Army: Fort Hood - 13 die, 28 in stable condition

[Zeb_Carter]

Army: Fort Hood suspect shouted religious slogan before firing
13 die, 28 in stable condition; gunman still hospitalized
By SCOTT HUDDLESTON and SIG CHRISTENSON
CHRONICLE NEWS SERVICE
Nov. 6, 2009, 10:47AM

FORT HOOD — An Army psychiatrist about to be deployed to a combat zone overseas shouted a religious slogan in Arabic before fatally shooting 13 people — including 12 soldiers — and injuring 28 others at this sprawling Central Texas military post on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander at Fort Hood, said on NBC's Today Show that witnesses heard Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shout "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire. The phrase means "God is great!" in Arabic.
The death toll rose by one overnight when one of the wounded died. Today, Col. John Rossi said all the wounded were in stable condition, including the suspect and the policewoman who shot him, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, 34.

 

[3113]

More about this shooter:

WASHINGTON – He was by turns caring and contentious, a man quick to say "I am blessed" in casual greeting yet one who seemed to stew in discontent that he could not always keep to himself. Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, suspect in the assault that killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, and hurt 30, salved the emotional wounds of troops returning from war even as he objected to his own looming deployment and argued with fellow soldiers who supported U.S. war policy, say those who know him professionally and personally.

He was a counselor who once required counseling for himself because of trouble he had dealing with some patients, said a former boss. Authorities on Friday seized Hasan's home computer, searched his apartment and took away a Dumpster as the 39-year-old Army major lay in a coma in the hospital, attached to a ventilator.
There are many unknowns about the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive.

...In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and he wanted to get out of 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." She said he had sought a discharge for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.

A military official told The Associated Press that Hasan was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months. The official said Hasan had indicated he didn't want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan. The official did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A second military official said Hasan's family has Palestinian roots. There have been reports that he was harassed for his Muslim religion, but the official says there is no indication Hasan filed a complaint with military officials about that.

...Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim. "I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said..."We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist."

Full story here.

 

[Epmd607]

this guy wasn't new to the program either. He was enlisted for eight years, served during the first gulf war, wasn't deployed. The medical officers in Iraq operate the same as they do at readiness centers. They counsel soldiers having a tough time. This guy could've helped Iraqis too, the medical officers aren't only there to deal with soldiers. 13 were killed? The Army is a small community once you've been stationed a few places. I know there'll be a familiar name once that list comes out.

 

[Stella_Omega]

The source that said he was shouting religious slogans is the same source that said he was dead.

One thing I know; no matter if he did or didn't, our entire nation now has it firmly in it's gormless head that he was a MUSLIM TERRORIST BY GOD. JUST LIKE ALL THE REST OF THOSE FUCKING TOWELHEADS.

yep, yep. One more boogieman under the American bunkbed.

 

[rgraham666]

Many people need something to hate and fear. It's how they anchor themselves in the world.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims.

 

[jomar]

Prediction: bipolar disorder with delusions during a manic phase

 

[Liar]

Another shooting. More old school "going postal" it seems.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/l...-Orlando-shooting/of-7oQp9T0-UcjSmrgBWsA.cspx

God dammit people, stop killing each other for no apparent reason.

 

[Dragonlipz]

An unbalanced American went off and killed 13 of his peers, wounding 30 others.....It's a tragic and horrific story but there were plenty of reasons for his peers to be wary of him.....this may be about Islamic rage but there are plenty of Muslims who don't express their discontent by throwing down with semi-automatic Colt pistols......
Is he a terrorist? Mon Ami would have us think so.....It's hard not to but it's harder to accept that someone raised and connected to this country would be capable of such an act. Harder for those of us who have seen combat to accept that one of our own would do this heinous thing.....but Major Hasan did kill his brother and sisters in arms......plenty of warning signals and all were ignored....so it goes.......

 

[DeeZire]

She said he had sought a discharge for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.

