Topic: Shooter at Fort Hood

[Robin-Graves]

I guess we all heard what this guy did.


The military psychiatrist accused of shooting 13 people dead at a US army base is awake and talking, hospital staff have said. Skip related content
Fort Hood shooter wakes up in hospital Major Nidal Malik Hasan fell into a coma after being shot several times by a civilian police officer responding to the attack at Fort Hood in Texas last Thursday.

Maria Gallegos, spokeswoman for the Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio, said: "He is conversing with the medical staff." She said she was not sure if the suspect had spoken to investigators yet.

Authorities are keen to speak to the 39-year-old suspect in a bid to discover the motive behind the massacre.

Witnesses have said they heard Hasan cry "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - before opening fire at the military complex. But senior officials have warned against assuming that Hasan's attack was driven by Islamist fanaticism.

US President Barack Obama said: "We do not know all the answers yet and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts."

Army officials are wary of Hasan's assault leading to a backlash against Muslims.

There has been growing speculation over Hasan's alleged links to extremist websites. Defence sources have said he came to the attention of law enforcement officials at least six months ago because of internet posting about suicide bombings.

Former military college classmates of the suspect complained about what they considered to be Hasan's anti-American views after he gave a presentation justifying suicide bombing and told students that Islamic law trumped the US Constitution.



If there is justice, they will let someone like me be alone with the guy for five minutes alone. My family is three generations in the millitary,,this guy is just wrong.

[laama]

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5A85DK20091110

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies learned an Army psychiatrist contacted an Islamist sympathetic to al Qaeda and they relayed the information to authorities before the man allegedly went on a shooting spree that killed 13 people in Texas last week, U.S. officials said on Monday.

While the agencies were monitoring contacts by Anwar al-Awlaki, a fiery, anti-American cleric in Yemen who sympathized with al Qaeda, they came across some communications late last year with the shooting suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, U.S. government officials said.

They said the information was given to federal authorities who determined that Hasan's writings were largely consistent with his academic work, offering no hint that he was planning an attack or was following orders from anyone.

Authorities have decided to charge Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, in a military court following Thursday's shooting at the Fort Hood Army post where 30 others were also wounded, two of the government officials said.

With FBI and military officials briefing senior lawmakers late on Monday and other comments by various officials, it appeared that different parts of the government were angling to avoid being blamed for having failed to prevent the shooting.

One intelligence official said, "There's no sign at this point that the CIA had collected information relevant to this case and then simply sat on it."

The U.S. officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive and ongoing nature of the investigation.

In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and the heads of the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency, Representative Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, asked them to preserve the information the agencies have on Hasan.

"I believe members of the full committee on a bipartisan basis will want to scrutinize the intelligence relevant to this attack, what the agencies in possession of that intelligence did with it, who was and wasn't informed and why, and what steps America's intelligence agencies are taking in light of what they know," Hoekstra said in a statement.

Blair's office said he was in communication with lawmakers and that he would ensure there was a full accounting.

Hoekstra's remark was reminiscent of questions asked after the September 11 attacks, when there was deep soul-searching and recrimination in Washington over how U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies failed to prevent the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.


What's next?

[Geemonster]

Only in America!
  My apologies to any Americans here,but you live in one bent up country.

[smokester]

Here's the problem:

In August 2009, Hasan purchased two firearms that he used to carry out the attack, but the government officials said that U.S. law does not permit them to connect that purchase information with the other intelligence they had.

[hmed2390]

I as pissed off to no end to find out what this sick son of a madam had done. First off, most of my cousins and an aunt on my mom's side of the family are in the military. Luckily they were nowhere near when the incident occured although I would sincerely give my condolences to those who had loved ones affected or hurt in any way by this madman. Second, nowhere in Islam is there any promotion or permission to take an innocent life. It's a major sin and a sure way to spend he rest of one's life in jail damned by society. This "jihad" as published by Al-Qaeda and he media is shaped and molded from the perversion of extremists on both ends. In fact, the word "jihad" means "to struggle". So by TRUE definition, jihad can be anything from forcing one's self to stick to a diet to trying to refrain from looking at porn so often. That being said, the only valid condition that I can possibly think of that in which Islam PERMITS not PROMOTES killing would be

A) self defence.
Ex: someone holds a knife o your throat and you turn the tables and kill them instead to protect yourself and your family.

