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

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Killeen Daily

http://www.kdhnews.com/forthood/special.pdf

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HEART, this is all so sad and so useless.  Thank you. 

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Videos


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Aftermath Of Ft Hood
http://video.najoomi.com/videos/yc_WjqQjmfo/Aftermath-Of-Ft-Hood.html

Muslim Officer Attacks Murders 13 at Fort Hood
http://video.najoomi.com/videos/YVn5DOJYzhU/Muslim-Officer-Attacks-Murders-13-at-Fort-Hood-Survives.html

Fort Hood Worse Terrorist Attack on American soil since 9 11 Fox News Reports
http://video.najoomi.com/videos/fOLdFaARCNI/Fort-Hood-Worse-Terrorist-Attack-on-American-soil-since-9-11-Fox-News-Reports.html

Bill O Reilly Fort Hood Shooter s Radical Islam Connections FOX News

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KILLEEN, Tex. — It seemed unlikely that Christopher Royal was going to be delivering the sermon Sunday at Shiloh Baptist Church in the tiny town of Eclectic, Ala., as scheduled. Mr. Royal, a chief warrant officer in the Army, had been shot three times in the back during the rampage at Fort Hood.

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The Victims at Fort Hood
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Major Held in Fort Hood Rampage Is Charged With 13 Counts of Murder (November 13, 2009)
Second Officer Gives an Account of the Shooting at Ft. Hood (November 13, 2009)
Times Topics: Fort Hood Army Base (Texas) | Nidal Malik Hasan
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The New York Times
Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Royal, who was shot in the back three times last week in the shootings at Fort Hood, Tex.

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Soldiers guarding the emergency room entrance at the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

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Richmond County Daily Journal
Pvt. George Stratton, III, shot in the shoulder. Specialist Grant Moxon, a mental health specialist.

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Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, a coach and father of two.
But early Saturday, Mr. Royal called his brother, Bernard Birmingham, and said he was coming anyway.

“I said, ‘Can you make it?’ ” Mr. Birmingham recalled on Thursday. “He said, ‘I can make it with the help of the Lord.’ ”

Like Mr. Royal, 37, many of those injured in the methodical killing spree at Fort Hood, of which Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged, have already begun the process of moving on, even as they live with scars and limps and frayed nerves, with wheelchairs and stomach staples and colostomy bags, with bullets positioned too precariously in soft tissue for doctors to remove without risk.

Those with physical injuries, at least came away from an unexplainable horror with something tangible to focus on in the weeks and months ahead. Twelve people are still in the hospital, some who may need months to recover.

But those hit with bullets were not the only survivors. Others, too, saw the rampage. They will never be able to lift up a shirt sleeve to show off a scar and, experts said, this may make it even harder for them to recover.

“They didn’t have visits with the president, they didn’t have a lot of the additional attention and they haven’t had the same opportunity to process the event,” said Col. Steven Braverman, commander of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center, where most of the wounded were initially taken.

Pfc. Mariano Alvarez, 25, a food specialist scheduled to go to Afghanistan in January, was there. Private Alvarez saw the gunman shooting “anybody and anything that moved,” and he even rushed in to give first aid. Nothing struck Private Alvarez, except what he saw and heard.

“Everyone sees a military base as a safe haven, but that was stolen from me,” he said, adding that the sound of a nail gun somewhere on base last Friday made the hair on his arms stand up.

“Knowing that any moment my life could have been taken away hits you pretty hard,” he said. He has been undergoing counseling. “I feel helpless, and I felt helpless at the time because I couldn’t do anything.”

Those with physical injuries are leaving the hospitals on and near the base each day, and no one is expected to become worse, military officials said.

What comes next, whether they will join their units in Iraq or Afghanistan, get a desk job or leave the military will depend on weeks and months of tests. If all goes well, if they are cleared to go overseas, the last stop in this series of evaluations will be at a soldier readiness processing center like the one where their nightmare began.

But certain things are immediately clear. Cpl. Nathan Hewitt, 27, with a bullet hole in his calf, will not be riding his motorcycle anytime soon.

Pvt. George Stratton, III, shot in the left shoulder, will not shoot pool as effortlessly as he once did. He is left-handed.

Pool was the topic of his first conversation after he was shot. He was on his back, with Army Reserve Sgt. Jeannette Juroff, 32, a human resources assistant, pressing on his wound and asking if he had ever hustled anyone. A joke, she said, anything to keep from losing him to shock.

Private Stratton’s parents, in Idaho, found out about their son later, after a friend mentioned the day’s big news. Private Stratton, who turned 18 in July, had called while they were having lunch. They let it go to voicemail, assuming it was a routine update.

“Somebody went crazy and I’m in the back of an ambulance,” the message said. “I’ve been shot in the shoulder. But I should be O.K.”

Sgt. Juroff, who came away without an injury, said that at first she had not thought the rampage would affect her. But she had been feeling uncharacteristically down, she said, and the other day was startled by the crack of rifles being fired.

“Normally I would not think twice about that sound,” she said.

Most of the wounded stressed that they were soldiers who had been trained to persevere and stick to the mission.

Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, 43, a lover of basketball and father of two who was working in the processing center where the rampage took place, said he had been shot five times. “I feel pretty weird right now,” Sergeant Lunsford said from his hospital bed. “But I ain’t going anywhere. My plans are to stay in the military. Solid.”

Specialist Logan Burnette, 24, who has a bullet in his hip and was shot in the left elbow and hand, said his plans had not changed, either. “My goal is to get back to active duty and ride out a 20-year contract,” Specialist Burnette said.

Despite such steely attitudes, base officials said the impact might set in over time.

