Shooting rampage at Fort Hood

[mariomike]

Just as we had our own NCO who decided to shoot up the Quebec legislature years ago. 

Marc Lepine mentioned him in his suicide note:
"I tried in my youth to enter the Forces as an officer cadet, which would have allowed me possibly to get into the arsenal and precede Lortie in a raid. They refused me because antisocial (sic)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_L%C3%A9pine#L.C3.A9pine.27s_suicide_statement

 

[1feral1]

This is making the news this morning (its Sunday here) in Australia...

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=928318

Text shared IAW the usual....

Probe of army shooting focuses on motive05:45 AEST Sun Nov 8 20096 minutes agoBy Daphne Benoit Investigators on Saturday worked to uncover the motives of a Muslim army doctor suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in a shooting rampage at a US military base.

An initial search of Major Nidal Malik Hasan's computer revealed no direct exchanges with known extremists, but US Army and FBI officials had yet to rule out possible links to terrorist groups, US media reported.

Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan that expressed support for suicide bombings.

Investigators were not able to determine yet whether the writer and Major Hasan were the same person, but the details fuelled concerns that authorities may have missed warning signs prior to the attack at Fort Hood, Texas.

Neighbours reportedly said Hasan, 39, was in a rush when he gave away his belongings - including a Koran - shortly before Thursday's bloody shooting spree.

"I'm not going to need them," he told one neighbour, Patricia Villa, according to The New York Times, handing over bags of vegetables, a mattress and clothing.

A US-born Muslim of Palestinian heritage, Hasan, 39, had voiced dismay over US wars in Islamic countries and was distraught that he was about to be deployed to Afghanistan.

He reportedly said the US struggle against terror threats was a "war on Muslims," while his family alleged he was the target of prejudice and harassment over his Islamic faith.

Criminal investigators were poring over evidence to determine if the alleged shooter - who was under guard at a hospital - was motivated by Islamist political ideology or had snapped under the pressure of his job counselling soldiers traumatised by combat.

In Texas, poignant details of each of those killed in the rampage drove home the scale of the tragedy.

The victims included a 21-year-old mother-to-be Private Francheska Velez, who was due to return home to Chicago for maternity leave after a tour in Iraq; 56-year-old John Gaffaney, a psychiatric nurse who had just persuaded the military to let him return to active duty for deployment in Iraq; Private First Class Kham Xiong, 23, a father of three whose own father had fought communist forces in Laos during the Vietnam war.

President Barack Obama led the nation in mourning on Saturday, and sought to reassure a stunned military.

"Thursday's shooting was one of the most devastating ever committed on an American military base," he said. "And yet, even as we saw the worst of human nature on full display, we also saw the best of America."

The president hailed the soldiers and civilians who rushed to help victims, tearing off bullet-riddled clothes to treat the injured and using blouses as tourniquets.

Obama ordered flags to fly at half-staff at the White House and federal buildings, as troops at home and abroad held a minute's silence to mourn the dead.

The bodies of those killed were taken to the same mortuary at Dover Air Base in Delaware that handles fallen soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Hasan was moved meanwhile from a civilian to a military hospital, in part for security reasons, Fort Hood deputy commander Colonel John Rossi told reporters.

Hasan was shot and seriously wounded by a female civilian police officer who was being hailed as a heroine for ending his deadly rampage.

Witnesses reportedly heard Hasan shout "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great) as he opened fire in a troop processing centre with a semi-automatic weapon and a handgun.

Rossi said investigators believe Hasan fired more than 100 rounds during the incident.

US Army chief of staff General George Casey said the attack was "a kick in the gut, not only for the Fort Hood community but for the entire army."

Fort Hood, by area the world's largest US military base, has borne the brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops based here have suffered the highest number of casualties and have undertaken multiple tours of duty.

The shooting also raised delicate questions about Muslim soldiers serving in the military, as some commentators warned of an Islamic "fifth column" infiltrating the army while Islamic groups called for calm amid concerns of a backlash.

Casey said after a visit to the base that he too feared a backlash.

-------------------------

I think we all know what motivated this coward (its obvious), but again thats just speculation, and I won't truly comment until after the investigation.

I just hope in a pathetically politically correct fragile world the real truth, and the factual reasons come out, and are NOT downplayed or covered up for fear of some backlash or the 'dreaded' 'fear of offending' of some kind.

Crikey, imagine if this murderous coward is executed (or even placed on death row), wouldn't that upset the applecart in certain parts of the world.

