Islamization Watch

What’s Likely to Happen to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan?

2009-11-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

A United States soldier walks past an Army poster advertising "Mental Strength For Life" at the Resiliency Center on Fort Hood Army post in Texas November 9, 2009.

Likely Maj. Hasan's reported awakening will be an awakening into his worst nightmare. He's alive. And there is not a single virgin in sight - maybe one or two - but not the 72 he had hoped for. For all those wondering about his mental condition - he may well be suffering from post traumatic stress entirely brought on by his failed jihadist revolt.

The future indeed looks grim for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused Fort Hood gunman, who last week opened fire in a processing center on the base, killing 13. Hasan was injured by gunfire, but remains alive and under heavy guard at Fort Sam Houston. That means, of course, Hasan will presumably be prosecuted for his actions.

But what will the legal proceedings look like for Hasan? The Houston Chronicle attempts to answer the question in a story out Monday.

A key question concerning Hasan’s fate hinges on whether civilian prosecutors conclude he was part of a terrorist plot that might justify moving his case into the federal criminal courts under U.S. anti-terrorism laws. If prosecutors, on the other hand, determine that Hasan acted alone, he could face the death penalty in a military court-martial.

Regardless, it seems, it will take a while to administer Hasan’s case. First, Hasan will be subjected to assessments of his physical and mental health. And if a death sentence is handed down, appeals would likely follow. Numerous appeals that could take years — the military justice’s appeals process, writes the Chron, has effectively thrwarted all executions since 1961.

Perhaps what’s likely to occur, writes the Chron, is a court-martial under Article 2 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to punish offenses allegedly committed by a man wearing a U.S. military uniform against other military personnel on a military base. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division is responsible for recommending charges, prompting the military equivalent of a grand jury, known as an Article 32 hearing, where both prosecutors and defense can present evidence.

Those results would be reviewed by the base commander, who would decide whether to convene a court-martial. The 12-person jury would be composed of officers higher in rank than Hasan – lieutenant colonels and above.

Hasan’s family is demanding that he be allowed to consult with a lawyer before speaking to investigators or mental health professionals. In a statement released to the news media on Saturday, Hasan’s brother Eyad declared that his family has “faith in our legal system and that my brother will be treated fairly.”

“We hope that the relevant authorities will provide us with information on my brother’s condition and that he be afforded his right to an attorney the moment he regains consciousness,” Eyad Hasan wrote.

WSJ

Fort Hood Suspect's Ties to Terrorists

2009-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Video: Fort Hood Suspect's Ties to Terrorists

Army Major in Fort Hood Massacre Used 'Electronic Means' to Connect with Terrorists

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

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts.

CIA director Leon Panetta and the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, have been asked by Congress "to preserve" all documents and intelligence files that relate to Hasan, according to the lawmaker.

Hoekstra said he is "absolutely furious" that the house intel committee has been refused an intelligence briefing by the DNI or CIA on Hasan's attempt to reach out to al Qaeda, as first reported by ABC News.

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

In a blog posting early Monday titled "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing," Awlaki calls Hasan a "hero" and a "man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people."

According to his site, Awlaki served as an imam in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Major Hasan attended the Falls Church mosque when Awlaki was there.

The Telegraph of London reported that Awlaki had made contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers when he was in San Diego.

He denied any knowledge of the hijacking plot and was never charged with any crime. After an intensive investigation by the FBI, Awlaki moved to Yemen.

People who knew or worked with Hasan say he seemed to have gradually become more radical in his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Sunday, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist.

"If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have a zero tolerance," Lieberman told Fox News Sunday.

Army Chief of Staff

A fellow Army doctor who studied with Hasan, Val Finell, told ABC News, "We would frequently say he was a Muslim first and an American second. And that came out in just about everything he did at the University."

Finell said he and other Army doctors complained to superiors about Hasan's statements.

"And we questioned how somebody could take an oath of office&be an officer in the military and swear allegiance to the constitution and to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and have that type of conflict," Finell told ABC News.

The Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey, raised concerns over the weekend that innocent Muslim soldiers could suffer as a result of the shooting at Fort Hood.

"I think the speculation (on Hasan's Islamic roots) could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers," he said on ABC's "This Week."

ABC

Sudanese President A No-Show As OIC Meets In Turkey

2009-11-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had questioned the ICC charges against al-Bashir and said that "no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide."

Serious statement. This is undoubtedly a red flag. Firstly in Erdogan's mind it is not possible for there to be genocidal actions in Sudan ~ because they are Muslims. Secondly there is the genocide committed by Turkey, which the EU and the world would like them to come clean on. Though such a statement could lead us to believe that he has no intention of doing so. And thirdly, shows the supremacist belief that is inherent in Islam - which says that a Muslim is above all other men. In this case, unlike other man ~ "no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide" no matter how many defenseless people they kill.

(RFE/RL) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the target of an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes, has canceled his plans to attend a meeting today of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the world's largest Islamic grouping.

The one-day meeting in Istanbul has been billed as an economic summit to discuss trade and antipoverty measures among the organization's 57 member states, including Iran and Afghanistan.

Al-Bashir's expected attendance had placed EU-hopeful Turkey in an uncomfortable position after the European Union and human rights groups called for al-Bashir's invitation to be withdrawn, or for him to be arrested upon his arrival in Istanbul.

Sudanese President Omar al-BashirTurkish officials had said they had no intentions of arresting al-Bashir because Turkey is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) that has indicted the Sudanese leader on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Turkish officials also pointed out that the OIC, not the Turkish government, had invited al-Bashir to attend as the head of a member state.

Sudan announced that Bashir's trip was called off due to key political negotiations in Khartom that required the president's presence.

Earlier, Turkish media reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had questioned the ICC charges against al-Bashir and said that "no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide."

The Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying, "If there was such a thing, we could talk about it face to face with President Bashir."

