Lawmakers Blast Administration For Calling Fort Hood Massacre 'Workplace Violence' R

[tinydancer]

Here's the link. There were many signs that Hasan was "troubled". I hope people realise this man was a Army psychiatrist.


Fort Hood gunman had told US military colleagues that infidels should have their throats cut
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the gunman who killed 13 at America's Fort Hood military base, once gave a lecture to other doctors in which he said non-believers should be beheaded and have boiling oil poured down their throats.

By Nick Allen in Fort Hood

5:00PM GMT 08 Nov 2009

He also told colleagues at America's top military hospital that non-Muslims were infidels condemned to hell who should be set on fire. The outburst came during an hour-long talk 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 an extremist interpretation of the Koran, which Hasan appeared to believe.

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

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 Hasan about religion and that he openly claimed to be a "Muslim first and American second."

Fort Hood gunman had told US military colleagues that infidels should have their throats cut - Telegraph

 

[tinydancer]

What's interesting is that they are trying to spin this as just a workplace violence story when they know damn well he was in touch numerous times with that radical Imam. They knew about it and didn't move on it. How many red flags did they miss?

Although investigative officials portrayed Hasan as a lone wolf, the investigators and a U.S. official disclosed that Hasan communicated 10 to 20 times with a radical imam overseas who in the past came under scrutiny for possible links to terror groups.

The investigative officials said the communications began last year and continued into this year and “were consistent with the subject matter of his research,” apparently on the effects of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. official said the communications were with the radical imam, Anwar al-Awlaki.

U.S. officials were aware of the communications since last year, but no formal investigation was ever opened based on them, the officials said. They said that FBI Director Robert Mueller has ordered an internal review of the bureau’s handling of the Hasan information.

The officials spoke Monday evening on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation on the record. Awlaki, who was released from a jail in Yemen last year, writes a blog that denounces U.S. policies as anti-Muslim.

 

[The Gadfly]

Maj. Nidal M. Hasan was charged by the Army with 13 counts of premeditated murder. To the chagrin of conservative commentators, he is not charged with terrorism, a controversy I discussed last night on this segment of Rachel Maddow.

While many have been calling for a terrorism charge in the military trial, the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) does not actually have a terrorism provision. Such a charge would be handled in a military tribunal or more likely by waiving jurisdiction in favor of a federal prosecution.

As discussed previously, we have a growing habit of calling every shocking killing a terrorist act today. Many killers are unstable and kill strangers. Many often associate themselves with religious or ideological views, as with George Tiller. However, this does not make them terrorists. You can intend to make a statement with a crime or “go out in a blaze of glory” without being part of an effort to coerce or intimidate a government or society. The parents of Balloon Boy wanted to scare a nation, but they are not terrorists. There is no question that you have a legitimate concern over terrorism with a mass shooting at a military base. However, motivation is central to such a distinction. At the moment, Hasan looks much like other rage killers in recent years.

Hasan Charged With 13 Counts of Premeditated Murder as Obama Calls for Investigation of Warning Signs « JONATHAN TURLEY

USC. Title 18. Chapter 113B is a Federal statue, and as noted by Professor Turley, such a charge is available only in either a military tribunal or in Federal court.

Fine. Try him for multiple counts of murder in a military court martial under the applicable provisions of the UCMJ. When that proceeding is finished, try him on one or more counts of terrorism (separate offense) before a military tribunal. After that, hang the sonofabitch!