance to the Fort Hood Base. It does not serve alcohol, but customers bring their own beer and liquor and buy ice buckets and mixers at the club.

Hasan sat at a table in the back corner of the club, to the left of the stage on which strippers dance around a pole, employees said.

Jennifer Jenner, who works at Starz using the stage name Paige, said Hasan bought a lap dance from her two nights in a row. She said he paid $50 for a dance lasting three songs in one of the club's private rooms on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30.

"I remembered his face because it was the first lap dance I [gave] to a customer while working here," she said. "When I saw his face [Friday] on TV, I jumped out of bed, I knew it was him."

Jenner, 31, said Hasan was dressed casually both nights he came to the club - in jeans and a T-shirt the first night and then wearing a baseball cap the next. She recalled that he arrived at about 6:30 p.m. and stayed until 2 a.m. She said he brought in a six pack of light beer, took only a few sips from one can and gave the rest to the strippers.

"He preferred the blondes," said Jenner, whose hair was dyed blond at the time. "He said he was a medic and that he was being deployed soon, but mostly he wanted to ask us questions."

"He asked us why we were working at the strip club, if we liked the lifestyle, if we had any kids," she said. "It was right before Halloween so he asked what our kids were dressing up as. He just wanted to know a lot about us."

Jenner said she asked Hasan why he liked coming to Starz instead of another of the roughly half a dozen other clubs nearby, all about an 8-minute drive from the Army base.

"I like it here because no one I work with is here," she said Hasan replied.

Starz is smaller than most of the other clubs, has only about 10 dancers and caters to a louder crowd. Jenner said Army medics generally don't hang out at the club.

"He wasnt too loud like some of our other customers, or sleazy. He didn't try to take any of us home and he was respectful," she said. "I think he mostly came here to kill some time and just relax. He stood out here because he was much more reserved than our other customers.

"I just can't believe that he's the one who killed all those people. You know, he tipped every girl as she came off the stage after her dance. He was a really good tipper."

[Heart]

Mom of soldier says Fort Hood doctor Nidal Malik Hasan scared her

BY Joanna Molloy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, November 9th 2009, 4:00 AM

He was supposed to help her hero son - but all she saw in Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's eyes was evil.

The mom of a soldier who received psychiatric treatment from the accused Fort Hood gunman said she was frightened of the psychiatrist from the very beginning of her son's stay at Walter Reed Medical Center.

"I looked into his eyes, and he scared me," Cindy Gagnier told the Daily News. "He made some comments to me that made me feel very uncomfortable, and I don't become uncomfortable very easily."

The New York-born mother of four was at her son Christian's bedside constantly after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2005 while fighting in Iraq.

The young veteran, who also is dealing with posttraumatic stress disorder, spent 18 months at Walter Reed, where Hasan spent six years on staff.

"[Hasan] said to me one time, 'They all need to come home,'" Gagnier recalled. "He said all the boys should come home.

"He was very blunt. He was very controlled," she said.

Hasan started his medical internship at Walter Reed in 2003 at the age of 33.

Gagnier virtually lived at Walter Reed during a difficult stretch of her oldest son's care.

During that time, she recalls Hasan as "not very empathetic."

"[Hasan] said it was all right for my son to leave the hospital, but it wasn't," Gagnier said.

She was so focused on getting Christian better that Gagnier, now a tireless advocate for other disabled Iraq and Afghan war veterans, did not make a formal complaint.

"Other doctors came to my side and helped me," Gagnier attests. "I was very watchful over my son."

Gagnier was in New York working with the Bob Woodruff Foundation last week when news broke Thursday that Hasan allegedly shot 13 people to death and wounded dozens more.

She doesn't buy reports that Hasan simply woke up one day and snapped.

"I don't think he flipped out," she said. "I think what he did was an act of terrorism."

jmolloy@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/11/09/2009-11-09_mom_of_soldier_feared_fort_hood_doctor.html#ixzz0WN1Rq1Bx

[Heart]

This undated image made from KFDM-TV video shows a framed U.S. Army photo of Staff Sgt. Eric Williams Jackson, 39, of Beaumont, Texas. Jackson was one several wounded during a mass shooting, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood military base near Killeen, Texas. He was shot in the forearm.
(AP Photo/KFDM-TV) MANDATORY CREDIT. NO SALES.