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the OIC, earlier said the Istanbul meeting was an economic summit and so had bigger things to discuss than al-Bashir.

Radio Free Europe

FBI set to probe Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan's 9/11 links

2009-11-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

They included him [Nidal Hasan] giving a presentation that justified suicide bombing and telling classmates that Islamic law trumped the US Constitution.

I think we somehow fool ourselves or wish to find comfort in the belief that only 'hate preachers' accept the view that Islamic law should trump western democracy. That is simply not true. While others may not pick up a gun they may - if allowed to seek to overturn western democracy in other ways.

The alleged Fort Hood gunman apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two September 11 hijackers in 2001, a time when a radical imam preached there.
Whether Major Nidal Malik Hasan associated with the hijackers is something the FBI will probably look into.. investigation is ongoing.

Daily Mail

Nidal Hasa likely saw Sept. 11 in a completely different light - perhaps as something that he thought he should emulate - rather than be repulsed by.

The FBI is set to investigate possible links between the gunman who killed 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood and a radical preacher in contact with at least one of the September 11 hijackers.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, went on the rampage at the military base in Texas last Thursday.

It has emerged that Major Hasan's family attended the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Centre in Falls Church, Virginia, and that the funeral of his mother, Hanan, was held there on May 31 2001.

At that time the imam of the mosque was Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim radical who saw Islam and America as enemies. Interviewed by the FBI after the September 11 terror attacks, Mr Awlaki admitted meeting hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi several times in San Diego before he moved to Virginia in early 2001. Al-Hazmi was at the time living with Khalid al-Mihdhar, another hijacker. The two Saudi Arabians were on the American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon.

Al-Hazmi and a third hijacker, Hani Hanjour, who piloted the Pentagon crash jet, attended the Dar al Hijrah mosque several times in early April 2001, although Mr Aulaqi has denied meeting them then.

Last night Senator Joe Lieberman called for an investigation into whether the army missed signs that Major Hasan had been turning towards Islamic extremism.

Students on a 2007-2008 master’s programme at a military college revealed yesterday that they had complained to faculty about Major Hasan’s alleged anti-American views.They included him giving a presentation that justified suicide bombing and telling classmates that Islamic law trumped the US Constitution.

“If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the US Army has to have zero tolerance,” Senator Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, told Fox News. “He should have been gone.”

Mr Awlaki, who was born in the US to Yemeni parents, left America in 2002, eventually traveling to his parents' homeland.

He was suspected of links with extremism even before 9/11, being investigated by the FBI in 1999 and 2000 for contacts with a possible procurement agent for Osama bin Laden. During this investigation, the FBI learned that Mr Awlaki knew people involved in raising money for Hamas, a Palestinian group on the US State Department’s terrorist list.

A spokesman for the mosque downplayed possible links. Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at Dar al Hijrah, said he did not know whether Major Hasan ever attended the mosque but confirmed that the Hasan family participated in services there. Mr 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. Mr Abdul-Malik said that it was a mistake for people to conflate regular attendance at a mosque with extremism.

Many Muslims prayed 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, Maryland, where Major Hasan also worshipped, said he was not aware that the gunman had attended services at Dar al Hijrah but said it would not be unusual for him to attend more than one mosque concurrently.

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

General George Casey, the US Army Chief of Staff, warned against jumping too quickly inclusions, saying that it was important for the country not to get caught up in speculation about Major Hasan’s Muslim faith. He revealed that he has instructed his commanders to be on the lookout for anti-Muslim reaction to the killings at the Texas post.

Focusing on the Islamic roots of the suspected gunman could “heighten the backlash" against all Muslims in the military, he said in interviews on TV networks ABC and CNN, adding that diversity in the military “gives us strength”.

General Casey said that evidence to this point shows that Major Hasan acted alone, ruling out theories that he was part of an Islamic sleeper cell.

Major Hasan was shot in the torso by police at the end of his rampage, and remains in critical but stable condition at an Army hospital in San Antonio. He was now able to breathe unaided, doctors said.

Sixteen victims remain in hospital with gunshot wounds, seven of them in intensive care.

Fort Hood shooting: FBI to investigate reports gunman said non-Muslims should be beheaded

2009-11-09T03:41:00.000-08:00

One Army doctor who knew him said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim soldier had stopped fellow officers from filing formal complaints.

This is the politically correct conundrum. Not only were reports not filed against the Maj. but those reports that were filed, were not acted on sufficiently - because of a fear of being seen to be singling out Muslims. The accumulative effect of this inaction resulted in the deaths of 13 US service men and women.

He is also said to have told other doctors at one of America's top military hospitals that non-believers were infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire.

The comments are said to have come during an hour-long talk Maj Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, gave on the Koran in front of dozens of other doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington DC, where he worked for six years before arriving at Fort Hood in July.

Colleagues had expected a discussion on a medical issue but were instead given a presentation focusing on an extremist interpretation of the Koran, which Maj Hasan appeared to agree with.

It is the latest in a series of "red flags" about Maj Hasan's state of mind that have emerged since the massacre at Fort Hood, America's largest military installation, on Thursday.

Maj Hasan, armed with two handguns including a semi-automatic pistol, walked into a processing centre for soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, where he killed 13 and injured more than 30.

Fellow doctors have recounted how they were repeatedly harangued by Maj Hasan about religion and that he openly claimed to be a "Muslim first and American second."

One Army doctor who knew him said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim soldier had stopped fellow officers from filing formal complaints.

Another, Dr Val Finnell, who took a course with him in 2007 at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland, did complain about Hasan's "anti-American rants." He said: "The system is not doing what it's supposed to do. He at least should have been confronted about these beliefs, told to cease and desist, and to shape up or ship out. I really questioned his loyalty."