“We could be at the eye of the storm,” said Col. John Rossi, the fort’s deputy commanding general, in a news conference on Wednesday. “It might take some time for these problems to manifest themselves.”

The base has brought in crisis counselors to address potential mental health issues.

The 467th Medical Detachment, which lost three members, was hit particularly hard in the shooting.

Capt. Dorothy Carskadon, a reservist in the 467th, was first grazed in the forehead by a bullet when the shooting started. A heavy load for a blank, she thought, assuming it was a training exercise.

It was an automatic reaction bred by years of military life, one of her brothers, Trey Carskadon, said. Captain Carskadon, 47, joined an R.O.T.C. program in college and made a career out of it.

She served in the first gulf war, earning a bronze star. After she left the military in 1994, she received a master’s degree in social work and worked as a counselor at veterans’ centers in Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin.

About a year and half ago, the Army sought her out, needing her counseling expertise, Mr. Carskadon said. She joined the reserves, hoping she would be shipped out, Mr. Carskadon said. She was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan at the end of November.

During the rampage, Captain Carskadon was shot three times, grazed on the forehead and then hit in the hip and then in the stomach as she tried to help an injured pregnant woman pinned by a table.

“The Army’s been incredibly good to me,” Captain Carskadon said in an e-mail message. “The care they’re providing now and the opportunities I’ll have available ahead are all a reflection of their commitment to me as a soldier and as a social worker.”

Trey Carskadon said she was anxious to return to her unit. But, Mr. Carskadon said, “I don’t think she recognizes how badly she’s injured. I don’t think she’s fully processed what has gone on. She lost some very close friends.”

Specialist Grant Moxon, 23, a mental health specialist in the same unit, who had arrived on base the night before the shooting, was doing a half-day’s worth of paperwork when the shooting began. He was hit in the thigh, where the bullet is still lodged.

“He’s still in pain walking around on crutches,” said his father David Moxon. “It seems like it is a probability that his leg will recover.”

Sgt. Patrick Blue III, 23, was out of the hospital by Friday morning. He had some bullet fragments in his side, but the injury, at least the physical one, was not bad.

Sergeant Blue joined the Army right out of high school, before his father, Patrick Blue Jr., had a chance to talk him out of it. Mr. Blue said his own uncle joined the Army when he was Sergeant Blue’s age. When the uncle came back from Vietnam, Mr. Blue said, he had “just kind of lost his mind.”

“He ended up trying to shoot a whole bunch of people,” said Mr. Blue, who lives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

Sergeant Blue not only deployed to Iraq twice, he re-enlisted. Why he did so was a mystery to his family. After his second tour, he was waking up in night sweats, screaming; he was getting into fights. While on leave last year, he decided he was not going to return to Fort Hood.

His father persuaded him to go back and complete his service obligation, which ends in four years. He was seeking counseling. Then this. The shooting has made him question even the help he had been receiving.

“He’s at a point now where he thinks that’s even bogus now, because an Army psychologist is doing this,” Mr. Blue said. Maybe, he said, Sergeant Blue’s condition will lead to a discharge.

Mr. Royal, the warrant officer with three holes in his back, did not want to talk about how he made it from Texas to Alabama with such recent injuries. But he did, and on Sunday morning, at Shilo Baptist Church, he preached for an hour. He spoke of Paul’s trials, of hardship, of outward weakness and spiritual strength. And of how the worst pain is not the physical kind.

“We are praying, believe me, my family is praying for the shooter’s family, praying for the shooter that God can renew his spirit,” Mr. Royal said. “He had a bad day.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/us/13survivors.html?pagewanted=all

** Just had to bold about MY Sgt Lunsford(lol I have adopted him) but the whole article is great!!


Wounded soldier knew Hasan as “down to earth”
By Claire Osborn | Saturday, November 7, 2009, 07:28 PM

Alonzo Lunsford, 43, an Army Reserve sergeant from North Carolina, was still recuperating in a private room at Scott & White Medical Center in Temple, a gauze bandage above his swollen left eye. He was sitting up in bed Saturday, talking groggily to his fiancee, Gherri Weston, and a few of his relatives.

He’s a medic at the Soldier Readiness Center, where the shootings happened. He said he met Hasan last month. On Oct. 18, he and Hasan checked a soldier into the post’s psychiatric ward. He said Hasan seemed “very down to earth.”

He said he was working at the Readiness Center Thursday when he saw Hasan sitting nearby. He said Hasan suddenly got up and said “Allahu Akhbar.”

“I thought it was just a training exercise,” Lunsford said.

He said he realized when he heard gunshots that it wasn’t.

“I hit the deck,” he said. Then he realized he’d been hit. He said he felt blood coming from his head, which had been grazed by a bullet. He said he didn’t feel the next two bullets, which hit him in the abdomen.

He said he stayed on the floor and saw Hasan firing random shots at people. Somehow, he was able to get up and get away, he said.

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Permalink | Categories: Fort Hood

Brother of shooting suspect hopes for fair treatment
By Associated Press | Saturday, November 7, 2009, 05:11 PM

STERLING, Va. (AP) - A brother of the man authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood says the Army psychiatrist is a peaceful person - and hopes he will be treated fairly by the legal system.

Eyad (ee-YAHD’) Hasan said in an e-mail statement released Saturday that he hopes authorities will give his family information on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s condition. He also says he hopes his brother is allowed the right to an attorney when he gains consciousness.

The brother says the Army major is a compassionate person who has never committed an act of violence.

He also says his family is praying for everyone affected by the “horrific events that transpired at Fort Hood.”

Thirteen people were killed and 29 others wounded in Thursday’s attack.

