Shooting at Fort Hood

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December 16, 2009 • Camilla Jarman  
Filed under National News

            On November 5^th, 2009, an Army psychiatrist open fired at Fort Hood, Texas. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist, killed 12 people and injured 31 others. He was shot, but captured alive. Hasan used two separate handguns, killing 11 people at the scene. The 12^th victim died later at the hospital. Hasan was scheduled to be deployed overseas on November 28^th to Iraq and was “pretty upset” about it. A senior administration official said that the shootings could have been a criminal offence. There was no intelligence to suggest a terrorism-related plot against Fort Hood.     

Hasen came to their attention six months ago due to internet postings that talked about suicide bombings and other threats but they still have not confirmed that Hasen is the author. Medical records on file in Virginia and Maryland showed no disciplinary actions of formal complaints. Investigators are trying to find out if Hasan maintained contact with a radical mosque leader, named Anwar as Awlaki, from Virginia, who lives in Yemen and runs a website that promote Jihad around the world, glorifying violence against the United States of America.

On November 9^th, in a blog posting written by Anwar al Awlaki titled “Nidal Hassan did the right thing”, calls Hasan a “man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving an army that is fighting against his own people.” He also called Nidal Hassan a “hero”.  According to the website made by Anwar al Awlaki, Anwar al Awlaki served as an Imam or a Muslim religious leader or chief in Denver, San Diego and falls Church, Virginia. Major Hasan attended the Falls Church mosque when Awlaki was there. Those who worked with Nidal Hasan claim that he gradually became more radical in his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Joseph Lieberman said, “If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have a zero tolerance”

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