Col. Kimberly Kesling listens to a question during news conference in front of Fort Hood headquarters in Killeen, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers during a rampage that left 13 people dead on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009 and 29 injured. Kesling was in charge of the department that Hasan was assigned to.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)


Lt. Col. Pete Andrysiak talks about his the soldiers under his command that were killed or wounded in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. Andrysiak had four soldiers killed and eleven wounded in the the battalion under his command.
(AP Photo/LM Otero)

[Fanny Mae]

HEART, I just want to thank you again for you fantastic and heartfelt work on this thread. I know that being a Texan just how hard this has been for you. I have been beside myself with raw emotion, but you have held it together and put it all out here. I just want you to know just how much I appreciate your work here, and I feel for you and what you are feeling too. You have a good heart, and you are well named. HEART.  

Thank you Fanny for your thanks. 

I have been to military bases more than once to see my army son deployed to Iraq.  I have experienced receiving the phone call notifying me that my son was involved in a suicide bombing and was in a hospital in Baghdad.  Thank God, that he brought my son through that practically unscathed. But I know how these family members feel.  And now I sit on pins and needles waiting to hear of the next deployment.

I have stood and watched with a heavy heart, these brave men and women, hug, kiss their family members goodbye and board buses to be shipped off to God knows where in order to fight and to protect us and others.  The love, the respect that I have for these men and women runs deep and really I cannot find the proper words to describe it.

Ever time I am in the presence of one of our military, I always try to converse and relay my gratitude while my eyes well up with tears.  Sometimes I think they think I'm a little nutty,  , but I don't think that we can ever thank them enough.

I had no idea that you had a wounded soldier son. God bless you both. I had many members of my family in the service at one time or another, and thankfully they all came home safe. I get weak in the knees just at the thought of see my son or daughter getting in that bus. You have nothing but my admiration and respect.

[Txsflame]

 What we are being told locally. From KWTX Channel 10 (Waco, Temple, Killeen, Ft HOOD)


FORT HOOD (November 7, 2009)—Fort Hood Department of Emergency Services Senior Sgt. Mark Todd is being credited with firing the shots that brought down the gunman who opened fire Thursday in the post’s crowded Soldier Readiness Center, killing 13 and wounding 30.

Todd, who’s assigned to the department’s K-9 Division, joined Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who was hailed as a hero Friday for her actions, in a firefight with Maj. Nidal Milak Hasan that lasted less than a minute Thursday afternoon.

 The two officers responded within minutes of the report of the shooting.

Todd said Hasan started firing on him and Munley, who took cover behind a vehicle.

He said Munley left the cover to pursue Hasan, while Todd followed around the other side of the building.

Using her standard issue 9-mm Beretta, Munley exchanged gunfire with Hasan, striking him at least once, Fort Hood officials said Friday.

She was shot in legs and the wrist, said Chuck Medley, Fort Hood’s director of emergency response services.

When Todd looked around the corner of the building, he said he saw Munley on the ground and Hasan hiding behind a post firing at people who were trying to escape.

Todd said he fired five shots and Hasan fell.

He said he took away the wounded psychiatrist’s guns and then handcuffed him.

“We did just like we were trained to do…shouting commands and working as a team,” Todd said.

“We had no time to feel anything, just to react.”

Todd then turned his attention to helping injured soldiers.

“I felt so much for the wounded and the dead and their families,” he said.

“I didn’t feel guilty about shooting someone while doing my job; the only guilty feeling I had was that we didn’t get there sooner.”


 On Friday, Fort Hood commander Lt. Gen. Bob Cone credited Munley for stopping the rampage.

"It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer,” Cone said.

Munley’s neighbors in Killeen told News 10 the police officer is a force to be reckoned with.

In May, she helped stop a burglary in her neighborhood, chasing two teenagers who tried to break into a home.

Munley’s stepmother said she’s not surprised at the heroics.

Wanda Barbour told The Star-News of Wilmington that she knew Munley was involved when she heard a female officer at Fort Hood had wounded Hasan.

Munley is the daughter of Dennis Barbour, a former mayor of Carolina Beach, N.C., a coastal town about 15 miles south of Wilmington.

Wanda Barbour told the newspaper she and her husband are heading to Texas.

Munley is recovering from her wounds at Scott & White Hospital in Temple.

Munley’s husband, who’s a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, was flown to Fort Hood Friday.