OWDU

 

[a_majoor]

The picture gets murkier

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6521758/Fort-Hood-shooting-Texas-army-killer-linked-to-September-11-terrorists.html

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists
Major Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a "spiritual adviser" to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001.

By Philip Sherwell and Alex Spillius
Published: 8:17PM GMT 07 Nov 2009

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother's funeral was held there in May that year.

The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organisations.

Hasan's eyes "lit up" when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki's teachings, according to a fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of Thursday's horrific shooting spree.

As investigators look at Hasan's motives and mindset, his attendance at the mosque could be an important piece of the jigsaw. Al-Awlaki moved to Dar al-Hijrah as imam in January, 2001, from the west coast, and three months later the September 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour began attending his services. A third hijacker attended his services in California.

Hasan was praying at Dar al-Hijrah at about the same time, and the FBI will now want to investigate whether he met the two terrorists.

Charles Allen, a former under-secretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, has described al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, as an "al-Qaeda supporter, and former spiritual leader to three of the September 11 hijackers... who targets US Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks from his new home in Yemen".

Last night Hasan remained in a coma under guard at a military hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and was said to be in a "stable" condition. Born in America to a Palestinian family, Hasan, 39, was an army psychiatrist who had chosen to sign up for the US military against his parents' wishes.

But he turned into an angry critic of the wars America was waging in Iraq and Afghanistan and had tried in vain to negotiate his discharge.

He counselled soldiers returning from the front line and told relatives that he was horrified at the prospect of a deployment to Afghanistan later this year – his first time in a combat zone.

Whether due to his personal convictions, his stress over his deployment or other reasons, Hasan is alleged to have snapped and gone on a murderous rampage with a powerful semi-automatic handgun after shouting "Allahu Akhbar" ("God is great"), according to survivors. He had earlier given away copies of the Koran to neighbours.

Investigators at this stage have no indication that he planned the attacks with anyone else. But they are trawling through his phone records, paperwork and computers he used before the attack during an apparently sleepless night.

Five of the 13 victims were fellow mental health professionals from three units of the army's Combat Stress Control Detachment, it was disclosed yesterday.

It is understood that Hasan had been due to be deployed with members of those units in coming months. Whether he deliberately singled out other combat stress counsellors is another key question.

What does seem clear is that the army missed an increasing number of red flags that Hasan was a troubled and brooding individual within its ranks.

"I was shocked but not surprised by news of Thursday's attack," said Dr Val Finnell, a fellow student on a public health course in 2007-08 who heard Hasan equate the war on terrorism to a war on Islam. Another student had warned military officials that Hasan was a "ticking time bomb" after he reportedly gave a presentation defending suicide bombers.

Kamran Pasha, the author of Mother of the Believers, a new novel relating the story of Islam from the perspective of Aisha, Prophet Mohammed's wife, was told of the al-Awlaki connection from a Muslim friend who is also an officer at Fort Hood. Using the name Richard, the recent convert to Islam described how he frequently prayed with Hasan at the town mosque after Hasan was deployed to Fort Hood in July. They last worshipped together at predawn prayers on the day of the massacre when Hasan "appeared relaxed and not in any way troubled or nervous".

But Richard had previously argued with Hasan when he said that he felt the "war on terror" was really a war against Islam, expressed anti-Jewish sentiments and defended suicide bombings.

"I asked Richard whether he believed that Hasan was motivated by religious radicalism in his murderous actions," Mr Pasha said.

"Richard, with great sadness, said that he believed this was true. He also believed that psychological factors from Hasan's job as an army psychiatrist added to his pathos. The news that he would be deployed overseas, to a war that he rejected, may have pushed him over the edge.

"But Richard does not excuse Hasan. As a Muslim, he finds Hasan's religious perspectives to be fundamentally misguided. And as a soldier, he finds Hasan's actions cowardly and evil."

Fellow Muslims in the US armed forces have also been quick to denounce Hasan's actions and insist that they were the product of a lone individual rather than of Islamic teachings. Osman Danquah, the co-founder of the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, said Hasan never expressed anger toward the army or indicated any plans for violence.

But he said that, at their second meeting, Hasan seemed almost incoherent.

"I told him, 'There's something wrong with you'. I didn't get the feeling he was talking for himself, but something just didn't seem right."

He was sufficiently troubled that he recommended the centre reject Hasan's request to become a lay Muslim leader at Fort Hood.

Hasan had, in fact, already come to the attention of the authorities before Thursday's massacre. He was suspected of being the author of internet postings that compared suicide bombers with soldiers who throw themselves on grenades to save others and had also reportedly been warned about proselytising to patients.