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Permalink | Categories: Fort Hood

Soldier says Hasan “is going to get what he deserves”
By Claire Osborn | Saturday, November 7, 2009, 04:19 PM

An Army specialist visiting the wounded at Scott & White hospital today spoke of soldiers’ anger at Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood soldier identified as the shooter in Thursday’s slayings of 13.

“Major is going to get what he deserves,” said Spec. Kenneth Littrell.

Littrell said he came to the Temple hospital to visit injured soldiers, even though he didn’t know them. “I’m a soldier. This is what any soldier would do,” he said.

He saw two soldiers and planned to visit other hospitals caring for the injured victims. Littrell would not discuss details of the two injured soldiers he saw but did say that one of them voiced anger similar to his own aimed at Hasan, whom Littrell called “a traitor.”

Littrell said he did know one of the 13 dead — Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, a 22-year-old from Oklahoma. one of the men who was killed. “I played pool with him a couple of times, and I never saw him get down,” Littrell recalled. “He just enjoyed life.”

He said that being in the Army was a brotherhood. “We all shared the same lifestyle,” he said.

Moving forward, he called for tighter security at Fort Hood and an urged an end to the practice of letting soldiers pass through the post gates simply by showing their identification.

Get the latest crime reports in your neighborhood with the Statesman's Crime Tracker.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/11/07/index.html


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A veteran salutes the casket during the visitation of Sgt. Amy Krueger at Kiel High School in Kiel, Wis., Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. Krueger was a shooting victim at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Some Fort Hood victims' funerals set for Saturday

By RYAN J. FOLEY (AP) – 1 hour ago

KIEL, Wis. — When Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger joined the U.S. Army Reserves after the 2001 terrorist attacks, she vowed to hunt down Osama bin Laden. When her mother said she couldn't do it alone, the soldier defiantly told her, "Watch me."

Krueger and several of the other 12 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage were set to be mourned at funerals across the country Saturday.

On Friday, hundreds packed into the Kiel High School gymnasium for a visitation for Krueger, 29, who was remembered as a determined, energetic young woman.

"We know what happened, but we don't know why it happened," said Geneva Isely, 57. "To give her all the way she did — and on United States soil. Just unbelievable."

Krueger was set to deploy to Afghanistan for a second time in December and had recently arrived at Fort Hood for training. She had been studying psychology at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and was a mental health specialist who wanted to help soldiers cope with combat stress.

She also loved playing sports, shooting pool and was a partygoer who sang karaoke and belted out songs by rapper Eminem.

"Her smile would light up any room, her energy would envelope all of those around her," her parents, Jeri and David Krueger, said in a statement. "It is that smile and that energy that keeps us going throughout this difficult time."

She was to be buried in a private service.

Funerals also were planned Saturday for Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah; Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, an Indiana native who lived in Evans, Ga., with his wife and daughter; Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, a psychiatric nurse who worked for San Diego County, Calif.; Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla.; and Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.

Utah's congressional delegation, governor and the president of the Mormon church were among those expected to attend services for Nemelka, an Eagle Scout who carried on a family tradition by joining the Army a little more than a year ago.

"Aaron was a man of few words but deep feelings and a gentle disposition," according to an obituary in Salt Lake City newspapers. "His beautiful smile and cheerful, fun-loving personality endeared him to his many friends and family members."

In Plymouth, Ind., small American flags were to be distributed downtown to honor DeCrow. His body was to be escorted from a funeral home to a church by military members, police officers and Indiana Patriot Guard motorcyclists.

"It tears at your heart that it was someone from our community," Mayor Mark Senter said. "People will be out to support him and all that he did for our country."

In Kiel, an eastern Wisconsin town of 3,500 and self-proclaimed "little city that does big things," Krueger knew Mayor Robert Werdeo Jr. simply as "Uncle Bob."

"She had that constant, ever-loving smile — except when she was playing pool. Then she was there to win," Werdeo said. "Just a very strong-willed, determined, beautiful young lady."

Werdeo said Krueger always wore an Army hat or shirt around town and received a tattoo shortly before leaving for Fort Hood, where authorities allege Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at a processing center last week.

With a tattered flag in the background, Krueger's tattoo read: "All gave some. Some gave all. Sacrifice."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOgAtJLN90QA9TxB9654ke0FJQ4wD9BVCPC81


In this combo, victims killed during a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas on Nov. 5, 2009 are shown. From top left, Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas; Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va.; Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Evans, Ga.; Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, of San Diego, Calif.; Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn.; Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla., Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis.; Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah; Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.; Capt. Russell Seager, 51, of Racine, Wis.; Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago; Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, of Havre de Grace, Md.; and Pfc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo)


Members of the Patriot Guard stand outside the building during visitation for Sgt. Amy Krueger at Kiel High School in Kiel, Wis., Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. Krueger was a shooting victim at Fort Hood Army Base in Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

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Editorial: Heroic action

By The Capital-Journal Editorial Board
November 13, 2009 - 10:11pm


Soldier Francisco De la Serna says he doesn't see self as hero.


Francisco De la Serna was out of harm's way.

On Nov. 5, the Army specialist from St. Marys was sitting outside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas, when he heard gunshots coming from inside the building.

As soldiers around him scattered, De la Serna found cover behind a tree a safe distance away from the building.

He could have stayed right there until the danger passed.

But when he peered around the tree and saw wounded people coming out of the building, something compelled him to go back.

Perhaps it was a sense of duty. Maybe compassion. Or just plain bravery.

Whatever it was, several badly wounded soldiers can thank heaven for it.

De la Serna grabbed his medical bag from his car, which was parked nearby, and tended to at least four badly wounded shooting victims.

His patients included Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the soldier accused in the rampage. Another was a civilian police officer who was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the femoral artery, and another was a soldier who'd been shot in the neck and was losing a great deal of blood.