The couple has two children.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORT HOOD (November 8, 2009)—The Army Criminal Investigation Command issued an appeal Sunday for soldiers or civilians who may have been in the area of the deadly shooting spree Thursday at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center and who may have unknowingly left the area with residual evidence such as damaged private vehicles, clothing, shell casings inside boots or even gunshot residue on footwear or clothing.

Investigators are asking those soldiers and civilians to come forward because they may have inadvertently left the scene with evidence that could assist in the trajectory analysis that’s underway at the shooting scene, Fort Hood said Sunday.

 “Gunshot-damaged material needs to be inspected by the soldier's or civilian's supervisor and/or chain of command,” Fort Hood said.

“Unit level chains of command also need to provide verification of such material,” Fort Hood said.

Units whose personnel were in the area of the shooting scene were asked to call the Fort Hood office of the U.S. Army CID.

 * As much as it pains me, I will ad this article, I am still mad at him and not ready to pray for him yet.
FORT HOOD (November 8, 2009)—In churches, synagogues and chapels throughout the Fort Hood area Sunday, worshippers prayed for the victims of Thursday’s deadly shooting and for the Army officer who’s accused of opening fire in a busy deployment-processing center, killing 12 soldiers and a civilian and wounding more than two-dozen others.

Central Christian Church near Fort Hood created a memorial in honor of the dead and wounded.

 On Fort Hood, an Army chaplain asked mourners to pray for the Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the psychiatrist who’s believed to have been the lone gunman responsible for the deadliest shooting in history on a U.S. military installation.

Col. Frank Jackson also exhorted his congregation Sunday to draw together even if the gunman's motives may never be fully known.

He urged the congregation Sunday to "focus on things we know."

Jackson asked the approximately 120 people gathered in the post chapel to pray for the 13 dead and more than two-dozen wounded in Thursday's attack.

He also asked them to pray Hasan and his family "as they find themselves in a position that no person ever desires to be."

Three days after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center, 16 injured victims remain in hospitals, officials said Sunday.

Seven of them are at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, where two remain in intensive care.

But even as Fort Hood mourns the victims of the shooting spree, the country's largest military installation is moving forward with its usual business of soldiering.

Col. John Rossi said Sunday that Fort Hood is "continuing to prepare for the mission at hand."

The processing center where Hasan opened fire on Thursday remains a crime scene, but the activities that went on there were relocated, with the goal of reopening the center as soon as Sunday.

But the specter of the shooting that killed 13 dead and wounded dozens of others lingers on the post.

Rossi acknowledged that psychic wounds could be deep.



TEMPLE (November 8, 2009)—Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who’s hailed as a hero for her quick actions in response to the shooting rampage Thursday on post, has undergone a second surgery and her family says she is grateful for all the good wishes.

Munley is credited with helping end the rampage by shooting the gunman.

 Fort Hood spokesman Col. John Rossi read a statement on Munley's behalf at a news conference Saturday in which he said she and her family were thankful for all the support and prayers that have some their way since the story of her actions emerged.

Rossi said she underwent her second surgery Saturday and is in good condition.

She is most concerned that the wounded survivors of the shooting make speedy recoveries.

A doctor said earlier that Munley had a gunshot wound that had hit an artery.

Munley was the first officer to open fire on suspected gunman Maj. Nidal Maik Hasan.

She was shot in the exchange of gunfire.

A second officer, Sgt. Mark Todd, then opened fire on Hasan.

He said he handcuffed the Army psychiatrist, and then turned his attention to helping the injured.

Todd rejects the notion that he's a hero, saying the confrontation with Hasan was what he was trained to do.

[Heart]

Private Joseph Foster, who was wounded in the shooting at Fort Hood Army post, walks out of his house with his wife, Mandy, and their six month-old daughter Keilee on the Fort Hood Army post in Fort Hood, Texas November 8, 2009. Thirteen people died in the mass shooting Thursday at the sprawling U.S. Army base in Texas. An Army psychiatrist trained to treat war wounded is suspected in the killings. The suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States of immigrant parents, was shot four times by police. He was hospitalized and is in stable condition.
REUTERS/Larry Smith/Pool (UNITED STATES MILITARY CRIME LAW)


Injured Utahn helped other troops at Fort Hood
Weber soldier aided others after shooting despite being shot

By Joseph M. Dougherty
Deseret News
Published: Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 10:25 p.m. MST

WASHINGTON TERRACE — These emotions weren't supposed to come yet.