At Fort Hood, he told a colleague, Col Terry Lee, that he believed Muslims should rise up against American "aggressors". He made no attempt to hide his desire to end his military service early or his mortification at the prospect of deployment to Afghanistan. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there," said his cousin, Nader Hasan.

Yet away from his strident attacks on US foreign policy, he came across as subdued and reclusive – not hostile or threatening. Soldiers he counselled at the Walter Reed hospital in Washington praised him, while at Fort Hood, Kimberly Kesling, the deputy commander of clinical services, remarked: "Up to this point, I would consider him an asset."

Relatives said that the death of Hasan's parents, in 1998 and 2001, turned him more devout. "After he lost his parents he tried to replace their love by reading a lot of books, including the Koran," his uncle Rafiq Hamad said.

"He didn't have a girlfriend, he didn't dance, he didn't go to bars."

His failed search for a wife seemed to haunt Hasan. At the Muslim Community Centre in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, he signed up for an Islamic matchmaking service, specifying that he wanted a bride who wore the hijab and prayed five times a day.

Adnan Haider, a retired professor of statistics, recalled how at their first meeting last year, a casual introduction after Friday prayers, Hasan immediately asked the academic if he knew "a nice Muslim girl" he could marry.

"It was a strange thing to ask someone you have met two seconds before. It was clear to me he was under pressure, you could just see it in his face," said Prof Haider, 74, who used to work at Georgetown University in Washington. "You could see he was lonely and didn't have friends.

"He is working with psychiatric people and I ask why the people around him didn't spot that something was wrong? When I heard what had happened I actually wasn't that surprised."

Indeed, many of the characteristics attributed to Hasan by acquaintances – withdrawn, unassuming, brooding, socially awkward and never known to have had a girlfriend – have also applied to other mass murderers.

Hasan was born and brought up in Virginia to parents who ran restaurants after emigrating to America from the West Bank. He graduated from Virginia Tech university – coincidentally, the scene of the worst mass shooting in US history in 2007 – with a degree in biochemistry and then joined the army, which trained him as a psychiatrist.

Relatives said that he was subjected to increasingly ugly taunts about his religion and ethnicity from other soldiers after the September 11 attacks. But his uncle insisted yesterday that Hasan would not have been driven to mass murder by revenge or religion.

Speaking in the West Bank town of al-Bireh, Mr Hamad said his nephew "loved America" and could only have been caused to snap by an as yet unexplained factor. "He always said there was no country in the world like America," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "Something big happened to him in Texas. If he did it – and until now I am in denial – it had to have been something huge because revenge was not in his nature."

•Additional reporting by Adrian Blomfield in al-Bireh

 

[old medic]

Shooter transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center; community rallies to support victims
Ramp ceremony held
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=36929

By Amanda Kim Stairrett
Killeen Daily Herald

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center about 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.

The man suspected of killing 12 soldiers, one civilian and injuring 38 more when he opened fire at Fort Hood was intubated and has not spoken with investigators, said Col. (promotable) John Rossi, Fort Hood deputy commander of fires.

Officials announced Thursday afternoon that Hasan was shot and killed, but corrected themselves that evening. They have been questioned about the initial report, and Rossi said Friday night that investigators had 100 percent control of the suspect after he was apprehended. He attributed the mistake to an "internal lack of communication."

Two more patients were released Friday night and half of those left hospitalized are in ICU care, Rossi said. Earlier reports stated that 13 were killed and 30 were hospitalized. The colonel said Friday night that eight were treated and released soon after the incident.

The 13 bodies of those killed in the shooting were honored Friday during a "ramp ceremony" at Robert Gray Army Airfield. During the ceremony, the flag-draped coffins were loaded onto a C-17 plane bound for Dover, Del.

About 300 troops participated in the ceremony and among those was a soldier wounded in the shooting who insisted upon seeing his friends' remains depart, Rossi said.

Also present for the ceremony were Gen. George Casey Jr., Army chief of staff, and Defense Secretary John McHugh.

Casey the Army will put full resources behind Fort Hood in the recovery process.

"This was a kick in the gut," Casey said of the shootings.

When asked by a reporter what he would say to Hasan if given the chance, Casey replied: "Not even going to go there. Not even going to go there."

Rossi later discussed a few details of the shooting, of which officials have released little so far. He said that the two handguns Hasan used were his personal weapons and were purchased locally, though he didn't know when. The handguns were not registered at Fort Hood as is required with soldiers who wish to own firearms.

Rossi said that the suspect fired more than 100 rounds, but wouldn't confirm whether Hasan stopped to reload the weapons.