I was under the impression a GI can get out of the service after the initial enlistment term is completed. In retrospect, perhaps giving him a discharge would have been the right thing to do.

Apparently, after waiting years to meet his soulmate, the dude had resorted to an online dating site for Muslims, but was coming up empty. Sounds more like a case of depression than Muslim-inspired terrorism. In spite of that, I hope he faces a firing squad.

 

[sadangel]

Many people need something to hate and fear. It's how they anchor themselves in the world.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims.

Sadly, this is true.

He may have a Muslim name, he may be Muslim, but that does not make ALL Muslims, terrorists. I'm not sure that I would even say this was a terrorist attack so much as someone who truly lost it. Pushed to the edge by repeated degradation over his name and possibly, supposed religious background. He snapped. Yes, he may have planned it, but I don't know. All the facts are not in. I have snapped before, and planned my own suicide. You can still do that even while you're snapping. Your brain goes into one specific mode and you do that one thing. I believe this is what happened to him. I am NOT defending him. So please don't read that into any of what I am saying.

What he did was beyond wrong. But making it to be a Terrorist attack and all about Muslim/Islamic is wrong too.

I pray for the families of the victims. Their lives were cut short too soon.

 

[freshface]

I was under the impression a GI can get out of the service after the initial enlistment term is completed. In retrospect, perhaps giving him a discharge would have been the right thing to do.

Apparently, after waiting years to meet his soulmate, the dude had resorted to an online dating site for Muslims, but was coming up empty. Sounds more like a case of depression than Muslim-inspired terrorism. In spite of that, I hope he faces a firing squad.

Officers don't have enlistment terms, but are commissioned by Congress. In his case, he attended the military's medical school. Not only was his education completely paid for, but he received the salary and benefits of a 2nd Lieutenant while he was there. In return for this medical education, plus his internship and residency, he agreed to serve a certain number of years as payback. The military doesn't offer this program because it's softhearted, but because it's a good way to get doctors. With their current severe shortage of psychiatrists, they'd be unlikely to let one out just because he doesn't like being in the Army, even if he was willing to pay back the education.

He might have had a better chance at getting out if he'd announced that he was gay, had met the love of his life, and started turning up with a man at unit events but I doubt that even that would work to get a psychiatrist out early these days.

 

[Epmd607]

Officers don't have enlistment terms, but are commissioned by Congress. In his case, he attended the military's medical school. Not only was his education completely paid for, but he received the salary and benefits of a 2nd Lieutenant while he was there. In return for this medical education, plus his internship and residency, he agreed to serve a certain number of years as payback. The military doesn't offer this program because it's softhearted, but because it's a good way to get doctors. With their current severe shortage of psychiatrists, they'd be unlikely to let one out just because he doesn't like being in the Army, even if he was willing to pay back the education.

He might have had a better chance at getting out if he'd announced that he was gay, had met the love of his life, and started turning up with a man at unit events but I doubt that even that would work to get a psychiatrist out early these days.

Nah, in the army you have to be caught being gay. if you announce it, you're malingering and you're still getting sent to Iraq. Plus, this guy was a practicing Muslim, it would be too humiliating for a Muslim to pretend that they're gay. This guy was probably just a sociopath, that's why he couldn't find a wife. Most sociopaths can't be intimate. Then again, this dude served for 8 years enlisted. He must of liked the army enough to jump back in after his contract was up, he went to college on GI money got his degree in biochem, the army probably wasn't his only choice for med school.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Hasan was definitely a Terrorist, Muslim Raghead bent on disrupting the American way of life.

Now that that's out of the fucking way. Hasan was a natural U.S. Citizen. Yes, he was a Muslim. So is 1/3 of the entire world. Is he a terrorist? That remains to be seen. He does have Palestinian roots, but he is NOT a Palestinian. I have Irish roots. Does that make me a member of the IRA? Hell no. I lament the thousands who died in the 400 years of "troubles" but I would not have taken part in the fighting.

