Internet Comments Posted By Hasan Raised Concerns

[Claudette]

Jenny I agree they couldn't have arrested him just because he was blogging. Who knows what a thorough investigation would have revealed???

I agree. The PC shit needs to stop.

 

[judyd]

Jenny I agree they couldn't have arrested him just because he was blogging. Who knows what a thorough investigation would have revealed???

I agree. The PC shit needs to stop.

In the paragraph that was posted he really didn't say anything. They apparently were discussing a written work, and he gave his opinion on what was written. He did not offer this as something that he claimed to believe himself. As he is trained to study the human mind, it would not be unusual for him to do this.

Perhaps they have other writings of his? Because he was not saying those were his feelings.

 

[JenyEliza]

This guy knew *exactly* what he was doing.....I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Were others involved? Is he tied to any radical Moslem groups?

http://www.theeagle.com/texas/Neighbor--Fort-Hood-suspect-emptied-his-apartment

Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment
By JEFF CARLTON and MIKE BAKER
Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood cleaned out his apartment in the days before the rampage that left 13 people dead, a neighbor said Friday.

The neighbor, Patricia Villa, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment Wednesday and Thursday and offered her some items, including a new Quran, saying he was going to be deployed on Friday. She wasn’t sure if he was going to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Authorities said the 39-year-old Hasan went on a shooting spree later Thursday at the sprawling Texas post. He was among 30 people wounded in the spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator on Friday. All but two of the injured were still hospitalized, and all were in stable condition.

Investigators were still trying to piecing together how and why an Army psychiatrist facing deployment allegedly gunned down his comrades in one of the worst mass shootings ever on an American military base.

“This was an individual who took it upon himself to attack and murder his colleagues, people who were on the base with him,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Sky News from Brussels, Belgium. “That investigation is under way by law enforcement authorities, and let’s let that be the No. 1 priority in terms of ascertaining what motivations he had.”

Officials at the post hospital where Hasan worked said they weren’t aware of any problems with his job performance.

One of Hasan’s bosses praised his work ethic and said he provided excellent care for his patients.

“Up to this point I would consider him an asset,” said Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center.

She described Hasan as “a quiet man who wouldn’t seek the limelight.”

An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers.

Soldiers who witnessed the rampage reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment before the shooting spree.

Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were “despicable and deplorable” and don’t reflect how the family was raised.

Villa, who recently moved next door to Hasan, said she had never spoken to him before he came over to her apartment.

She said Hasan gave her frozen broccoli, spinach, T-shirts and shelves on Wednesday, then returned Thursday morning and gave her his air mattress, several briefcases and a desk lamp. He then offered her $60 to clean his apartment Friday morning, after he was supposed to leave.

The motive for the shooting wasn’t clear, but someone who used to work with Hasan said he had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retired Col. Terry Lee told Fox News said Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.

But another neighbor said Hasan appeared to be OK with his pending deployment, which he said was supposed to be to Afghanistan.

“I asked him how he felt about going over there, with their religion and everything, and he said, ‘It’s going to be interesting,”’ said Edgar Booker, a 58-year-old retired soldier who now works in a cafeteria on the post.

Col. Steve Braverman, the Fort Hood hospital commander, said early Friday that Hasan was on deployment orders to Afghanistan. A military official later told The Associated Press that Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq. It was not immediately possible to verify the discrepancy.

The military official, who did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Hasan had indicated he didn’t want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan.

Cone said authorities have not yet been able to talk to Hasan, but interviews with witnesses went through the night.

As some of the wounded began to recover, tales of heroic action during the shooting spree emerged.

Base officials lauded an officer, Kimberly Munley, who shot the gunman and was wounded herself.

“She happened to encounter the gunman. In an exchange of gunfire, she was wounded but managed to wound him four times,” Cone said. “It was an amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer.”

Cone said some 300 soldiers had been lined up to get vaccinations and have their eyes tested at a Soldier Readiness Center when the shots rang out. He said one soldier who had been shot told him, “I made the mistake of moving and I was shot again.”

Sgt. Andrew Hagerman said before the first ambulance even arrived, soldiers were tearing off their clothes to help the wounded.

“You had people without tops on. You had people ripping their pant legs off,” said Hagerman, a military policeman from Lewisville, Texas.

Hagerman said he saw Hasan laying on the ground receiving medical assistance for a gunshot wound as responders tried to get his handcuffs off to better treat him.

Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of “friendly fire,” that in the confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.

Cone acknowledged that it was “counterintuitive” that a single shooter could hit so many people, but he said the massacre occurred in “close quarters.

“With ricochet fire, he was able to injure that number of people,” Cone said. He said authorities were investigating whether Hasan’s weapons were properly registered with the military.

The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.