"I don't know how many people there would have died if he were not there," said his company commander, Capt. Brian Miles. "But the death toll would have been a whole lot higher."

As it was, 13 people died and 29 were wounded.

The shootings were shocking and horrifying, but stories like those of De la Serna offer hope and inspiration amid the tragedy.

The St. Mary's Academy graduate, a former account manager at a Topeka financial firm, earned a salute from President Barack Obama for his actions during the shootings. He also has been nominated by Miles for the Army's highest award for non-combat heroism, the Soldier's Medal.

But what may be most impressive about De la Serna is his unselfishness and the grace with which he's handed the attention he's received for his actions. When asked if he considered himself a hero, he was humble.

"You think of hero, and certain images come to your head. You think of somebody extraordinary," he said in a news story produced by The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman and The Kansas City Star . "I really don't see myself as something extraordinary."

With all due respect, Spc. De la Serna, we think you're wrong.

http://cjonline.com/opinion/2009-11-13/editorial_heroic_action

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Jihad sparked accused Fort Hood killer

By SALIM MANSUR
Last Updated: 14th November 2009, 4:18am

The massacre in Fort Hood, Texas, was an act in the war the Islamists declared some three decades ago against America, the great Satan in particular, and the west in general.

At what point in his life Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- 39 years of age, Muslim by birth to a Palestinian-American immigrant family and a psychiatrist serving in the U.S. military -- became in his own mind a loyal soldier of the global Islamist jihad (war) is highly relevant as are other details of his private life in piecing together the psychological profile of this accused mass murderer.

It seems there can be no mistaking that Nidal Hasan went out as an Islamist warrior to kill as many infidels before he found his martyrdom.

A majority of Americans and most people in the west for any number of reasons, including multiculturalism and political correctness, are dismissive of the view that a war is being waged against them by a segment of the global Muslim population that seemingly has no political standing anywhere in the world.

This would not be the first time the liberal fallacy -- the idea that since war is irrational, no rational people will deliberately ignite war -- endangers a country against those dedicated to the politics of violence, as are the Islamists in our time.

Islamist terrorism is not an alien off-shoot within Muslim history. It is instead a mutation of a violent strain of Muslim religious thought and practice that might be traced back to the earliest years of Islam.

The basis of Islamism is in the binary thinking of its proponents, that the world is divided into two warring halves -- those who accept the fundamentals of Islam and act upon them to establish society accordingly and those who reject Islam.

In recent years, such thinking resurfaced in political movements within the Muslim world which oppose the secular and liberal values of the modern world.

Henchmen

For Islamists, religion is politics and national identity and the purpose of their jihad until victory or death is to establish in the here and now Islamic rule associated with Muhammad and his companions in the first decades of the 7th century Arabia.

In achieving this goal, the Islamists are prepared to use any means. The world is witnessing the Islamist version of political authority in Iran under the ayatollahs and their henchmen, in Saudi Arabia under the compact of a tribal dynasty and the fanatic Wahhabi sect of Islam and got a glimpse of it in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

America, with Israel in tow as the little Satan, stands in the path of the Islamists. For Islamists, defeating the two Satans means driving them out of the Middle East.

Those Muslims who repudiate Islamism on the basis of their faith and their views on politics are considered apostates by Islamists and are to be hunted down as they did with president Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan.

Nidal Hasan acted on his Islamist belief as did the 19 Arab-Muslim terrorists on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. He should be considered a war criminal and not a tragic victim of some mental illness and what he did was treason against his country.

salim.mansur@sunmedia.ca

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/salim_mansur/2009/11/14/11743111-sun.html

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Fort Hood police officer Mark Todd, left, is presented with a signed football by Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw, right, during an NCAA college football game between Texas and Baylor, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009, in Waco, Texas. Officer Todd is credited with helping stop suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in the Fort Hood shooting.
(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Oklahoma Soldier Justin Dean Hunt Laid To Rest

Posted: Nov 14, 2009 12:43 PM CST Updated: Nov 14, 2009 1:56 PM CST



NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- Photos of U.S. Army Spc. Jason Dean Hunt's recent wedding were projected in a Norman funeral home chapel near his flag-draped casket during services for the 22-year-old Oklahoman, who was killed along with 12 others in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, last week.

About 200 people came to the Primrose Funeral Home Saturday to pay tribute to the soldier from Frederick. He was described as a loving husband and family man as well as a soldier who left a legacy of selflessness and service.

Ross Ridge, the deputy commanding general at Fort Sill, said the reason the gunman went on the shooting spree may never be known. He asked Hunt's family to be assured that the military community was grieving with them.

Hunt and several of the other 12 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage were set to be mourned at funerals across the country Saturday.

Funerals also were planned Saturday for Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29; Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah; Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, an Indiana native who lived in Evans, Ga., with his wife and daughter; Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, a psychiatric nurse who worked for San Diego County, Calif.; and Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11505419

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Excuse if already posted.......

By Ron Jackson
http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=447952

Concern with being politically correct led to Fort Hood massacre

Nov. 14, 2009, 10:29 am   

The body- and mind-numbing shock is over. The bodies have been put to rest. The first reported uncertainties, assumptions, and mistruths have been weeded out. We can move forward. However, we still have an "alleged" killer.

I have never understood the use of that word when the real perpetrator was caught in the act and has been identified.

As we learn more facts about last week's massacre at Fort Hood Army base, the angrier we could get. It is tough to accept that one of our own killed 13 and wounded 29 others. It is very disturbing to learn that although the villain was born in America and has benefited greatly from America's generosity, by choice he may not really be "one of our own." Remember the color-coded terrorists threat warnings? It's apparent this guy exhibited his true colors long before his cowardly act.