Two things really bother me about this mess - neither of them having to do with Hasan's ethnicity.

1. He was a Psychiatrist. Shouldn't he be among the most mentally stable in the Military Staff Officer Corps? How many shrinks go nuts and start shooting people. He shot 30 plus people with two 8 shot hand guns. Some were shot multiple times. How many times did he have to reload? That's the sign of a real nutcase.

2. What is different about the Fort Hood case and what happened two days later in Orlando? Oh, I see. Rodriguez was a Hispanic. I guess that makes all the difference.

I think we are being manipulated to support the phony war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sorry.

 

[Liar]

2. What is different about the Fort Hood case and what happened two days later in Orlando? Oh, I see. Rodriguez was a Hispanic. I guess that makes all the difference.

1. He killed less people.

2. He didn't attack a military facility. In America, the military is holy.

3. He was a disgruntled laid-off ex employee. Not at easily narrated in the news media.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

1. He killed less people.

2. He didn't attack a military facility. In America, the military is holy.

3. He was a disgruntled laid-off ex employee. Not at easily narrated in the news media.

And not as easily manipulated to prove the Administration's flawed foreign policy.

 

[DesertPirate]

Hasan was definitely a Terrorist, Muslim Raghead bent on disrupting the American way of life.

Now that that's out of the fucking way. Hasan was a natural U.S. Citizen. Yes, he was a Muslim. So is 1/3 of the entire world. Is he a terrorist? That remains to be seen. He does have Palestinian roots, but he is NOT a Palestinian. I have Irish roots. Does that make me a member of the IRA? Hell no. I lament the thousands who died in the 400 years of "troubles" but I would not have taken part in the fighting.

Two things really bother me about this mess - neither of them having to do with Hasan's ethnicity.

1. He was a Psychiatrist. Shouldn't he be among the most mentally stable in the Military Staff Officer Corps? How many shrinks go nuts and start shooting people. He shot 30 plus people with two 8 shot hand guns. Some were shot multiple times. How many times did he have to reload? That's the sign of a real nutcase.

2. What is different about the Fort Hood case and what happened two days later in Orlando? Oh, I see. Rodriguez was a Hispanic. I guess that makes all the difference.

I think we are being manipulated to support the phony war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sorry.

Jenny, how many pshrinks take up that study to cure themselves?
A large percentage I believe.

 

[TE999]

That female police officer that took the shooter out was really cool. She confronted him, he shot her in both legs and she put four slugs in his torso. Latest word is he's paralyzed, so she hit his spine. Nice work, Officer Munley.

Read all about it here.

 

[trysail]

This is sad but it is just fuckin' classic. How many times have you heard stories about a government bureaucracy desperate to figure out a way to fire or somehow get rid of an incompetent?

Administrators petrified of running afoul of some protected category of employee or just burned out from being required to abide by a thicket of "Catch 22-like" rules simply throw up their hands and give up. Nobody wants responsibility. This is where apocryphal tales of the promotion or transfer of utter mediocrities and incompetents come from. It is, unfortunately, beginning to look like the bureaucrats in the U.S. Army engaged in what Warren Buffet calls "thumb sucking." They made Nidal Hasan somebody else's problem.

It's classic bureaucratic behavior.

[ Emphasis mine ]

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120313570


Walter Reed Officials Asked: Was Hasan Psychotic?
by Daniel Zwerdling

Starting in the spring of 2008, key officials from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences held a series of meetings and conversations, in part about Maj. Nidal Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others last week during a shooting spree at Fort Hood. One of the questions they pondered: Was Hasan psychotic?

"Put it this way," says one official familiar with the conversations that took place. "Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your foxhole."

In documents reviewed by NPR and conversations with medical officials at Walter Reed and USUHS, new details have emerged regarding serious concerns that officials raised about Hasan during his time at both institutions.