Selena Coppa, an activist for Iraq Veterans Against the War, said: "This man was a psychiatrist and was working with other psychiatrists every day and they failed to notice how deeply disturbed someone right in their midst was."

One of Hasan's neighbours described how on the day of the massacre, about 9am, he gave her a Koran and told her: "I'm going to do good work for God" before leaving for the base.

A civilian police officer who shot him, bringing the rampage to an end, said Maj Hasan appeared "calm" during the massacre, hiding behind a telephone pole and shooting fellow soldiers in the back as they tried to get away.

"He was firing at people as they were trying to run and hide, said Sgt Mark Todd. "Then he turned and fired a couple of rounds at me. I didn't hear him say a word, he just turned and fired."

Hasan flinched after he was shot and slid down against the pole still clutching his gun, which had a laser sight on it. The officer kicked away the weapon and handcuffed him.

He said: "The guy was breathing, his eyes were blinking. I could tell that he was fading out and he didn't say anything. He was just kind of blinking."

Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security, said there had been "strong warning signs" that Maj Hasan was an "Islamist extremist".

The committee would ask "whether the Army missed warning signs that should have led them to essentially discharge him, he said. He added: "The US Army has to have zero tolerance. He should have been gone."

But General George Casey, the Army's Chief of Staff, said it was "speculation" that military authorities failed to pick up on warning signs. "I don't want to say that we missed it," he said.

Asked if military authorities had missed warning signs Gen Casey, the Army's Chief of Staff, added: "We have to go back and look at ourselves ,and ask ourselves the hard questions. Are we doing the right things? We will learn from this.

"It's too early to draw conclusions but we will ask ourselves the hard questions about what we are doing and the changes we should make as a result of this."

Telegraph

Philippines: Kidnapped teacher beheaded by Islamic militants

2009-11-09T03:16:00.000-08:00

Manila, 9 Nov. (AKI) - Police in the southern Philippines have found the severed head of a school teacher who was abducted by Islamist militants nearly a month ago. Gabriel Canizares was abducted by Abu Sayyaf militants three weeks ago and his body is still missing.

Canizares was travelling with colleagues on the southern island of Jolo when he was kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda linked militants and his head was left at a petrol station in Sulu province early Monday, a ranking military official said.

According to GMA TV news, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Victor Ibrado condemned the act as “dastardly and inhuman," while defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the incident illustrated the challenge for the people in Sulu in fighting terrorism.

The militants had demanded a ransom of 42,000 dollars for Canizares, but his family had refused to pay the amount.

Education secretary Jesli Lapus expressed shock at the teacher's killing, saying six other teachers who had been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf earlier this year had all been released.

She said president Gloria Arroyo had ordered "punitive action" to "put an end to the Abu Sayyaf group's heinous and inhumane atrocities".

"The people of Jolo are condemning this dastardly act," Jolo municipal mayor Hussin Amin said in a television interview aired in Manila.

The beheading occurred only three days before a visit to Manila by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for many of the country's terrorist attacks, including the firebombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that claimed more than 100 lives in 2005 and the abduction of American tourists in 2001.

A land mine explosion targeted a military convoy carrying American troops on 29 September killed two soldiers - the first US military deaths in the southern Philippines in seven years.

Jihad at Fort Hood – by Robert Spencer

2009-11-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

Can you say Jihadist??

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, murdered twelve people and wounded twenty-one inside Fort Hood in Texas yesterday, while, according to eyewitnesses, “shouting something in Arabic while he was shooting.” Investigators are scratching their heads and expressing puzzlement about why he did it. According to NPR, “the motive behind the shootings was not immediately clear, officials said.” The Washington Post agreed: “The motive remains unclear, although some sources reported the suspect is opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and upset about an imminent deployment.” The Huffington Post spun faster, asserting that “there is no concrete reporting as to whether Nidal Malik Hasan was in fact a Muslim or an Arab.”

Yet there was, and what’s more, 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.

Nidal Malik Hasan was born in Virginia but didn’t think of himself as an American: on a form he filled out at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, he gave his nationality not as “American” but as “Palestinian.” A mosque official found that curious, saying: “I don’t know why he listed Palestinian. He was not born in Palestine.”

Center. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and has a doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. While there, NPR reports, Hasan was “put on probation early in his postgraduate work” and was “disciplined for proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues.”

He was a staff psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before transferring to Fort Hood earlier this year. While at Walter Reed, he was a “very devout” member of and daily visitor to the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring. Faizul Khan, a former imam at the Center, expressed puzzlement over Hasan’s murders: “To know something like this happened, I don’t know what got into his mind. There was nothing extremist in his questions. He never showed any frustration….He never showed any remorse or wish for vengeance on anybody.”

So he identified himself as Palestinian and was a devout Muslim – so what? These things, of course, have no significance if one assumes that Islam is a Religion of Peace and that when a devout Muslim reads the Koran’s many injunctions to wage war against unbelievers, he knows that they have no force or applicability for today’s world. Unfortunately, all too many Muslims around the world demonstrate in both their words and their deeds that they take such injunctions quite seriously. And Nidal Hasan gave some indications that he may have been among them.

On May 20, 2009, a man giving his name as “NidalHasan” posted this defense of suicide bombing (all spelling and grammar as it is in the original):

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. 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. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that “IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE” and Allah (SWT) knows best.
Of course, it may not be the same Nidal Hasan. But there is more. One of his former colleagues, Col. Terry Lee, recalled Hasan saying statements to the effect of “Muslims have the right to rise up against the U.S. military”; “Muslims have a right to stand up against the aggressors”; and even speaking favorably about people who “strap bombs on themselves and go into Times Square.”

Maybe he just snapped, perhaps under the pressure of his imminent deployment to Iraq. But it’s noteworthy that if he did, he snapped in exactly the same way that several other Muslims in the U.S. military have snapped in the past. 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.”