U.S. Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan is in custody awaiting any improvement in his physical health to stand trial for killing and wounding his comrades in arms. Maj. Hasan is also a Muslim and reportedly had contact with a radical Muslim iman, a respected leader of Muslim prayers. Hasan also was a conscientious objector when it came to fighting against his Muslim brothers. By all accounts, even Stevie Wonder could see this guy was not an American soldier.
 

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 November 13, 2009 | Photo by John R. McCutchen

Flags of The Patriot Guard Riders wait for the homecoming of Army Capt. John Gaffaney of Serra Mesa who was killed at Fort Hood.

Memorial set for San Diego man killed in Fort Hood rampage

Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-11-14/local-county-news/memorial-set-for-san-diego-man-killed-in-fort-hood-rampage#ixzz0Ws24EGO7

Saturday, November 14, 2009  no comments  |  be the first to comment!

A memorial service with full military honors will be held Saturday for an Army Reservist from San Diego who was among the 13 people killed during the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.

The memorial service for Capt. John Paul Gaffaney, 56, will be held at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, according to the California National Guard.

A flag-draped coffin containing Gaffaney’s body was flown from Fort Hood to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Friday, where it was met by a military honor guard and his wife Christine and son Matthew.

Gaffaney, who was born in Williston, N.D., was a psychiatric nurse in his civilian job. He most recently worked as a supervisor for the San Diego County Adult Protective Services Department, where he helped elderly victims of abuse and neglect. Gaffaney, who lived in Serra Mesa, had worked for the county for about two decades.

He enlisted in the Navy in 1973 and served for five years. In 1984, he joined the California National Guard and retired as a major in 1999. Three years ago he joined the Army Reserve.
Godspell through Nov. 22--Lamb's Players Theatre

Gaffaney had just traveled to Fort Hood to prepare for a yearlong deployment to Iraq when on Nov. 5, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan — who was also a military psychiatrist — allegedly opened fire in a packed health services building.

Gaffaney, 11 other soldiers and one civilian were killed in the massacre. Thirty others were wounded, and Hasan was wounded by a base police officer.

Hasan, 39, has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. He is being treated at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where his lawyer says he is paralyzed from the waist down.

Hasan was born in the United States, but is a Muslim of Palestinian descent who was reportedly upset about being deployed to Afghanistan. Investigators are looking into whether he had terrorist ties or a mental breakdown.

Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-11-14/local-county-news/memorial-set-for-san-diego-man-killed-in-fort-hood-rampage#ixzz0Ws1jPoFG

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Utah soldier killed in Fort Hood massacre is laid to rest

By Jennifer Dobner

Associated Press Writer
Updated: 11/14/2009 01:58:35 PM MST



WEST JORDAN » Friends, family and Utah dignitaries packed a Mormon chapel Saturday to attend a memorial service for a West Jordan soldier killed along with 12 others last week in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

Among the mourners at the noon service for Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka were Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

Nemelka will be buried in Utah's Veterans Memorial Park at Camp Williams.

Nemelka's family said the 19-year-old was among the first killed in the Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood.

An Eagle Scout, Nemelka joined the Army a little more than a year ago. He was preparing to deploy to Iraq.

http://**/news/ci_13789013

[Fanny Mae]

  HEART.

[Heart]

Experts Outline Hurdles in Trying to Defend Hasan

Sponsored By
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: November 15, 2009

Defending the man accused of premeditated murder in the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is the kind of test that many lawyers dread, and that some live for.

How does Col. John P. Galligan, the retired Army officer who is representing the accused shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, defend someone who acted before so many witnesses, whose story has been splashed across the national news, in a court where the judge and jury will be fellow soldiers? Military experts say the best he might hope for is to save his client from the death penalty.

“There won’t be a lot of guilt/innocence maneuverability there,” said Thomas H. Dunn, a former defense attorney for the Army in death penalty cases.

Avenues of defense, experts said, could include the military equivalent of an insanity plea, petitioning for a change of venue to take the proceedings away from the white-hot emotions of Fort Hood, and working to delay the proceedings in order to allow the passions to ebb. Questions could also be raised about the prejudicial effect of statements by military officials at Fort Hood, and even by the Commander in Chief, President Obama, who spoke of the “murderous and craven acts” at the memorial service. Ultimately, if Major Hasan were found guilty, the question of whether he lives or dies could come down to the conscience of a single soldier on the court martial panel, as military juries are known.

In an interview, Colonel Galligan said he was concerned that his client might not be able to receive a fair trial considering the “media madness” surrounding the case.

The public furor and publicity surrounding the case makes even the simplest procedures problematic, he said. An inquiry into Major Hasan’s mental state, known as a 706 board, would usually take place at Fort Hood’s Darnell Medical Center, where Major Hasan worked as a psychiatrist. If it were moved, the next most likely site would be Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, Colonel Galligan said. But Major Hasan worked there, too, and that hospital has been accused of having missed signs that he harbored strong anti-American views.

Colonel Galligan did not say whether he would argue that his client was not mentally competent, but a mental health discussion is likely to be an essential part of the case, experts said. Questions of whether Major Hasan lacked what the military refers to as “mental responsibility” at the time of the act could be used to undercut the government’s charge that he committed 13 counts of premeditated murder. The defense is also likely to ask whether the military should have done more to prevent the tragedy.

“The defense is going to probably be looking at why the military didn’t help this guy out,” Mr. Dunn suggested, and could focus on the statements of co-workers about his behavior. “I would be trying to show the military had more than fair warning that this guy was unstable,” he said.

In a court martial, it is rare for defendants to be acquitted on grounds of insanity, said Eugene R. Fidell, the president of the National Institute of Military Justice, and it is possible that Major Hasan could refuse to claim mental impairment on ideological grounds.