Friday was designated a day of mourning at Fort Hood. There also will be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.

For six years before reporting for duty at the Texas post in July, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. The Army major received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

But his record wasn’t sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some “difficulties” that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said “I got the impression that he was a committed soldier.” He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan’s desire for a wife.

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, terror attacks, and he wanted 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.”

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, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

FBI agents who searched Hasan’s apartment early Friday seized his computer, a law enforcement official said. It was not immediately known if they found anything suspicious on his computer files.

A military official said investigators were sifting through materials Hasan carried with him during the shooting and evidence left in his vehicle, which was found parked at the base.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation

———

Baker reported from Killeen, Texas. Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes, Devlin Barrett, Brett J. Blackledge and Eileen Sullivan in Washington, April Castro in Killeen and Matt Curry in Dallas contributed to this report.

 

[JenyEliza]

I'm sorry but I always thought psychiatrists and psychologists were a little 'off'. I cannot trust them....especially after what happened yesterday.

One of the things most Psychs do is form peer group support because they recognize the inherent danger to their own psyche due to the nature of their chosen profession. This guy obviously didn't, probably began to mentally and emotionally isolate himself from those not like him and I would surmise drew deeper into his religion until he identified with his "brothers and sisters" fighting the "invading infidel".

This sounds very plausible to me. Obviously, we don't have any proof this is the case, but it just makes good common sense given the events of the last 48 hours or so.

It's a shame that Hassan was not able to reach out for help himself--he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support. Had he sought help for himself, perhaps nobody would have been shot and killed by Hassan.

 

[Emma]

he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support

And it could be he thought, with his training and experience, he could handle these issues himself rather than seek out help from another.

An article said he was increasingly distraught over his impending deployment. He'd hired an attorney but that obviously didn't work as he was scheduled to leave today. This may have been a planned 'jihad' or whatever, or it could have been someone who felt their back was against the wall and they'd run out of options; that it happened just prior to his deployment would suggest that to be the case.

BTW, has that convenience store video shot been confirmed to be him? The man in the video has a mustache; in other photos Hasan doesn't.

 

[Emma]

Jenny I agree they couldn't have arrested him just because he was blogging. Who knows what a thorough investigation would have revealed???

I agree. The PC shit needs to stop.

In the paragraph that was posted he really didn't say anything. They apparently were discussing a written work, and he gave his opinion on what was written. He did not offer this as something that he claimed to believe himself. As he is trained to study the human mind, it would not be unusual for him to do this.

Perhaps they have other writings of his? Because he was not saying those were his feelings.

Yeah. Like I said, that single post doesn't really tell us anything.

 

[JenyEliza]

he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support

And it could be he thought, with his training and experience, he could handle these issues himself rather than seek out help from another.

An article said he was increasingly distraught over his impending deployment. He'd hired an attorney but that obviously didn't work as he was scheduled to leave today. This may have been a planned 'jihad' or whatever, or it could have been someone who felt their back was against the wall and they'd run out of options.

All of these are possibilities and we'll learn more as the investigation digs deeper--and probably yet more once Hassan weans off the vent and can talk to detectives himself.

I would say that *most* professionals know better than to treat themselves. You do. My mother does. And yet, I am fairly certain both of you treat yourselves rather than going to the doctor, and you only go when something is falling off, gangrenous or infected requiring a script. Am I correct?

I suppose same could be said of Hassan. He might have known he was in trouble, but thought being the educated Psychiatrist he was, he could handle it himself. He would know that isolation is a *key* symptom of classic clinical depression, and yet.....he isolated and failed to reach out for help. So, *what was* his treatment, if indeed he was treating himself? Hiring a lawyer doesn't count.

As for having a Jihadi moment....I firmly believe that is possible as well....so we shall see. And I'll be watching as closely as my personal life allows in the meantime.

BTW, has that convenience store video shot been confirmed to be him? The man in the video has a mustache; in other photos Hasan doesn't.

No idea. I haven't seen it. I've been busy trying to unpack and put things away in our apartment and posting every once in a while when I take a break. The TV is at the other end of the apt and I haven't been in there in a while to see what's on the news. I can hear stuff going on if I'm paying attention. Right now I think All My Children is having a wedding of some sort....apparently Adam Chandler has conned another woman in to marrying him.

 

[judyd]

I'm sorry but I always thought psychiatrists and psychologists were a little 'off'. I cannot trust them....especially after what happened yesterday.

One of the things most Psychs do is form peer group support because they recognize the inherent danger to their own psyche due to the nature of their chosen profession. This guy obviously didn't, probably began to mentally and emotionally isolate himself from those not like him and I would surmise drew deeper into his religion until he identified with his "brothers and sisters" fighting the "invading infidel".