Hasan spent six years as a psychiatrist at Walter Reed, beginning in 2003, and he had a fellowship at USUHS until shortly before he went to Fort Hood in the summer of 2009. A committee of officials from both places regularly meets once a month to discuss pressing topics surrounding the psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who train and work at the institutions.

NPR spoke with military psychiatrists and officials who worked closely with Hasan, as well as those who monitored the committee and/or student and faculty matters. None would allow their names to be used, because of the criminal investigation into the Fort Hood shootings.

Deeply Troubling, Schizoid Behavior
When a group of key officials gathered in the spring of 2008 for their monthly meeting in a Bethesda, Md., office, one of the leading — and most perplexing — items on their agenda was: What should we do about Hasan?

Hasan had been a trouble spot on officials' radar since he started training at Walter Reed, six years earlier. Several officials confirm that supervisors had repeatedly given him poor evaluations and warned him that he was doing substandard work.

Both fellow students and faculty were deeply troubled by Hasan's behavior — which they variously called disconnected, aloof, paranoid, belligerent, and schizoid. The officials say he antagonized some students and faculty by espousing what they perceived to be extremist Islamic views. His supervisors at Walter Reed had even reprimanded him for telling at least one patient that "Islam can save your soul."

Participants in the spring meeting and in subsequent conversations about Hasan reportedly included John Bradley, chief of psychiatry at Walter Reed; Robert Ursano, chairman of the Psychiatry Department at USUHS; Charles Engel, assistant chair of the Psychiatry Department and director of Hasan's psychiatry fellowship; Dr. David Benedek, another assistant chairman of psychiatry at USUHS; psychiatrist Carroll J. Diebold; and Scott Moran, director of the psychiatric residency program at Walter Reed, according to colleagues and other sources who monitor the meetings.

NPR tried to contact all these officials and the public affairs officers at the institutions. They either didn't return phone calls or said they could not comment.

But psychiatrists and officials who are familiar with the conversations, which continued into the spring of 2009, say they took a remarkable turn: Is it possible, some mused, that Hasan was mentally unstable and unfit to be an Army psychiatrist?

One official involved in the conversations had reportedly told colleagues that he worried that if Hasan deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, he might leak secret military information to Islamic extremists. Another official reportedly wondered aloud to colleagues whether Hasan might be capable of committing fratricide, like the Muslim U.S. Army sergeant who, in 2003, killed two fellow soldiers and injured 14 others by setting off grenades at a base in Kuwait.

Bureaucratic And Other Obstacles
So why didn't officials act on their concerns and seek to remove Hasan from his duties, or at least order him to receive a mental health evaluation? Interviews with these officials suggest that a chain of unrelated events and factors deterred them.

For one thing, Walter Reed and most medical institutions have a cumbersome and lengthy process for expelling doctors, involving hearings and potential legal battles. As a result, sources say, key decision-makers decided it would be too difficult, if not unfeasible, to put Hasan on probation and possibly expel him from the program.

Second, some of Hasan's supervisors and instructors had told colleagues that they repeatedly bent over backward to support and encourage him, because they didn't have clear evidence that he was unstable, and they worried they might be "discriminating" against Hasan because of his seemingly extremist Islamic beliefs.

Third, the officials involved in deliberations this year reportedly were not aware, as some top Walter Reed officials were, that intelligence analysts had been tracking Hasan's e-mails with at least one suspected Islamic extremist since December 2008.

And finally, Hasan was about to leave Walter Reed and USUHS for good and transfer to Fort Hood, in Texas. Fort Hood has more psychiatrists and other mental specialists than some other Army bases, so officials figured there would be plenty of co-workers who would support Hasan — and monitor him.

 

[Dragonlipz]

Hasan was definitely a Terrorist, Muslim Raghead bent on disrupting the American way of life.

Now that that's out of the fucking way. Hasan was a natural U.S. Citizen. Yes, he was a Muslim. So is 1/3 of the entire world. Is he a terrorist? That remains to be seen. He does have Palestinian roots, but he is NOT a Palestinian. I have Irish roots. Does that make me a member of the IRA? Hell no. I lament the thousands who died in the 400 years of "troubles" but I would not have taken part in the fighting.