“Defense counsel have to take instructions from the client,” he noted.

Mr. Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale, said that Major Hasan’s religion is a particularly delicate issue, and defense attorneys might well attempt to keep elements of it out of the trial. The phrase that several witnesses said they heard him shout before the shooting — “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great” — is “wildly inflammatory,” Mr. Fidell said, raising the possibility that a judge could decide to exclude it to avoid a prejudicial effect.

Major Hasan’s lawyer could try to reach a plea agreement for something less than the death penalty, said Jack B. Zimmermann, a retired Marine who heads the military law committee for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. But if the trial goes forward, as is likely, Colonel Zimmermann suggested that defense lawyers might try to bring up “unlawful command influence,” an important part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice since 1951.

The term refers to undue pressure from military leaders on judges or members of a court martial panel to find a defendant guilty. A finding of unlawful command influence has led to dismissals, Colonel Zimmerman noted, and with so many senior military officials, and the president, making hard-hitting statements about the case, he said, “that could be an issue that, at least, would have to be looked at by the defense, and that the prosecution could be worried about.”

Colonel Galligan noted that the senior officials at Fort Hood, who would normally convene a court martial, participated in the memorial service and gave press briefings. “The community at large from which we are going to draw our pool of prospective jurors can’t help but be affected by that,” he said.

Military executions are rare — the last one was in 1961 — but there have been 15 death sentences since 1984, 10 of which were commuted or overturned. The rest are on appeal or have not been carried out.

If the government does seek the death penalty, as is likely, a panel of 12 officers of equal or higher rank than the defendant must deliver a unanimous verdict, and must also be unanimous in imposing a death sentence. If even one member of the panel disagrees on a death sentence, a sentence of life in prison would result. (In addition, no military execution order can be carried out without the president’s signature.)

“The only practical way J.P. Galligan will be able to save Hasan’s life is to convince one military member — one — that Hasan should not die,” said James D. Culp, a lawyer in Austin who has defended many soldiers.

That might not be as difficult as it sounds, even with soldiers passing judgment, said Mr. Dunn, the former Army defense lawyer.

“One thing about a military jury is they know people who have been wronged by the military,” he said. “If you’ve got any kind of case that’s credible it’s that very kind of jury that would consider it.”

Still, soldiers who kill other soldiers come under harsh scrutiny, said Mr. Fidell. “Taking out people on your own side is really, really a bad situation to be in,” he said.

Major Hasan’s case horrifies even some of those who defend soldiers who kill their brothers at arms. Mr. Culp, who has defended such soldiers during his career, said that when he was asked if he would consider working on the case, he declined.

“Every soldier deserves a great defense,” he said, but the crimes Major Hasan is accused of go so harshly against the grain of military honor that, if true, mean that Major Hasan has essentially “divested himself of the status of the American soldier,” he said.

Not everyone agrees. Defending a soldier in such a position is difficult, but many defense lawyers relish the opportunity, Mr. Fidell said. “Anybody can defend an innocent person,” he said, “but defending a guilty person — that’s a professional challenge.”

Ken White, a former federal prosecutor, said that Mr. Hasan deserves a vigorous defense — not just for his sake, but for the nation’s. The case “illustrates perfectly why people have fought, and died, to preserve our system of due process of law,” he said. “We’ve decided that however barbarically the people we accuse may have acted, we will act like civilized men and women and follow a process that strives to protect fairness and give every person, whatever their conduct, the same chance to defend himself.”

Colonel Galligan agreed.

“What makes us great as a country is how we act in cases like this,” he said.

James C. McKinley Jr. contributed reporting from Fort Hood, Tex.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/us/16defend.html

[joesamas mama]

I hope I am not intruding here, but I posted this in another thread and thought it was worth posting over here. If it is inappropriate, please Mods delete it. It just shocked me that the Army KNEW he was a jihadist, but sent him to Fort Hood. Please like I said delete if not appropriate. TIA JSM

Here is the post....

           

Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist believed to have killed 13 people at Fort Hood, was supposed to discuss a medical topic during a presentation to senior Army doctors in June 2007. Instead, he lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting wars in Muslim countries.

Here is the slideshow that was presented

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2009/11/10/GA2009111000920.html



http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/why-i-murdered-13-american-soldiers-at-fort-hood-nidal-hassan-explains-it-all-to-you.html

How do we know that the attack at Fort Hood was an act of Islamist terrorism? Simple, Major Nidal Hassan told us so. You've seen reports of a long list of things he did and said along these lines. But what's most amazing of all is this:
Hassan is the first terrorist in history to give an academic lecture explaining why he was about to attack. Yet that still isn't enough for too many people--including the president of the United States--to understand that the murderous assault at Fort Hood was a Jihad attack.

It was reported that the audience was shocked and frightened by his lecture. He was supposed to speak on some medical topic yet instead talked on the topic: "The Koranic World View as it Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." All you have to do is look at the 50 Power Point slides and they tell you everything you need to know.

It is quite a good talk. He's logical and presents his evidence. This is clearly not the work of a mad man or a fool, though there's still a note of ambiguity in it. He's still working out what to do in his own mind and is trying to figure out if he has a way out other than in effect deserting the U.S. army and becoming a Jihad warrior. Ultimately, he concluded that he could not be a proper Muslim without killing American soldiers. Obviously, other Muslims could reach different conclusions but Hassan strongly grounds himself in Islamic texts.

In a sense, Hassan's lecture was a cry for help: Can anyone show me another way out? Can anyone refute my interpretation of Islam? One Muslim in the audience reportedly tried to do so. But unless these issues are openly discussed and debated--rather than swept under the rug--more people will die.

In fact, I'd recommend that teachers use this lecture in teaching classes on both Islam and Islamist politics. .