The worry, the heartache, the fear: They were expected later, once Aggie Foster's son deployed to Afghanistan, not on Thursday while he still was awaiting his deployment at a Texas Army base.

Aggie Foster was at work at Ogden Regional Medical Center when her daughter-in-law called to tell her that a gunman had walked into Fort Hood's Soldier Family Readiness Center and shot her youngest son, Joey, an Army private first class, in the hip.

Aggie Foster began to buckle, but Joey's wife, Mandy, assured her that Joey was OK, and the mother talked with her son Thursday and Friday.

Joey Foster, 21, has only been in the Army for a year, following in his brother's footsteps. But his training kicked in during the mayhem at Fort Hood, his mother said.

Thirteen people died and 30 were wounded when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, believed to be the lone shooter, began firing. Included among the dead was 19-year-old Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka of West Jordan.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705342691/Injured-Utahn-helped-other-troops.html

[Heart]

Special Report: Was the Fort Hood Massacre an Example of 'Freelance JIHAD?'
By Randy Sly
11/8/2009

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Major Nidal Malik Hasan remains in a coma and his motives remain in that darkness. However, it does appear ominous.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) – Only minutes after the bloody assault at the Soldier Readiness Center (SRC), Fort Hood, Texas, the media was buzzing with news that the gunman, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was a devout Muslim. Before opening fire, first-hand accounts reported he yelled, “Allahu Akbar” meaning “God is greatest.”

While officials were reluctant to explain any possible motivation behind the killings, news of Hasan’s background and activities earlier in the day began to form a consistent pattern of behavior.

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch reported that the online magazine “Sada al-Malahim” Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Nasir al-Wahayshi released an article calling jihadists to initiate simple attacks on random targets. In the article, he described these targets as "any crusaders whenever you find one of them, like at the airports of the crusader Western countries that participate in the wars against Islam, or their living compounds, trains etc…"

Spencer’s article was quick to ask the obvious question – was Hasan’s attack a response to this invitation. Was it “freelance jihad?”

As the day wore on, further issues and behaviors were uncovered regarding the Army doctor that seemed to underscore the possibility of this motive.

Here are just a few things that have been released, providing a clearer picture of the gunman’s actions and mindset just prior to his attack at Fort Hood:

1. Spencer posted a confirming report from KSL-TV concerning the beginning of the attack. In the online report a father recounts the conversation he had just had with his daughter, who was stationed at Fort Hood and at the SRC during the attack. The daughter told her father that the man shouted “Allah Akbar” before opening fire.

2. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Hasan argued with fellow soldiers who supported U.S. war policy.

3. They also reported that at least six months ago Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials. Although not yet confirmed, they suspected that he was the author of some Internet postings about suicide bombings and other possible threats.

4. Also, according to the AP, that morning he called a friend to thank him for his friendship.

5. At Jihad Watch, Spencer posted a story from Justin Blum at Bloomberg as follows:

“Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, regularly described the war on terror as ‘a war against Islam,’ according to a doctor who was in a graduate program with him.”

6. A YouTube posting by Spencer from CNN showed Hasan at a convenience store earlier in the day of the shooting. In the video, the reporter recounts a conversation between Hasan and the store owner, also a Muslim regarding the doctor’s upcoming deployment. Hasan indicated that fighting fellow muslims was weighing heavily on him.

7. Retired Colonel Terry Lee, a former colleague, told Fox News that while attending a conference Hasan stated that Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor. After news of a shooting at a Little Rock recruitment center at an earlier time, he made a similar comment.

8. The Killeen Daily Herald reported that police had secured Hasan’s apartment shortly after the attack and then Bell County SWAT teams evacuated the apartment complex later that day.

According to the Daily Herald, “In the morning, neighbors said Hasan handed Qurans and donated his furniture to anyone who would take it.

“Neighbors described Hasan as a quiet man who began wearing ‘Arabic clothing’ in recent weeks. Edward Windsor, a neighbor, never suspected Hasan was in the Army. Hasan's rank surprised Windsor who would never have imagined an officer with a rank of major would have lived in an apartment that rents for $350 and houses soldiers ranked as private first class.”

On Saturday, the Daily Herald highlighted Hasan’s generosity toward a neighbor, Patricia Villa on the morning of the shootings.