Nidal Hasan’s statements about Muslims rising up against the U.S. military aren’t too far from that, albeit less graphic. The effect of ignoring or downplaying the role that Islamic beliefs and assumptions may have played in his murders only ensures that – once again – nothing will be done to prevent the eventual advent of the next Nidal Hasan.

Robert Spencer is a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of eight books, eleven monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book, The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran, is available now from Regnery Publishing.

FrontPage Mag

Lieberman: Believes Attack at Fort Hood was Act of Terrorism [Video]

2009-11-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Lieberman Chairman of Homeland Security Committee: Congress will investigate Hasan motives

Jihad, Go To Hell [Video]

2009-11-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Warning Videos Contain Radical Opinions ~ But we have heard enough for radical Islam ~ here are some that are against it. The last video is a Christian guy who makes some good points - on political correctness.

Jihad In Fort Hood

Jihad, GO TO HELL

There actually was at least one other attack by a Muslim solider on fellow American soldiers on George Bushes watch.

Allahu Akbar: Muslim Doctor Kills 13 American Soldiers in Texas

NYC AMERICAN Muslims JUSTIFY Fort Hood Shooting [Video]

2009-11-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Hirsi Ali: Risking Her Life to Expose Islam's Oppression of Women [Video]

2009-11-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

Protecting Islam: UN Resolution to tell 'Freedom go to Hell' [Video]

2009-11-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

US military base shooting suspect gave away Koran and furniture, said goodbyes, before bloody rampage

2009-11-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

This photograph taken on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009 in Killeen, Texas, shows a copy of the Quran and a briefcase holding this business card that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan gave to his neighbor a day before going on a shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army Base

It seems Hasan's behavior was strange for some time - in a health class where the topic was dry cleaning chemicals and household mould, Maj. Hasan goes off on a tirade about the US being at war with Islam. Though - the thought doesn't escape me - that this seemingly innocuous topic - could have for him triggered ulterior motive thoughts - perhaps on chemical weapons, possibly a chemical attack. Why would a mundane subject cause him to show such emotion?

FORT HOOD, Texas - As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover broccoli to one neighbour and called another to thank him for his friendship - common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead.

A Federal agent stands in the door of the the apartment of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in Killeen, Texas, early Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

Investigators examined Hasan's computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times in the frantic bloodletting. Hospital officials said some of the wounded had extremely serious injuries and might not survive.

The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist emerged as a study in contradictions: a polite man who stewed with discontent, a counsellor who needed to be counselled himself, a professional healer now suspected of cutting down the fellow soldiers he was sworn to help.

Relatives said he felt harassed because of his Muslim faith but did not embrace extremism. Others were not so sure. A recent classmate said Hasan once gave a jarring presentation to students in which he argued the war on terrorism was a war against Islam, and "made himself a lightning rod for things" when he felt his religious beliefs were challenged.

Investigators were trying to piece together how and why Hasan allegedly gunned down his comrades in the worst case of violence on a military base in the U.S. The rampage unfolded at a centre where some 300 unarmed soldiers were lined up for vaccines and eye tests.

Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" - an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" - before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment.

Palestinian cousin watching footage on TV

Hasan's family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were deplorable and don't reflect how the family was reared.

"Our family is filled with grief for the victims and their families involved in yesterday's tragedy," said Nader Hasan, a cousin who lives in northern Virginia. "We are mortified with what has unfolded and there is no justification, whatsoever, for what happened. We are all asking why this happened, and the answer is that we simply do not know."

The 30 wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas. W. Roy Smythe, chairman of surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, said several patients were still at "significant risk" of losing their lives. Army briefers told lawmakers in Washington eight other people were treated at a hospital for stress and trauma.

At a news conference late Friday, Army Col. John Rossi, deputy commander at Fort Hood, said 23 people remained hospitalized, about half still in intensive care. He praised the soldiers' quick actions during and after the shooting barrage, which he said saved lives.

Rossi said that the assailant fired more than 100 rounds and that his weapons were not military arms, but "privately owned weapons ... purchased locally." Law enforcement sources in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said records indicate Hasan in recent months bought the FN 5.7 pistol at a store called "Guns Galore" in Killeen, Texas.

The dead included a pregnant woman who was preparing to return home, a man who quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year ago, a newlywed who had served in Iraq and a woman who had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In a vigil Friday night, several hundred people gathered at a stadium on the sprawling Army post, the country's largest. It was the first gathering of the community since the killings.

Patricia Villa, next-door neighbor to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, goes through a bin full of bags he gave to her a day before going on a shooting spree at the Fort Hood Army Base In her Killeen, Texas apartment Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. Hasan also gave Villa the pictured clothing, along with furniture and a copy of the Quran

Earlier, 13 flag-draped coffins departed for Dover Air Force Base and the military's mortuary based in Delaware, Rossi said. Officials said the result of autopsies on the victims will be made available to the appropriate federal and military agencies that are probing Thursday's shooting. They will determine if any of the victims might have been hit by friendly fire, something Rossi all but dismissed.

Hasan, meanwhile, was transferred Friday to the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Rossi gave no update about his condition except to say he was "not able to converse."

Army Chief of Staff George Casey said he asked bases around the country to assess their security. He also said he was worried about a backlash against the thousands of Muslim soldiers serving dutifully in uniform.

Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan to help soldiers with combat stress, a task he'd done stateside with returning soldiers, the Army said. Army spokeswoman Col. Cathy Abbott was uncertain when Hasan was to leave but he was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months.

In any event, the major was saying goodbyes and dispensing belongings to neighbours.

Jose Padilla, the owner of Hasan's apartment complex, said Hasan gave him notice two weeks ago that he was moving out this week.

Earlier this week, Hasan asked Padilla his native language. When Padilla said it was Spanish, Hasan immediately went up to his apartment to get him a Spanish-language Qur'an. Padilla said Hasan also refused to reclaim his deposit and last month's rent, surrendering $400 that the major said should go to someone who needed it.

