But Maj Nidal Hasan told the jury at Fort Hood, Texas, that the evidence told only one side of the story. The 42-year-old says he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. If convicted on 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, the US-born Muslim could face execution. "The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter," Maj Hasan, who is acting as his own lawyer, told the jury of 13 military officers as the trial began on Tuesday. "We are imperfect Muslims trying to establish the perfect religion," added the accused, who uses a wheelchair after being paralysed when he was shot during the attack. He declined to cross-examine any of the witnesses wounded in the assault.
'Careful preparations'
The killings on 5 November 2009 are the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base. During the prosecution's opening statements, Col Steve Henricks said Maj Hasan had deliberately targeted "unarmed, unsuspecting and defenceless soldiers" when he opened fire, and planned to "kill as many soldiers as he could".
He said the accused had prepared carefully for the attack, visiting a target practice range, buying a gun, and stuffing paper towels into his trouser pockets to muffle noise from the weapons before he opened fire. "All those fully loaded magazines do not clink, do not move, do not give him away," Col Henricks told the jury. "He sits among the soldiers he's about to kill with his head down." The court heard that Maj Hasan had first tried to clear the area of civilians, even walking over to a clerk to tell her a supervisor needed her elsewhere in the building. He then climbed on to a desk, shouted an Islamic benediction, and opened fire with two handguns, witnesses said.
'Dead men don't sweat'
