Thirteen die in rampage

By Wire Reports - 11/6/2009


FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday, authorities said, a rampage that killed 13 people and left 30 wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States.

The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive in a hospital under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He was shot four times, and was on a ventilator and unconscious, according to military officials. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said.

The man was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old from Virginia.

President Barack Obama called the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, "a horrific outburst of violence."

Hasan had transferred to Fort Hood in July from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. There were conflicting reports about his destination.

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

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, Khan said.

Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover.

"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."

The Rev. Greg Schannep was about to head into a graduation ceremony when a man in uniform approached him, warning him that someone had opened fire. Schannep heard three volleys of gunfire and saw people running.

"There was a burst of shots and more bursts of shots and people running everywhere," he said.

The uniformed man who had warned him ran to the theater. Schannep said he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound. The man survived, Schannep said.

Cone said initially three people were held, and all have been interviewed. Authorities believe, however, that there was a single shooter who used two pistols.

The Soldier Readiness Center holds hundreds of people and is one of the most populated parts of the base, said Steve Moore, a spokesman for III Corps at Fort Hood. Nearby there are barracks and a food center where there are fast-food chains.

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

Hasan, whose family said he was born in suburban Washington, is single with no children. He graduated from Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001 and was at Walter Reed for six years for his internship, residency and a fellowship.

Hasan had come to the attention of federal law enforcement officials at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said investigators were trying to confirm that Hasan was the author of the postings, one of which was a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save comrades. An official said search warrants were being drawn up to authorize seizure of Hasan's computer.

Nader Hasan, who described himself to Fox News as a cousin, said Hasan is a Muslim who went into the military against his parents' wishes. Nader Hasan called his cousin a "good American" who never got into trouble but added that he did not support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He had always wanted to just get away from the war and (that) environment," Nader Hasan said. "He wasn't someone who even enjoyed going to the firing range."


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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Angry Citizen!, Bluejacket (11/6/2009 8:19:32 AM)
The Army is no place for political or cultural experiments. This officer should have been seperated from service but I'm sure his commander was afraid of the political ramifications.

Basil, Tulsa (11/6/2009 6:01:03 AM)
The fruit of the religious philosophical system of Islam shows us if it is good or evil. All men were created good by God, and Muslims are no exception, but the false-religion of Islam is evil. All men are capable of murder under the right conditions, but for some the walk to that point is shorter, based on their view of man's worth. Most mass murderers, if not all, have successfully dehumanized those they've killed. In Islam, murdering those they've dehumanized in their minds as "infidels" is no crime, and in most cases something that will earn them rewards in the afterlife. If we are going to defeat this threat, we need to realize that the core of the threat is Islamic belief, not the poor Muslims who've been deceived by it. We should pity them, but work tirelessly to defeat the false religion of Islam, that justifies murder, deceit, and other immoral actions to reach its end goal of world domination. There will inevitably be some Muslims who try to tell us Mr. Hasan just went wacko, but as you can read above, he was a well-educated man, and had no prior record of such violent behavior.

Basil, Tulsa (11/6/2009 9:01:34 AM)
We, and our public officials are partly to blame for this attrocity. We aren't taking the threat presented by this particular religious philosophical system seriously. Also, groups like CAIR are shaping the coversation in a way that conceals the root of the problem, trying to convince us that all the "honor killings" and domestic attacks by Muslims are just committed by some crazy bad apples, rather than springing from the core tenets of Islam. The core tenets label fellow men as "infidels" and require that Muslims force them to convert, allow themselves to be subjugated to Muslims, or die. This is a core tenet, not something only believed by radicals. They are also allowed to conceal and deceive others about Islam, to help it spread--also a core tenet taught by Mohammed.

oldrustytulsa, Tulsa (11/6/2009 5:38:36 AM)
Do you think that Muslim sleeper agents have infiltrated all levels of American society?

Sanity, Broken Arrow (11/6/2009 8:00:23 AM)
We had better wake up! News tells us of many reported signs of averse attitude by this man. BUT STILL HE WAS PROMOTED TO LEAD OUR TROOPS AS MAJOR IN MAY OF THIS YEAR!!! The danger is not passed. He was being deployed. Who approved that a traitor was to take charge of our troops next month??? Serious investigations of the military are in order.

Sanity, Broken Arrow (11/6/2009 8:07:36 AM)
What about that 72 virgin expectation we hear repeated? Was this a one-time belief by 9/11 attackers or a part of Islam? If so, extremists or all Islam? The prospect of raping 72 virgins doesn't sound like religion to me.