Two things really bother me about this mess - neither of them having to do with Hasan's ethnicity.

1. He was a Psychiatrist. Shouldn't he be among the most mentally stable in the Military Staff Officer Corps? How many shrinks go nuts and start shooting people. He shot 30 plus people with two 8 shot hand guns. Some were shot multiple times. How many times did he have to reload? That's the sign of a real nutcase.

2. What is different about the Fort Hood case and what happened two days later in Orlando? Oh, I see. Rodriguez was a Hispanic. I guess that makes all the difference.

I think we are being manipulated to support the phony war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sorry.

Your last line would have much more credibility and validation if the Pres hadn't told his military advisors to submit a 'real' solution and not the BS they've been feeding him......
He knows its BS and he told the generals to get it together.....he's not sending more of ours to die needlessly....
That's the difference between him and your heroes: Bush and Cheney....
I served in Nam so I don't wanna hear any of your nonsense.....I have faced the enemy and survived........................that and a few bucks gets me a latte................

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Your last line would have much more credibility and validation if the Pres hadn't told his military advisors to submit a 'real' solution and not the BS they've been feeding him......
He knows its BS and he told the generals to get it together.....he's not sending more of ours to die needlessly....
That's the difference between him and your heroes: Bush and Cheney....
I served in Nam so I don't wanna hear any of your nonsense.....I have faced the enemy and survived........................that and a few bucks gets me a latte................

Sorry, Dragon, but what you point out as proof that I'm full of shit is simply more proof that I'm right. Obama's advisors cooked up a really good Raghead, Terrorist story to show the American people we have to redouble out efforts in Afganistan and Iraq. That's called MANIPULATION.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Sorry, Dragon, but what you point out as proof that I'm full of shit is simply more proof that I'm right. Obama's advisors cooked up a really good Raghead, Terrorist story to show the American people we have to redouble out efforts in Afganistan and Iraq. That's called MANIPULATION.

No, Jen, don't go down the conspiracy theory route which will finally back you up to saying Bush organized 9/11.

This sadbag has a mental problem, illness or psychosis is not yet clear - he is definitely not a terrorist or an Obama placeman.

The question the military is trying to duck is why didn't they spot and neutralize a loopy tunes officer earlier. There were enough signs he needed medication - (why was he moved from a rpestigious job in Washington to the boondocks) - any attempt to brand this guy a terrorist or an Obma placeman helps distract attention from the Army's inadequacies in looking after soldiers.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

No, Jen, don't go down the conspiracy theory route which will finally back you up to saying Bush organized 9/11.

This sadbag has a mental problem, illness or psychosis is not yet clear - he is definitely not a terrorist or an Obama placeman.

The question the military is trying to duck is why didn't they spot and neutralize a loopy tunes officer earlier. There were enough signs he needed medication - (why was he moved from a rpestigious job in Washington to the boondocks) - any attempt to brand this guy a terrorist or an Obma placeman helps distract attention from the Army's inadequacies in looking after soldiers.

I'm not going down that route, El. But I do know that the Army blew up a story to make themselves look less culpable for not recognizing the gunman's mental state to begin with and for the heroic efforts of the two cops. I saw something about that yesterday on MSNBC.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

JJ

I agree that Husan bin Raghead removes some of the pressure on Obama about Afghanistan; so I believe the incident played into Obama's hands.

 

[TxRad]

JJ

I agree that Husan bin Raghead removes some of the pressure on Obama about Afghanistan; so I believe the incident played into Obama's hands.

And exactly how does Husan shooting people at fort hood have anything ot do with that? How are Obama and Afghanistan related to this, other than Afghanistan was where Husan was being sent.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

As Obama's mentor once said...

"Never let a good crisis go to waste. Always use it to your advantage."