“Hasan's kindness and generosity overwhelmed Villa Thursday morning when he gifted his belongings to decorate her meager apartment at the Casa Del Norte apartments located along North Fourth Street. A few hours later the version of Hasan described on TV shocked her.”

“Hasan paid Villa $60 to clean his apartment Thursday morning, a few hours before the massacre.

“He never left her a key, Villa said. He also gave her a microwave, an air mattress, a steam cleaner and a scale.

“Hasan gave Villa several shirts, two ties and a suit for her husband.”

Robert Spencer made the following observations on his site Jihad Watch regarding the situation.

“…Major Hasan's motive was perfectly clear -- but it was one that the ...


forces of political correctness and the Islamic advocacy groups in the United States have been working for years to obscure. So it is that now that another major jihad terror attack has taken place on American soil, authorities and the mainstream media are at a loss to explain why it happened - and the abundant evidence that it was a jihad attack is ignored.”

Spencer also documents an Internet positing by a person, who gave his name as “Nidal Hasan.” In the post, the writer attempts to show that a suicide bomber has the same motivation as a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrades.

“Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland.”

Some of the reasons put forth for Hasan’s violence have been as strange as they are varied:
* Compassion fatigue – Secondary traumatization from counseling war veterans.
* Combat stress disorder – even though Hasan had never seen combat.
* Pre-traumatic stress disorder – overwhelmed by the stress of future combat.
* Vicarious stress disorder – assumed the traumatization of his patients.

CNN reporters pointed to the possibility of racism in an interview with Hasan’s cousin, who said, “There was racism towards him because he's a Muslim, because he's an Arab, because he prays.”

The cousin, however, went on to say, “If he had killed one or two, I could say that he was defending himself. I could say that there could have been a problem between two sides which led to the use of weapons. But for one to kill 13 people and injure more than 30, I personally don't think that it was because someone was bothering him. There is a bigger reason that this happened and no ones knows it besides Nidal.”

Gilbert Mercier, of News Junkie Post, challenges the idea of a terrorist motive. In his article “Will Fort Hood’s Tragedy Trigger An Anti-Muslim Backlash?” Mercier argues that Husan was American born and raised. He attended American schools, although the son of Palestinian immigrants he did not speak Arabic, and joined the Army to receive his medical training.

Somewhat a victim of circumstance, Hasan couldn’t get out of his deployment, let alone the Army since they paid for his education. He was caught.

And as for the attack, he has reservations about the first-hand accounts.

“FBI agents investigating the case are not sure Hasan really said ‘Allahu Akbar’ before he started shooting, but instead suggested that perhaps ‘Soldiers in the mayhem of the moment only imagined Hasan said ‘Allahu Akbar.’”

In his coverage of the events at Fort Hood,
“In April 2005, a Muslim serving in the U.S. Army, Hasan Akbar, was convicted of murder for killing two American soldiers and wounding fourteen in a grenade attack in Kuwait. AP reported: ‘Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve 'maximum carnage' on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.’

“And Hasan's murderous rampage resembles one that five Muslim men in New Jersey tried to carry out at Fort Dix in New Jersey in 2007, when they plotted to enter the U.S. Army base and murder as many soldiers as they could.

That was a jihad plot. One of the plotters, Serdar Tatar, told an FBI informant late in 2006: ‘I'm gonna do it....It doesn't matter to me, whether I get locked up, arrested, or get taken away, it doesn't matter. Or I die, doesn't matter, I'm doing it in the name of Allah.’

“Another plotter, Mohamad Shnewer, was caught on tape saying, ‘They are the ones, we are going to put bullets in their heads, Allah willing.’”

Spencer and Jihad Watch were spotlighted on Saturday by the Associated Press in an article on anti-Muslim backlash. Ironically, the Spencer’s story of a possible jihad was the only example they used to support the claim of a backlash.

Mosques across the country have called for increased police protection in fear of attack. So far, there has been no serious backlash to the actions of Hasan, either toward mosques or other Muslims in the armed services.

While the exact motive will not be known unless Hasan awakes from his coma, the circumstances that surround the massacre at Fort Hood provide compelling evidence that a religious motivation must be seriously considered among the reasons for the killings.

As radical Islamists, such as Al-Qaeda, continue to call for freelance jihad, without vigilance we remain vulnerable to those who embrace this call as their own.

-----

Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=34798&page=2