Few Clothes, America (11/6/2009 3:29:42 PM)
Latrine, your post is rather weak.

KYCane, Crestwood (11/6/2009 7:52:26 AM)
I believe so, oldrustyTulsa.

Mr. Brown, Kanagawa, Japan (11/6/2009 6:06:48 PM)
If he didn't support the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, didn't even like the shooting range, why would he join at all? He'll have fun at Leavenworth.

ajohnb, Jenks (11/6/2009 6:19:04 AM)
what Okie Dad and Basil said. "Hasan had come to the attention of federal law enforcement officials at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity" Just like the Muslim terrorists around the world. What do you wanna bet that this will be turned around against the victims and others because we (as a nation) did not show this man enough tolerance and understanding for his religion? America will be blamed for this man doing what he did because we make it too hard for those that want "special" treatment to live here peacefully. I bet the liberals will start blaming everyone but the shooter for this happening.

Disco Deere, Oklahoma City. (11/6/2009 1:34:20 PM)
When found Guilty in a Court of Law I freely volunteer my services and I will use my own weapons and ammo. It is okay with me that he still be in a hospital bed,or a wheel chair. I will be an equal opportunity executor. Have Gun,Will Travel. Wire Oklahoma City.

lucky girl, mine (11/6/2009 8:17:02 AM)
This is terriable!

TK1, (11/6/2009 8:21:55 AM)
For those that propose that this was a long term "sleeper" strategy, you have a tough question to answer--Why now?

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/6/2009 7:56:48 AM)
I agree with Basil. We must work to defeat the false religion of Islam. We must also work to defeat the false religion of Evangelical Christianity with equal fervor. The attempted genocide of the Indians, The enslavement of the blacks, the bombing of abortion clinics, throwing acid in the face of nurses, killing doctors, the abuses of women, those are just a few of the things that the Evangelical Christians have done in this country. All extremist religion needs to be done away with.

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/6/2009 8:06:26 AM)
Well now that I agree with Sanity.

Sardonicus Rex, Jenks (11/6/2009 5:59:29 PM)
I personally don't look at this tragic incident as the action of a member of a particular religion. To me, it looks more like this is the case of somebody who wanted the U.S. Army to pay for his medical school and then freaked out when it came time for him to "pay" for it.

OkieDad, (11/6/2009 5:49:29 AM)
How could this happen? I thought Muslim was the "Religion of Peace"? Funny how everyone except those who are practicing it think of it this way. I wouldn't doubt this guy was a sleeper. You have to work awful hard to get a Poor performance evaluation at Walter Reed! I bet he was looking forward to those 72 virgins that he was promised as a Martyr!

pissedtulsan, (11/6/2009 4:16:35 PM)
Dusty - It's clear that you have axes to grind and I'm sure you’re not alone. But nowhere does the Christian word or common Christian faith condone any of the acts that you described carried out by "so called" Christian extremists. But no one can truthfully make that same statement of the Muslim belief or their bible. There's your difference.

latime, tulsa (11/6/2009 7:44:09 AM)
blah, blah, blah. Another crazy Muslim! Is anyone getting this, It seems like there is a pattern here.

latime, tulsa (11/6/2009 8:14:50 AM)
the Christian church came out against the killing or bombing of abortion clinics, and it stopped. the other things mentioned are not part of the christian problem.

taj1958, Henryetta (11/6/2009 7:35:43 AM)
He committed murder,regardless of his religion. It was said that he FAILED his evauation,that should have been a RED FLAG for the army.This man need to be in jail.PERIOD.

lizzy, Tulsa (11/6/2009 5:01:08 PM)
Why do we insist on keeping people in the military who want desperately to get out, and kick out people who want desperately to stay in? I'm not defending the hideous crime this guy committed, make no mistake, but what other employer in the country refuses to let you quit? Might there have been a different outcome if he'd been allowed to leave months ago? It does make you wonder.

OkieA, RuralOkla (11/7/2009 11:56:22 PM)
To ajohnb: As someone who you might refer to as a "liberal" (def.: Not a self-righteous and self-centered, racially and otherwise socially prejudiced practitioner of false Christianity), I think it is interesting that your first conclusion about this tragedy, of which I agree with Basil's comments about, is nothing more than a slight toward a broad group of people who don't share your probable hypocrisy in religion and politics.



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