"I cannot comprehend that the enemy was among us," Padilla said, as he teared up. "I feel a little guilt that I was basically giving housing to someone who is going to do so much destruction."

Neighbour Patricia Villa

Neighbour Patricia Villa said Hasan came to her apartment the day of the shooting, and before, to give her vegetables, an air mattress, T-shirts, a Qur'an and offer her $60 to clean his Killeen, Texas, apartment after he left.

Jacqueline Harris, 44, who lives with her boyfriend, Willie Bell, in the apartment next door to Hasan, said he called Thursday at 5 a.m. and left a message.

"He just wanted to thank Willie for being a good friend and thank him for being there for him," Harris said. "That was it. We thought it was just a nice message to leave."

Bell said Hasan offered a farewell, saying, "Nice knowing you, old friend. I'm going to miss you."

According to a Killeen police report in August, an Army employee was charged with scratching Hasan's car, causing $1,000 in damage. Apartment manager John Thompson said the man charged was a soldier back from Iraq, who objected to Hasan's faith and ripped a bumper sticker off the major's car that said: "Allah is Love."

Kim Rosenthal, another neighbour, said Hasan didn't seem too upset by his scratched vehicle, even though it was damaged so badly that he got a new one. "He said it was Ramadan and that he had to forgive people," Rosenthal said. "He forgave him and moved on."

Hasan appeared less forgiving to Dr. Val Finnell when they were classmates in a 2007-08 master's public health program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.

He said that at a class presentation by public health students, at which topics like dry cleaning chemicals and house mould were discussed, Hasan talked about U.S. military actions as a war on Islam. Hasan made clear he was a "vociferous opponent" of U.S. wars in Muslim countries, Finnell said.

"He made himself a lightning rod for things," Finnell said. "No one picked on him because he was a Muslim."

Law enforcement officials said they are trying to confirm if Hasan wrote Internet postings that include his name about suicide bombings and other threats, equating suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the life of fellow soldiers.

Hasan is the Arlington, Virginia-born son of Palestinian parents who ran a restaurant and bar in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1987 to 1995 and owned a small grocery store in that city.

His relatives in the West Bank said they had heard from family members that Hasan felt mistreated in the Army as a Muslim.

"He told (them) that as a Muslim committed to his prayers he was discriminated against and not treated as is fitting for an officer and American," said Mohammed Malik Hasan, 24, a cousin. "He hired a lawyer to get him a discharge."

Mohammed Hasan said outside his home in Ramallah that he heard about the shooting from a relative. "I was surprised, honestly, because the guy and his brothers are so calm, and he, as I know, loves his work."

Nidal Hasan is the eldest of three brothers. One brother, Annas, lives in Ramallah with a wife and daughter, and practices law. The youngest brother, Eyad, lives in Virginia.

"We don't mix with them a lot," Mohammed said. "Nidal liked to stay alone, he was very calm. He minded his own business."

Hasan graduated from medical school at the Uniformed Services University in 2003, said Sharon K. Willis, speaking for the school.

He then entered a psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which he completed in 2007. He returned to the university for the disaster and military psychiatry fellowship in 2007.

The first phase of that fellowship is earning a master of public health degree, which he completed in 2008. He completed the fellowship program in June.

A month later, Hasan reported for duty at Fort Hood.

Mac Clean's

Robert Spencer discusses the Fort Hood Jihadist on the Savage Nation [Video]

2009-11-07T01:18:00.000-08:00

HBO takes on 'Ayatollah':TV network tackles 1979 Iranian crisis

2009-11-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

Exactly 30 years after militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and began a 444-day hostage crisis that affected U.S. and global politics, HBO Films made a deal to turn the incident into a film.

On Wednesday, HBO acquired "Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis, The First Battle in America's War With Militant Islam," by "Black Hawk Down" author Mark Bowden.

Andrea Berloff, who scripted the Oliver Stone-directed "World Trade Center," will adapt. William Horberg, a producer of "The Kite Runner," will be exec producer.

Some 66 Americans were taken hostage on Nov. 4, 1979, and most weren't freed until January 1981. The event began as an expression of student outrage over the U.S. decision to admit the ousted shah of Iran for medical treatment; it ended up fueling the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini and his hardline Islamic supporters.

A rescue attempt ended disastrously, and the crisis haunted the Carter administration. As much as the crisis fueled a rise in fundamental Islam in Iran, it boosted the rise of the conservative Republican Ronald Reagan, who defeated Carter in the election, promptly unfroze $8 billion in Iranian assets and took the bows when the hostages were freed.

The Bowden book was first optioned in 2003 by Paramount for producer Scott Rudin, with the studio making a seven-figure commitment when Bowden had written only a two-page proposal.

Variety

Non-Muslims, like menstruating women cannot enter mosques: Malaysia

2009-11-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

Malaysia Truly Asia .. ah .. Arabia!

PETALING JAYA: The view that non-Muslims cannot enter mosques is a narrow-minded one and gives the wrong impression of Islam, said former Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

“If we have this kind of view, it shows that Islam is creating hostility towards non-Muslims.

“This view can even prevent non-Muslims from getting to know Islam better,” he added.

Dr Mohd Asri was responding to a statement by Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) director Datuk Mohamed Khusrin Munawi that non-Muslims cannot enter mosques because “they were in the same category as menstruating women.”

The statement was in reference to an alleged ceramah (public talk) by Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar at a Klang mosque in August.

Malaysia Insider

Embattled Dr Asri to fight back after being arrested [without charge]

Mohamed Khusrin was also reported as saying that the mosque committee would be charged for letting Dr Xavier talk there.

“I would like to advise JAIS and its members to not give narrow-minded opinions that can lead to a wrong and false impression of the religion,” Dr Mohd Asri told mStar Online on Friday.