There are no indications that Thursday's shooting was a friendly-fire incident, Rossi went on to say when prodded by reporters. Investigators determined that by examining the positions of the deceased, the shooter's movements and where the first responders came upon the scene, Rossi said.

About 300 soldiers and more than 100 civilians were at and around the Soldier Readiness Processing site during the shooting, and witness statements are still being collected.

Casey said he asked leaders across the Army to come together in the next 24 hours and examine force protection measures at their installations.

Officials set up a grieving center at Fort Hood's Resiliency Campus, and are asking unit leaders to identify soldiers who need or ask for help, Rossi said.

More than 200 behavioral health specialists were available on post following Thursday's shooting. Those providers came from the 85th Combat Stress Control Medical Detachment, 1st Medical Brigade and Brooke Army Medical Center, said Col. Steven Braverman, Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center commander. Officials provided that surge to reach out to anybody who needs it, he added.

Army Says Hasan Taken off Ventilator
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/07/national/main5569056.shtml?tag=stack

(CBS/ AP)  A U.S. army spokesman says the man authorities say went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood has been taken off a ventilator but still remains in intensive care at a military hospital.

Spokesman Col. John Rossi told reporters on Saturday at Fort Hood that he is not sure if Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is able to communicate.

Hasan was shot during an exchange of gunfire during Thursday's attack, in which 13 people were killed and 29 others were wounded.

The military moved Hasan Friday to Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, about 240 kilometres southwest of Fort Hood. Army officials have said Hasan is "not able to converse."

 

[kratz]

Are my search skills that bad these days? Or are copies of Hansard that hard to find these days?

I went searching to confirm that changes in the law, "An Act to Amend the National Defence Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, S.C. 1998 c. 35." Actually abolished capital punishment.

To my understanding when this law was passed, there was at least one law reaming on the books that pays an annual salary for Canada to retain a professional hangman. I remember that point in the change due to my cynicism at the time.

Yes. For all practical purposes, capital punishment in Canada is abolished. I went looking for a needle in a haystack to ensure there were none. 

 

[old medic]

Full list of the 13 killed.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/06/fort.hood.shootings.victims/index.html

November 7, 2009 11:11 p.m. EST

Lt. Col. Juanita L. Warman, 55, of Havre De Grace, Maryland. She was assigned to the 1908th Medical Company, Independence, Missouri.

Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Virginia. He was assigned to the 467th Medical Detachment, Madison, Wisconsin.

Capt. Russell Seager, 41, of Racine, Wisconsin. He was assigned to the 467th Medical Company, Madison, Wisconsin.

Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tennessee. He was assigned to the 16th Signal Company, Fort Hood, Texas.

Capt. John Gaffaney, San Diego, California

John Gaffaney, a 56-year-old Army reservist, was a psychiatric nurse and worked for two decades in San Diego County, California, where he helped elderly victims of abuse and neglect.

Ellen Schmeding, assistant deputy director of the county's Aging and Independence Services Department, told CNN affiliate KFMB that Gaffaney most recently served as a supervisor for the county's Adult Protective Services Department.

"Everybody is quite shocked and shook up over what happened," Schmeding said.

Gaffaney, the father of a grown son, traveled to Fort Hood this week for a yearlong overseas deployment. Before he worked for the county, he had been in the Army, where he earned the rank of major, Schmeding said.

Schmeding said Gaffaney "really felt he could make a difference" serving members of the armed forces.

He will be "sorely missed," she said.

Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow, Plymouth, Indiana

Justin Decrow, 32, was a "loving husband and father, and we're going to miss him," sobbed his wife, Marikay DeCrow, from their home in Evans, Georgia.

The couple has a 13-year-old daughter.

DeCrow went to Fort Hood in September to prepare for his deployment to Iraq, which was scheduled for sometime between December and March, Marikay Decrow told CNN.

He had just come back from a tour in South Korea, where he worked in satellite communications, she added.

Daniel DeCrow, Justin DeCrow's father, told CNN affiliate WSBT in South Bend, Indiana, that his son joined the Army after finishing high school in Plymouth, Indiana.

He last spoke to his son last week, WSBT reported.

"As usual, the last words out of my mouth to him were that I was proud of him," Daniel DeCrow said, according to WSBT's Web site. "That's what I said to him every time -- that I loved him and I was proud of what he was doing. I can carry that around in my heart."

Chief Warrant Officer Michael Grant Cahill (Ret.), Cameron, Texas

Michael Cahill, 62, liked his job as a physician's assistant at Fort Hood so much that he only took one week of recovery time after undergoing heart surgery, his sister told CNN affiliate KREM.

