Adam's Apple
Senior Member
- Apr 25, 2004
- 4,092
- 449
- 48
Why Was Sergeant Still in the Army?
By Rochelle Riley, The Detroit Daily News
May 4, 2005
Am I missing something?
Two years ago, just days before his unit was set to join the invasion of Iraq, an Army sergeant threw grenades into the tents of fellow soldiers and shot those able to flee the flames. When he was done, two soldiers lay dead, 14 wounded.
The sergeant, Hasan Akbar, a 34-year-old Muslim convert who grew up in south-central Los Angeles, was captured, not killed, that night in Kuwait, and returned to the United States to become the first American since the Vietnam War to be prosecuted for killing a fellow soldier during wartime.
A 15-member military jury sentenced him to death last week, making him the sixth inmate on military death row at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.
Akbar said he'd endured anti-Muslim taunts and threats and felt that his life was in danger. He claimed that he had no choice but to launch the March 2003 attack on the U.S. soldiers who threatened him.
His own defense attorneys said Akbar was mentally ill. But prosecutors said that Akbar made it his mission to stop his fellow soldiers from killing other Muslims and that he had wanted to kill Americans for some time.
Akbar's diary, one he kept by computer for 13 years, spoke loudest:
In 1992, he wrote: "I made a promise that if I am not able to achieve success because of some Caucasians, I will kill as many of them as possible."
In a 1996 entry, he wrote: "Destroying America is my greatest goal."
In 1998, he joined the Army.
And in 2003, in the week before he went to Kuwait, he wrote: "As soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible." (Prosecutors say he was referring to fellow soldiers).
http://www.freep.com/features/living/riley4e_20050504.htm
By Rochelle Riley, The Detroit Daily News
May 4, 2005
Am I missing something?
Two years ago, just days before his unit was set to join the invasion of Iraq, an Army sergeant threw grenades into the tents of fellow soldiers and shot those able to flee the flames. When he was done, two soldiers lay dead, 14 wounded.
The sergeant, Hasan Akbar, a 34-year-old Muslim convert who grew up in south-central Los Angeles, was captured, not killed, that night in Kuwait, and returned to the United States to become the first American since the Vietnam War to be prosecuted for killing a fellow soldier during wartime.
A 15-member military jury sentenced him to death last week, making him the sixth inmate on military death row at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.
Akbar said he'd endured anti-Muslim taunts and threats and felt that his life was in danger. He claimed that he had no choice but to launch the March 2003 attack on the U.S. soldiers who threatened him.
His own defense attorneys said Akbar was mentally ill. But prosecutors said that Akbar made it his mission to stop his fellow soldiers from killing other Muslims and that he had wanted to kill Americans for some time.
Akbar's diary, one he kept by computer for 13 years, spoke loudest:
In 1992, he wrote: "I made a promise that if I am not able to achieve success because of some Caucasians, I will kill as many of them as possible."
In a 1996 entry, he wrote: "Destroying America is my greatest goal."
In 1998, he joined the Army.
And in 2003, in the week before he went to Kuwait, he wrote: "As soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible." (Prosecutors say he was referring to fellow soldiers).
http://www.freep.com/features/living/riley4e_20050504.htm