He added that he did not want to focus on Xavier’s speech so long as the mosque was not used as a tool against Islam.

“This is about seeing things with an open mind, where if they (non-Muslims) enter a mosque, they benefit from it,” said Dr Mohd Asri, who is also a lecturer in University Sains Malaysia.

He said JAIS needed to be reformed overall to reflect the maturity of Islam.

“They must show an open mind, they need to practise a matured approach to Islam in this country,” he added.

Malaysia Star

Egypt: Women to appear on state TV without Muslim veil

2009-11-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Locked out ~ girls in veils were prevented from attending famous Al-Azhar school in Cairo. A part of the sweeping changes of reverse Arabization shrouding the country. Female staff are no longer allowed to wear the burqa in hospitals - schools were next and now obviously headscarves will not be allowed on state TV. On the streets of Cairo Muslim women not wearing a headscarf often face abuse. But if you see Egyptian women from the 70's there is hardly a headscarf in sight.

Undoubtedly this will be welcomed support for EU governments dealing with the challenge of Islamic radicalization.

Cairo, 6 Nov. (AKI) - Female presenters will no longer appear on Egypt's state television channel wearing the Muslim veil, according to the head of the public station, al-Masriya. Osama al-Sheikh said: "You will not see any veiled female TV presenters on air on the screens of Egypt's state TV any more."

The channel's director made the remarks during a seminar at the faculty of science and communications at Cairo University, according to a report in Egyptian magazine al-Youm al-Saba.

"It is part of our society's culture to show hair. Now I am not saying it is a bad thing to wear the veil, but because this is state TV, everything that is seen must be official," he said.

"The TV presenters who are veiled will be able to continue to work in private satellite TV stations," he said.

His remarks provoked uproar in the Egyptian parliament by members who are close to the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement.

"The director of the TV station should be bound by the laws of the state when he makes decisions, however his words seem to be based on customary practices. The courts have already reaffirmed the legitimacy of veiled presenters to appear on TV," said Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood MP Muhsin Radi.

The Muslim Brotherhood organisation, founded in 1928, was officially banned in 1954.

Using sympathisers running as independents, the group won one-fifth of seats in Egypt's 2005 parliamentary elections.

Bangladesh arrest three in madrassa for US attack plot: police

2009-11-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

DHAKA (AFP)— Bangladeshi police said Friday they had arrested three suspected militants in the southeastern city of Chittagong who were planning to attack US targets in the country's capital.

Deputy Police Commissioner Monirul Islam said Bangladeshi authorities were given intelligence reports concerning the men's whereabouts following the arrest of two other suspected militants in the United States last month.

"We raided a madrassa in Chittagong and arrested three Bangladeshi men late Thursday evening," he told AFP.

"We believe they have links to the banned (Islamist) group Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI) and were planning to attack American interests in Dhaka."

A spokesman for the US Embassy in Dhaka said he could not comment on security matters.

Islam said information about the Bangladeshi suspects had come from the United States following the arrests last month in Chicago of David Coleman Headley, 49, a US citizen, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan.

US authorities have charged the men with plotting terror attacks abroad, including on the Danish newspaper which published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Headley, 49, a US citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, was arrested by the FBI on October 3 at Chicago's O'Hare airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia en route to Pakistan.

Danish student 'arrested in Iran'

2009-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

A Danish journalism student has been arrested in Iran after covering anti-government protests, unions say.

The Danish Union of Journalists named the student as Niels Krogsgaard, 31.

Wednesday's Tehran protests coincided with an official rally to mark 30 years since the storming of the US embassy during the 1979 Islamic revolution.

A Canadian, a Japanese and an Iranian journalist are also being held for covering the protests without permits, the semi-official Fars agency reports.

Iran has tightened reporting rules since protests flared in the days following a disputed presidential election in June.

Opposition supporters say the elections were rigged to ensure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At least 30 protesters have been killed in clashes since the elections. Thousands have been arrested, and some 200 opposition activists remain behind bars. Three have been sentenced to death.

Batons and tear gas
Mr Krogsgaard was in Tehran working on an academic paper about Iranian politics, said the Danish Union of Journalists.

He was "apparently arrested in connection with a demonstration on Wednesday", the union was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

Security forces had used batons and tear gas to disperse protesters and there were unconfirmed reports the authorities had also opened fire.

Video footage and photos showed what appeared to be large crowds of opposition supporters being chased by security forces in riot gear.

Many of the opposition demonstrators wore green scarves or bands, which have been used in repeated protests since Iran's disputed presidential elections in June.

Thousands were present at the anti-American rally, about 1.5km (1 mile) from where opposition supporters gathered in Haft-e Tir square.

In November 1979, 52 US diplomats were taken hostage at the embassy and held for 444 days by Islamist students in support of the Iranian revolution.

BBC

Somali adulterer stoned to death

2009-11-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Islamic perfection ~ what a cut-throat business!

Islamists in southern Somalia have stoned a man to death for adultery but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth.

Abas Hussein Abdirahman, 33, was killed in front of a crowd of some 300 people in the port town of Merka.

An official from the al-Shabab group said the woman would be killed after she has had her baby.

Islamist groups run much of southern Somalia, while the UN-backed government only control parts of the capital.

This is the third time Islamists have stoned a person to death for adultery in the past year.

l-Shabab official Sheik Suldan Aala Mohamed said Mr Abdirahman had confessed to adultery before an Islamic court.

"He was screaming and blood was pouring from his head during the stoning. After seven minutes he stopped moving," an eyewitness told the BBC.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says that if the woman is also killed, her baby would be given to relatives to look after.

Meanwhile, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has accused al-Shabab of spoiling the image of Islam by killing people and harassing women.

"Their actions have nothing to do with Islam," said the moderate Islamist during a ceremony at which he nominated a new administration for the capital, Mogadishu.