Follow along with me and you'll understand everything.

Hassan deals with three topics: What Islam teaches Muslims, how Muslims view the wars in Afghanistan and Iran, how this might affect Muslims in the U.S. military. [Slide 2] Hassan defines Jihad, showing how silly are the claims that it only means a personal struggle to behave better. It also signifies holy war, of course. [Slide 5].

Now here's Hassan's central theme. Muslims cannot fight in an infidel army against other Muslims. And Hassan himself says that it's getting hard for Muslims in the U.S. military to justify doing so. [Slide 11] Obviously, Hassan was deciding that he couldn't do so.

He then quotes the Koran extensively to prove the point. Allah will punish anyone who kills a Muslim [Slide 12]. Hassan then gives four examples of Muslim soldiers who broke under the strain. One who killed fellow American soldiers (which Hassan would himself do), one accused of espionage (but was acquitted), one who deserted, and one who refused deployment to Iraq. [Slide 13]

Quoting the Koran, Hassan next provides a number of quotations to show that the believer must obey Allah. If they do, they will enjoy great delights (though he left out the 72 virgins, there's one quote hinting at pederasty), and if they don't they will suffer torments of Hell.

Finally, he gets into the heavy stuff. Hassan introduces the concept of "defensive Jihad" which is a core element in radical Islamist thinking and has especially been promoted by Usama bin Ladin and al-Qaida. [Slides 37-39]. If others attack and oppress Muslims, then it is the duty of all Muslims to fight them. September 11 was justified by its perpetrators by saying that the United States had attacked Muslims and therefore it was mandatory to kill Americans in return.

And here is the crux of the matter: Verse 60:08, "Allah forbids you...from dealing kindly and justly" with those who fight Muslims." [Slide 40]

If Nidal Hassan believed this and would follow it, he must--to be a proper Muslim in his eyes--pick up a gun and join the Jihad, Muslim side. He was not shooting Americans because he caught battle fatigue from American soldiers he treated. Think about it. To have done so, Hassan would have had to sympathize with them, thinking about what it would be like for him if he'd been fighting...Muslims in Iraq or Afghanistan. But that was precisely his problem. He sympathized with the other side....

[Heart]

Flags at half-staff Monday for Capt. Seager

By CATHERINE IDZERDA ( Contact )
Sunday, November 15, 2009 - 1:09 p.m.


Flags at Wisconsin National Guard armories, air bases and other facilities across the state will fly at half-staff Monday in honor of Army Reserve Captain Russell Seager, Mount Pleasant, who died Nov. 5 of injuries received in the Fort Hood shootings.



Gov. Jim Doyle issued the executive proclamation on Sunday. It read:

Wheras, on November 5, 2009, Captain Russell Seager, assigned to the 467th Combat Stress Control Detachment, died as a result of the shootings at Fort Hood; and

Wheras, Captain Russell Seager provided faithful and honorable service to the people of the State of Wisconsin and the people of the United States; and

Wheras, the people of Wisconsin mourn the death of Captain Russell Seager; and

Wheras, Captain Russell Seager will be laid to rest on Monday, November 16, 2009;

Now therefore I, Jim Doyle, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by Federal and State law, do hereby order that the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin shall be flown at half-staff at all buildings, grounds and military installations of the State of Wisconsin equipped with such flags beginning at sunrise on November 16, 2009, and ending at sunset on that date.

Seager's obit can be found at

Capt. Seager obit:  http://thompsonfuneralservice.com/obituaries.html#Russell_G_Seager

http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2009/nov/15/flags-half-staff-monday-capt-seager/

[Heart]

3-Day Funeral for Pfc. Kham Xiong
St. Paul soldier killed in Fort Hood shootings

Published : Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009, 2:53 PM CST



MAPLEWOOD, Minn. - Arrangements have been made for a traditional, three-day Hmong funeral for Pfc. Kham Xiong of St. Paul who was among 13 people killed in the Fort Hood Army Base shootings.

The funeral service for Xiong will start at Legacy Funeral Home's Maplewood chapel starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28. The service will run through the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 30. Xiong will then be buried with military honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

"Pfc. Kham Xiong came to America from Thailand as a small child," President Barack Obama said during a memorial service at Fort Hood on Tuesday. "He was the husband and father who followed his brother into the military because his family had a strong history of service. He was preparing for his first deployment to Afghanistan."

Xiong, 23, was married, with three young children. He was at Fort Hood preparing for a January deployment to Afghanistan.

“He died for no reason,” said his father, Chor Xiong. Added Xiong’s sister, Mee, “This is our first time losing someone close in our family. It’s really hard. I can’t explain it. It hurts, it hurts a lot.”

His family says Kham Xiong was always the one who brought smiles to the faces of those close to him. He had three children, all under five years old. According to loved one’s, Xiong was waiting in line for his vaccinations at Fort Hood when gunfire erupted.

The shootings at Fort Hood began at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, when the Army said suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan entered the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center and Howze Theater and opened fire using two handguns.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/kham-xiong-funeral-fort-hood-nov-10-2009

[Heart]

Published: November 14, 2009 09:44 pm 

American idols in uniform: Always faithful

By Naomi Lede
Columnist

Life in America and, indeed Huntsville and Walker County, once seemed blessedly peaceful in comparison to other places. Recently, however, Americans looked on with horror and tried unsuccessfully to make sense of the actions of Army psychiatrist and Major Nidal M. Hasan who allegedly killed 13 people and injured 38 others at Fort Hood, Texas.

The News Bulletin indicated that there had been another “massacre.”