This sounds very plausible to me. Obviously, we don't have any proof this is the case, but it just makes good common sense given the events of the last 48 hours or so.

It's a shame that Hassan was not able to reach out for help himself--he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support. Had he sought help for himself, perhaps nobody would have been shot and killed by Hassan.

He also is well aware of the ramifications of having a history of emotional or psychological problems in your personnel file. That is a major reason why many government or military people don't seek help when they need it.

 

[Emma]

I would say that *most* professionals know better than to treat themselves. You do. My mother does. And yet, I am fairly certain both of you treat yourselves rather than going to the doctor, and you only go when something is falling off, gangrenous or infected requiring a script. Am I correct?

I suppose same could be said of Hassan. He might have known he was in trouble, but thought being the educated Psychiatrist he was, he could handle it himself. He would know that isolation is a *key* symptom of classic clinical depression, and yet.....he isolated and failed to reach out for help.

Who knows why he didn't seek help? Perhaps he felt ashamed to seek help (after all he was a psychiatrist, he's supposed to be the 'sane' one helping others).

I can tell you from personal experience that it's very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can handle things yourself. When my mom was diagnosed with cancer, I blamed myself although looking back there was nothing I could have done to change anything. But I'm a cancer nurse, I *should* have known. At least that's what I believed. So I was down. As her disease progressed and it became obvious she was not going to survive, I slipped down even further. Add to that a ton of other stuff hitting me from all sides in my personal life and at work, and I slid down some more. I knew I was in trouble, but I thought 'hey, I'm a nurse. I've studied this stuff. I provide emotional support to my patients, I know how to handle someone who's depressed'... and so I waited far too long to seek help. All I'm saying is that I can see how someone could easily fall into that trap, especially a psychiatrist.

 

[user_name_guest]

He should be ashamed. Killing another individual doesn't save lives...it only increases the death count. Middle East needs to read Martin Luther King and not some "Allah" bs.

 

[Emma]

One of the things most Psychs do is form peer group support because they recognize the inherent danger to their own psyche due to the nature of their chosen profession. This guy obviously didn't, probably began to mentally and emotionally isolate himself from those not like him and I would surmise drew deeper into his religion until he identified with his "brothers and sisters" fighting the "invading infidel".

This sounds very plausible to me. Obviously, we don't have any proof this is the case, but it just makes good common sense given the events of the last 48 hours or so.

It's a shame that Hassan was not able to reach out for help himself--he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support. Had he sought help for himself, perhaps nobody would have been shot and killed by Hassan.

He also is well aware of the ramifications of having a history of emotional or psychological problems in your personnel file. That is a major reason why many government or military people don't seek help when they need it.

Excellent point. As an officer who dealt with these issues, that could well have factored into all of this. Part of the reason I didn't do so for so long was not only that I figured I could work it out on my own, but the fear that my employer would find out.

 

[bodecea]

This guy knew *exactly* what he was doing.....I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Were others involved? Is he tied to any radical Moslem groups?

Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment | Bryan/College Station, Texas - The Eagle

Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment
By JEFF CARLTON and MIKE BAKER
Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood cleaned out his apartment in the days before the rampage that left 13 people dead, a neighbor said Friday.

The neighbor, Patricia Villa, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment Wednesday and Thursday and offered her some items, including a new Quran, saying he was going to be deployed on Friday. She wasn’t sure if he was going to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Authorities said the 39-year-old Hasan went on a shooting spree later Thursday at the sprawling Texas post. He was among 30 people wounded in the spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator on Friday. All but two of the injured were still hospitalized, and all were in stable condition.

Investigators were still trying to piecing together how and why an Army psychiatrist facing deployment allegedly gunned down his comrades in one of the worst mass shootings ever on an American military base.

“This was an individual who took it upon himself to attack and murder his colleagues, people who were on the base with him,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Sky News from Brussels, Belgium. “That investigation is under way by law enforcement authorities, and let’s let that be the No. 1 priority in terms of ascertaining what motivations he had.”

Officials at the post hospital where Hasan worked said they weren’t aware of any problems with his job performance.

One of Hasan’s bosses praised his work ethic and said he provided excellent care for his patients.

“Up to this point I would consider him an asset,” said Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center.

She described Hasan as “a quiet man who wouldn’t seek the limelight.”

An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers.

Soldiers who witnessed the rampage reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment before the shooting spree.

Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were “despicable and deplorable” and don’t reflect how the family was raised.

Villa, who recently moved next door to Hasan, said she had never spoken to him before he came over to her apartment.

She said Hasan gave her frozen broccoli, spinach, T-shirts and shelves on Wednesday, then returned Thursday morning and gave her his air mattress, several briefcases and a desk lamp. He then offered her $60 to clean his apartment Friday morning, after he was supposed to leave.