"They are forcing women to wear very heavy clothes, saying they want them to properly cover their bodies but we know they have economic interests behind - they sell these kinds of clothes and want to force people to buy them."

Last month, two men were stoned to death in the same town after being accused of spying.

A 13-year-old girl was stoned to death for adultery in the southern town of Kismayo last year.

Human rights groups said she had been raped.

Another man has also been punished in this way in the Lower Shabelle region.

Mr Sharif, a former rebel leader, was sworn in as president after UN-brokered peace talks.

Although he says he also wants to implement Sharia, al-Shabab says his version of Islamic law would be too lenient.

The country has not had a functioning national government for 18 years.

BBC

Fort Hood shooting: gunman shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before opening fire

2009-11-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas have reported that gunman Major Nidal Malik Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" - God is great - before opening fire.

General Robert Cone, the base commander, said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected gunman made the comment before the rampage which left 30 people wounded, including Hasan.

A woman police officer shot Hasan four times but was herself wounded in the gun battle. Her condition is now stable, according to military officials.

Gen Cone said Hasan was not known to be a threat or risk. He acknowledged that it was "counterintuitive" that a single gunman could kill and injure so many people. But he said the massacre occurred in "close quarters."

Gen Cone said Hasan was in hospital in a stable condition and that investigators hope to interrogate him as soon as possible. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.

Authorities are investigating whether Hasan's weapons were properly registered with the military.

The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, according to said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Maryland. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.

"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Mr Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Virginia, but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

Hasan's aunt Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Virginia, told the The Washington Post that her nephew had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the September 11 attacks and he wanted to leave the Army.

"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, law enforcement officials told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The FBI, local police and other agencies searched Hasan's apartment in the hours after the shooting.

Telegraph

What Nidal Hasan said about suicide bombers

2009-11-06T03:13:00.000-08:00

Following is the full text on the 'social publishing' site Scribd.com:

"There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause. 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. You can call them crazy if you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best."

The person [Nidal Hasan]who posted this comment was actually responding to an article 'Martyrdom vs Suicide Bombing' which was rallying against suicide bombings - in a sense the Major uses the argument's loopholes to justify his actions [if it is indeed the Maj.] of the attack against soldiers at the base:

In any case, none of the scholars permit any act of suicide against non-military targets. This is in sharp contrast to the most vociferous proponents of suicide bombings, such as al-Qaeda and other takfeeri-jihadists, who almost exclusively encourage and justify the murder of non-combatants, regardless of the religion, age or gender. [..]

Major Hasan got around this by making his targets military ones. He worked on a base as a psychiatrist.

The person arguing against suicide actions in the name of Islam - further points out that al-Qaeda goes after non-combatants of any religion. Suggesting again that the targets are more acceptable if the are military - as well as non-Muslim. Which the gunner likely concluded as well.

Firstly, there is not a single narration the essay cites relating to battlefield jihad - whether the ghazawat (the military campaigns of the Prophet) or otherwise - except that it clearly extols the virtue of the mujahid fighting the enemy until he is killed by them. Pay attention here: the narrations are praising the one who fights until he is killed by his enemy = not the one who kills himself in order to fight the enemy. Hence, Allah's saying: [...]

Again - the argument against such actions were overcome - 'one who fights until he is killed by his enemy' - the Maj. simply goes out with a gun - fighting - the enemy - until his is shot but not killed - and hospitalized.

There is no valid restriction within these arguments - that bars him from his actions.

The internet post seems to be a response to an article which has an Arabic link to the following online book[.pdf]

Al Alwaan = Sheik Nasir Al Alwaan
Eeman >> "Eeman is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day and to believe in the Predestination; the good and the bad."

Eeman is a combination of Belief and Actions. AHYA.org

Fort Hood shooting: imam says Nalid Malik Husan 'didn't seem like an extremist'

2009-11-06T02:58:00.000-08:00

At the mosque Maj. Nidal Hasan listed himself as Palestinian - not American - the place of his birth.

Imam Faizul Khan said he knew Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan for more than 10 years. They met at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring.

Mr Khan said he was shocked and dismayed to find the person suspected in the incident was his old friend.

"I keep asking what could have made him do something like that? I was stunned and very surprised," he said.

"These are not the actions of a good Muslim at all."

Mr Kahn said Maj Hasan was quiet and reserved. The pair mostly discussed religious matters and rarely talked about politics, but Hasan never seemed controversial, he said.

He said Maj Hasan often talked about wanting a wife.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Mr Kahn said Maj Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian.

Mr Khan also said the psychiatrist applied to an annual matrimonial seminar that matches Muslims looking for spouses. "I don't think he ever had a match, because he had too many conditions," Mr Khan said.

Maj Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, he said.

On its website, the Muslim Community Center advertises Hajj workshops, Arabic language classes and lectures.

Telegraph

Officers raid Texas home of suspect in Fort Hood shootings [Video]

2009-11-06T01:34:00.000-08:00

Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- Officers raided the apartment of the soldier suspected in the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, early Friday, searching for clues as to what caused the military psychiatrist to allegedly gun down soldiers he had taken an oath to help, a police spokeswoman said.

The alleged gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire at a military processing center at Fort Hood, killing 12 and wounding 31 others, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said.

** Update 13 dead.

Hasan, a psychiatrist practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, was shot multiple times and was taken into custody, ending the shooting rampage Thursday afternoon, Cone said.

In the nearby town of Killeen, a SWAT team and FBI agents were searching Hasan's apartment to help determine what caused the shooting, which military experts called the worst mass shooting at an American military base, Carol Smith, a Killeen police spokeswoman, said early Friday.

See pictures, map from Fort Hood

As investigators gathered evidence, details began to emerge about the alleged shooter.