B) Defending one's land/Property from danger. And even under those two conditions, the situation has to be life threatening in order for one to take a harmful stance against someone else.

C) during war, which coincedently has to fall under condiions A & B to hold validity.

Bastards like the homicidal prick mentioned above stain the name of Islam by living up to stereotypes and hurt the majority by presenting the minority. Not only that, but more importantly, they ruin lives, families, and continue to spread fear and hatred at a rate that will cause this entire "terrorism" conflict to drag on forever. I hope he is dealt with harshly, for all of our sakes, because Muslim or not, black or white, Arab or Asian, we're all human beings and as such should agree upon a universally accepted code of ethics and morality based on humanity. We all bleed the same color in the end.

[Robin-Graves]

Here's the problem:

Yeah, it is a problem.
It makes regular legal non criminal gun owners who go hunting or just target shooting look bad to everyone else.

Only in America!
  My apologies to any Americans here,but you live in one bent up country.

 It can be screwed up sometimes,,but blame our lawmakers for this,,not Americans in general.
Most Americans are like me,, just trying to make the best of things.

[busterone]

Agreed. I shoot and enjoy it. I do not shoot at people. (normally  ) These incidents make all of us look bad. The sad part is that even if he had not purchased those firearms, being in the military would still give him easy access to some to commit his act.
This was just one sick pup.

I tend to agree with you Robin, someone should sneak into that hospital and help him on his way to whatever afterlife he is expecting. 

[smokester]

At the very least, it is a person's character that should be the qualification for owning guns.  And if a possible terrorist connection is not deemed serious enough to flag someone's ID somehow in regards to purchasing firearms, what on earth would?

[busterone]

That I agree wholeheartedly with.
The problem is that here in the States, each individual state has it's own laws and qualifications to purchase a firearm. Some are much stricter than others. There is no uniformity nationwide.

[8ullfrog]

Because islam clearly equates with terrorism. 

The man was a bless'ed major. He could have got access to millitary hardware, and the survivors of this shooting are damned lucky he didn't.

[Robin-Graves]

I guess its just good fortune he didnt use something fully automatic

[smokester]

Because islam clearly equates with terrorism. 

Obviously not but someone of any faith that had been liaising with Anwar al-Awlaki for a year and had been investigated by the C.I A because of it, surely must pose some risk inside a military installation?

The man was a bless'ed major. He could have got access to millitary hardware, and the survivors of this shooting are damned lucky he didn't.

He was an army psychiatrist and are they not non-combatants? Here there are corps like the RAMC whereby you can even be a conscientious objector and serve in the army.

[Robin-Graves]

No unit like that in the US millitary that Im aware of.

Even a shrink in the Army can get things easily.

[Skadi]

I honestly a major part of it will come down to something lots more human, selfish, and cowardly. He's been lifetime military (including ROTC in college), and yet he's never served even remotely close to combat, or been deployed anywhere that took him out of a comfort zone. When some people are having to do repeat duty, that's just totally unfair. So.. I guess he'd finally firmly gotten called up and there was no way around him get deployed this time. I have a feeling it was something that weak and lame that pushed him over, and he, and other people are blaming bigger isses. If you don't want to fight and serve, or be relocated, or.. your personal beliefs are counter intuitive to the military.. don't get your paycheck from them.

[busterone]

True.^    Of course, I have known several people over the years that used the military as a means to get their education and a paycheck while doing so, all the while not giving a crap about serving their country period. All they are there for are selfish reasons, and when their number comes up for deployment, they suddenly find a harsh dose of reality in their face. That is where the rubber meets the road. At that point, they toughen up and get their head straight, or they flip like this major did.

Obviously not but someone of any faith that had been liaising with Anwar al-Awlaki for a year and had been investigated by the C.I A because of it, surely must pose some risk inside a military installation?

Yes, he was being investigated, and it is even possible that he knew it. That also could have had a small part to play in him losing it.  Because he has no felony record, there was no reason to deny from purchasing those weapons. (another flaw) Unfortunately, if the laws were to be extended to something more stringent such as - "any individual who has ties or suspected ties to an extremist group or known terrorist shall not be allowed to purchase a firearm"  will cause a backlash of civil rights declaring that they are being profiled. 
You cannot win in this country anymore. People scream that they want security, but any measure to eliminate the threats are stopped by the do-gooders who have no clue.