The motive for the shooting wasn’t clear, but someone who used to work with Hasan said he had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retired Col. Terry Lee told Fox News said Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.

But another neighbor said Hasan appeared to be OK with his pending deployment, which he said was supposed to be to Afghanistan.

“I asked him how he felt about going over there, with their religion and everything, and he said, ‘It’s going to be interesting,”’ said Edgar Booker, a 58-year-old retired soldier who now works in a cafeteria on the post.

Col. Steve Braverman, the Fort Hood hospital commander, said early Friday that Hasan was on deployment orders to Afghanistan. A military official later told The Associated Press that Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq. It was not immediately possible to verify the discrepancy.

The military official, who did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Hasan had indicated he didn’t want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan.

Cone said authorities have not yet been able to talk to Hasan, but interviews with witnesses went through the night.

As some of the wounded began to recover, tales of heroic action during the shooting spree emerged.

Base officials lauded an officer, Kimberly Munley, who shot the gunman and was wounded herself.

“She happened to encounter the gunman. In an exchange of gunfire, she was wounded but managed to wound him four times,” Cone said. “It was an amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer.”

Cone said some 300 soldiers had been lined up to get vaccinations and have their eyes tested at a Soldier Readiness Center when the shots rang out. He said one soldier who had been shot told him, “I made the mistake of moving and I was shot again.”

Sgt. Andrew Hagerman said before the first ambulance even arrived, soldiers were tearing off their clothes to help the wounded.

“You had people without tops on. You had people ripping their pant legs off,” said Hagerman, a military policeman from Lewisville, Texas.

Hagerman said he saw Hasan laying on the ground receiving medical assistance for a gunshot wound as responders tried to get his handcuffs off to better treat him.

Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of “friendly fire,” that in the confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.

Cone acknowledged that it was “counterintuitive” that a single shooter could hit so many people, but he said the massacre occurred in “close quarters.

“With ricochet fire, he was able to injure that number of people,” Cone said. He said authorities were investigating whether Hasan’s weapons were properly registered with the military.

The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.

Friday was designated a day of mourning at Fort Hood. There also will be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.

For six years before reporting for duty at the Texas post in July, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. The Army major received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

But his record wasn’t sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some “difficulties” that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said “I got the impression that he was a committed soldier.” He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan’s desire for a wife.

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, terror attacks, and he wanted 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.”

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, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

FBI agents who searched Hasan’s apartment early Friday seized his computer, a law enforcement official said. It was not immediately known if they found anything suspicious on his computer files.

A military official said investigators were sifting through materials Hasan carried with him during the shooting and evidence left in his vehicle, which was found parked at the base.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation

———

Baker reported from Killeen, Texas. Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes, Devlin Barrett, Brett J. Blackledge and Eileen Sullivan in Washington, April Castro in Killeen and Matt Curry in Dallas contributed to this report.

What is it in the article that leads you to your...er...conclusions?

 

[JenyEliza]

One of the things most Psychs do is form peer group support because they recognize the inherent danger to their own psyche due to the nature of their chosen profession. This guy obviously didn't, probably began to mentally and emotionally isolate himself from those not like him and I would surmise drew deeper into his religion until he identified with his "brothers and sisters" fighting the "invading infidel".

This sounds very plausible to me. Obviously, we don't have any proof this is the case, but it just makes good common sense given the events of the last 48 hours or so.

It's a shame that Hassan was not able to reach out for help himself--he of all people should have known how deeply in trouble he was emotionally/mentally and that he was in need of support. Had he sought help for himself, perhaps nobody would have been shot and killed by Hassan.

He also is well aware of the ramifications of having a history of emotional or psychological problems in your personnel file. That is a major reason why many government or military people don't seek help when they need it.

Excellent point and a huge possibility. Especially given his poor performance appraisal at Walter Reed. He would definitely fear further negative repercussions on his career by seeking help for depression/mental health issues.

 

[Polk]

I think the guy had a problem with war, don't think he did this for islam.

I don't think his post in the OP is relevant, either (if it was indeed Hasan who wrote this). Without knowing the context, topic or what author he is referencing, it's pretty much worthless regarding what he did today.

I tried to google, but all I got were news reports on the shootings. One article (ABC?) said he was equating our soldiers with suicide bombers. I don't think he was (in the way they implied) except to point out that the soldiers, bombers, and pilots all died intentionally for what they saw as a greater cause, not because they were what we typically consider "suicidal". As he's a psychiatrist, it makes sense he'd see it that way. Perhaps he was arguing against calling them suicide bombers because of that and because Islam forbids suicide. JMO.

That.

 

[WillowTree]

apologists! who'd a thunk it!