Hasan, 39, is a graduate of Virginia Tech and a psychiatrist licensed in Virginia. He previously worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

A federal official said Hasan is a U.S. citizen of Jordanian descent. Military documents show Hasan was born in Virginia and has never deployed outside the United States.

An owner of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Fort Hood said Hasan, whom he knows as "Major Nidal," came in for coffee and hash browns most mornings, including the morning of the shootings.

Surveillance video from the store obtained by CNN shows a man, who according to the store owner is Hasan, at the cashier's counter at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday carrying a beverage and dressed in traditional Arab garb. That was about seven hours before the mass shooting.

"He looked normal, came in, had his hash browns and coffee as you see in the surveillance video," the owner told CNN.

Other surveillance footage from Tuesday showed him wearing hospital scrubs.
Hasan's first cousin, Nader Hasan, issued a statement late Thursday on behalf of their family, saying they are "shocked and saddened" by the shootings.

"We are filled with grief for the families of today's victims," the statement says. "Our family loves America. We are proud of our country and saddened by today's tragedy. Because this situation is still unfolding, we have nothing else that we are able to share with you at this time."

The shooting occurred in a building called the readiness center, one of the last stops before soldiers deploy and one of the first places soldiers go upon returning to the United States.

Some of the victims were headed to Iraq or Afghanistan, said Col. Benton Danner.
At a news conference earlier in the day, Cone said the shooter had two handguns, one of them a semi-automatic.

"All the casualties took place at the initial incident, that took place at 13:30, at the soldier readiness facility," Cone said, referring in military time to 1:30 p.m.
A witness in a building adjacent to where the shooting happened said soldiers were cutting up their uniforms into homemade bandages as the wounded were brought into the building.

"It was total chaos," the witness said.

Cone noted that a graduation ceremony was being held in an auditorium about 50 yards away from where the shooting took place.

"Thanks to the quick reaction of several soldiers, they were able to close off the doors to that auditorium where there were some 600 people inside," he said.

President Obama called the shootings "tragic" and "a horrific outburst of violence."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said earlier that officials were monitoring the incident in the Situation Room. The Department of Homeland Security said it was in the process of obtaining information.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been informed as well, and is "greatly disturbed" about the incident, his spokesman told CNN.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered that all flags in the state be lowered to half-staff until Sunday as a tribute to the victims.

"We are deeply saddened by today's events but resolve to continue supporting our troops and protecting our citizens," he said.

In the aftermath of the incident, Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas, posted an online appeal for blood as it began receiving victims.

"Due to the recent events on Fort Hood, we are in URGENT need of ALL blood types," it said.

Fort Hood is the Army's largest U.S. post, with about 40,000 troops stationed there. It is home to the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is near Killeen, Texas. The Headquarters Unit and three brigades of the 1st Cavalry are deployed in Iraq.

The fort is home to the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program, which helps soldiers returning from war with combat stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In June, Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face.

He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m. and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 -- a rate well below those of other posts.

Nearby Killeen was the scene of one of the most deadly shootings in American history 18 years ago when George Hennard crashed his truck into a Luby's cafeteria and then began shooting, killing 23 people and wounding 20.

Hennard's spree lasted 14 minutes. He eventually took his own life.

Muslim doctor - NOT DEAD! in custody stable condition, guns down 12 in US military base Fort Hood

2009-11-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

**Update: The number of dead keeps rising 11 servicemen and one policemen.

**Update: SHOOTER NOT DEAD !!

(CNN) -- Eleven people plus a gunman were dead and 31 wounded after the gunman opened fire Thursday on a soldier-processing center at Fort Hood, Texas, officials said.

The gunman was a soldier, and two other soldiers have been detained as suspects, Army Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said.

The slain gunman was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a law enforcement source told CNN. Licensed in Virginia, Hasan was a psychiatrist who previously worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but more recently was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, according to professional records.

Ten of the other dead also were soldiers, while the remaining one was a civilian police officer who was working as a contractor on the base, Cone said.

Two of the injured were in "very serious" condition, Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Hogue said.

More than one shooter may have been involved, Cone said.

"All the casualties took place at the initial incident, that took place at 13:30 [1:30 p.m. CT], at the soldier readiness facility," Cone said.

he primary shooter had two weapons, both handguns, he said.
"The local police response forces were there relatively quickly and killed the confirmed shooter," Cone said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she was told that the soldiers at the readiness facility "were filling out paper processing to go to Iraq or Afghanistan," according to CNN affiliate KXAN in Austin, Texas.

A senior officer who was playing golf Thursday about 2.5 miles from the attack said he witnessed the arrest of one of the two surviving suspects.

Shortly after the shooting, military police told him to clear the course, and he saw other MPs surround the building that held the golf carts, he said. He ducked into a nearby house for cover as 30 to 40 cars carrying MPs approached, he said.

A congressional aide said he was on the post to attend a graduation service when he saw a soldier with blood on his uniform near the building where the service was being held, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Greg Schannep, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Carter, said the soldier ran past him and said a man was shooting. He said the soldier appeared to be injured in a shoulder, the American-Statesman reported.

President Obama called the shootings "tragic" and "a horrific outburst of violence." He expressed his condolences for the shooting victims.

"These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk, and at times give, their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis," Obama said. "It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."

Officials at Fort Hood, which is the Army's largest U.S. post, were asking people there to stay away from windows, CNN affiliate KXXV said. The incident took place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area, the station reported.

The Army has asked the FBI to look into the background of the suspects, Cone said.
On the Fort Hood Web site, the word "closed" is posted with the statement, "Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel."

Fort Hood, with about 40,000 troops, is home to the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is located near Killeen, Texas.

At least 25,000 people are at Fort Hood on any given day, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon said.

Fort Hood is home to the Warrior Combat Stress Reset Program, which is designed to help soldiers overcome combat stress issues.

In June, Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face. He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m., and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 -- a rate well below those of other posts.