This time it was not in Illinois, California, Colorado, and Florida. It was at one of our most prestigious and noble bases of operation prior to deployment to various trouble areas of the world, Fort Hood, Texas. The tranquil hometown of our “men and women in uniform” was transformed into a battlefield.

Because my youngest brother, Roger, spent time in the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood, the military base and town of Killeen became a part of my world.

I will always cherish the precious memories of the drive from Huntsville and Houston to Temple and the Fort Hood area. It was a pleasure to stop in Caldwell – going and returning – to eat at a small café and order from a genuine Soul Food menu. We found friendly people along the route we took to and from Fort Hood. The rampage last week violated my personal memories because my fellow Americans did not deserve the fate imposed by a former colleague, Army officer and citizen of the United States Armed Forces.

The chief defenders of the nation; our providers of a common defense were attacked from within. We recently honored our troops and those who served in previous wars on Veterans Day. They are our heroes – the wind beneath our wings.

The word, “hero” is defined as the “courageous and caring ones who uphold our world with their sacrificial commitments. Strength and compassion fuel their mission to protect family, assist the community and transform nation.

Heroes are undaunted, proud, loving. The American soldiers in the Army, Marines — members of the Navy, National Guard and Coast Guard and other personnel at Fort Hood and bases throughout the nation and the world are our HEROES. We applaud them for their valor, honor, dedication, and commitment to ensuring that we have freedom.

All Americans and, indeed, my fellow Texans must join hands in unity. A working draft of a position paper on National Security (8-25-08) suggests that our goal should be as enduring as the vision discussed in the Biblical proclamation of liberty in the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. America’s strategy for achieving that end is a timeless slogan: Peace through strength – an enduring peace, based on freedom and the will to defend it.

Our leaders from both political parties have closed rank and pledged to find out why we lost so many at the hands of a colleague.

There is little room for bi-partisanship when a fellow member of our Armed Forces slaughters 13 people and critically wounds some of our finest men and women.

An enduring goal still requires the unity of Americans beyond differences of party and conflicts. Despite Army Major Hasan’s rank, consideration must now be given to the brave men and women at Fort Hood who fought as they did against enemies in the past to defend and save the lives of fellow soldiers. We are proud of them.

Among the fallen heroes were a mother-to-be and a newlywed soldier.

Faces of some of the fallen include: Spc. Jason Hunt, 22, of Oklahoma, Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Wisconsin, Pfc. Aaron T. Nemelka, 19, of Utah, Capt. Russell Seager, 51, of Wisconsin, Pfc. Francheska Velez, 21, Pfc. Kham Xiong, 23, of Minnesota and Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, of San Diego.

We remember, too, Michael Grant Cahill, 62, a physician assistant, Spc. Frederick Greene, Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow and Major Libardo E. Caraveo and others who will remain in our hearts forever.

The families of these heroes will need the support of the American people in the days ahead. Those that were fortunately left behind will be getting ready to ship out to Afghanistan – a post that will put them in harm’s way.

Bernie Foster, publisher of the Scanner (11-09-09) expressed our sentiment: “The horror and the unbearable sadness of this tragic loss of life touch all of us here in America…”

Finally, the heroism of those that survived, particularly Sgt. Kimberly Munley, will serve to remind us of her bravery and love for America.

For survivors, remember the Marines motto: “Semper Fidelis” which means “always faithful.” An advertisement proclaiming the few, the proud Marines applies to fellow members of our Armed Forces: “In life there are only a few people you can really trust…People who are always there for you.

That’s what it is like in the American Armed Forces…the sense of belonging…a bond that binds you together…the leadership skills and the sacrifices. Edward A. Steiner’s book, Nationalizing America (1916), observed: “I do not believe that the future of a nation is written in the land it occupies or in the language it speaks, or in the tradition it inherits; its future lies written in its will.

We have a national will. The past is after all secure; the battles of previous wars have been fought, the debt we owe to our ancestors will not be forgotten. The largest active duty armored post in the U.S. armed services, Fort Hood serves 297,000 soldiers, family members and retirees.

More than 45,400 soldiers of airmen are assigned there and more than 8,900 civilian employees work there. The names of those fallen soldiers that died are now safely enshrined upon the pages of history.



Naomi W. Ledé is a retired Senior Research Scientist, Distinguished Professor, and University Administrator. She serves as President/Chairman of the Board of the Samuel Walker Houston Museum and Cultural Center in Huntsville, Texas.

http://www.itemonline.com/opinion/local_story_318224542.html

[Heart]

Thanks for the post joesamas mama.

I agree this is very shocking and depressing especially with what has come to light since 9/11.

[trimmonthelake]

Report: Imam Says He Didn't Pressure Hasan

Monday, November 16, 2009
WASHINGTON —  The radical Muslim imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect said he did not pressure Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to harm Americans, The Washington Post reported Monday.

In an interview with a Yemeni journalist who was contracted by the Post, imam Anwar al-Awlaki said Hasan first e-mailed him in December 2008. Eventually, al-Awlaki said, Hasan came to view him as a confidant.

Al-Awlaki showed the journalist his correspondence with Hasan but would not provide it to the Post. He said Hasan questioned the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the Army psychiatrist cited Islamic law that demanded "that what America was doing should be confronted."

"So Nidal was providing evidence to Anwar, not vice versa," said the Yemeni reporter, Abdulelah Hider Shaea.

Hasan, 39, was charged last Thursday with the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, in which 13 people were killed.
The imam told Shaea that the Fort Hood attack was acceptable under Islam. "America was the one who first brought the battle to Muslim countries," al-Awlaki said.

Al-Awlaki also denounced Muslims who condemned the attack. "They say American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan should be killed," the imam argued, "so how can they say the American soldier should not be killed at the moment they are going to Iraq and Afghanistan?"
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575242,00.html