Cahill, who served in the Army Reserve, previously worked as a registered nurse, Marilyn Attebery told KREM. He later returned to school to pursue a career as a physician's assistant, she said. Cahill was assisting with physicals for soldiers preparing for deployment at the time of the shooting, his sister said.

"I'm just upset for all the families and for what went on here. They're talking about wars and show wars and it's right there in Fort Hood and it's just devastating to everybody and all the families," Attebery told KREM.

Cahill is survived by his wife, Joleen, three children and a grandson, Attebery said.

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, Tipton, Oklahoma

Hunt, 22, wanted to be part of something greater than himself, his sister Leila Willingham told CNN. He enlisted in the Army in 2006 and spent his 21st birthday in Iraq, she said. He chose to re-enlist, dedicating the next six years to the military.

"I think that says a lot for that kind of man who makes that kind of choice for his country," Willingham said.

Willingham sobbed as she talked about the love she had for a brother she was "super proud" of.

Hunt was recently married and set for his second deployment to Iraq, his sister told CNN's "Larry King Live."

Hunt graduated high school in 2005 and tested his hand at a career in information technology, Willingham said. But he had a different calling.

"I really feel like when he enlisted in the Army he fulfilled that part of himself that wanted to serve other people and live for something greater than himself," she said.

Willingham said she doesn't know the details of her brother's death, but wants to believe he died trying to save others. "It's something he'd do," she said.

Sgt. Amy Krueger, Kiel, Wisconsin

Amy Krueger, 29, was a high school athlete who joined the military after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

"I know she was proud to serve and proud to share her experience," Talerico told the newspaper. "She took pride that she was able to serve her country."

Krueger played for the high school basketball and softball teams and graduated in 1998, Talerico said.

A high school friend who later shared an apartment with Krueger had fond memories of the sergeant.

"She was one of the best people you could have ever met," Carrie Marie Senkbeil told the newspaper.

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, West Jordan, Utah

Aaron Nemelka, 19, graduated from high school and enlisted in the military in the same year -- 2008. He was set to deploy to Afghanistan in January, his family told CNN affiliate KUTV.

Nemelka, the youngest of four children, was happy to offer his service, the family said in a letter read aloud by Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen of the National Guard to KUTV.

"Aaron was very happy as a combat engineer. He was anxious to be deployed to Afghanistan in January."

Family members said they were devastated by their loss.

Nemelka's uncle, Maj. Michael Blades, read a statement from his nephew's family.

"Aaron was very proud to serve in the military," Blades said, adding that many others in his family had also served in the armed forces.

"His mission is completed in this life. He now serves a higher calling in heaven," Blades read. "We love him, we miss him, and we look forward to that glorious day when the family will be reunited with him."

Nemelka had a girlfriend and he may have had plans to marry her, KUTV reported.

Pfc. Michael Pearson, Bolingbrook, Illinois

Michael Pearson, 22, enlisted in the Army more than a year ago to realize his musical dream. He hoped the military would be his path to college, where he could study musical theory, his brother Kristopher Craig told CNN affiliate WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois.

"He was a genius as far as we were concerned," Craig told WGN-TV, reeling from the news that his 21-year-old "little kid brother" was dead.

"He was really living his life playing guitar," Craig said. "When he picked up a guitar, we all understood that he was expressing himself."

Pearson was scheduled to deploy either to Iraq or Afghanistan in January, his brother said. He was learning to deactivate bombs and training in the Mojave Desert, said his mother, Sheryll Pearson. She was looking forward to seeing her son at Christmas.

He was shot three times in the spine and chest and died on the operating table, she said, according to TV affiliates in Chicago.

"His father is still in shock and very angry," Sheryll Pearson said. "We're all very angry."

Craig, who also had been stationed at Fort Hood and now serves in the Illinois National Guard, said he cannot accept a fellow soldier gunned down his brother.

"It's unfathomable," he said. "I couldn't imagine something like that -- attacking another soldier. It's just ridiculous. I don't understand it."

Pvt. Francheska Velez, Chicago, Illinois

Francheska Velez, 21, lived the dream her father never realized.

Velez enlisted three years ago, an act her father Juan Guillermo Velez always wanted to accomplish, he told CNN affiliate WGBO. He encouraged his three-months pregnant daughter to stick with the military after she gave birth.

"My advice to her was to continue with her career in the military after she had her child," he told WGBO. "Then she would tell me, 'Daddy,' always with a smile on her face, which I will never forget, 'I will continue with my military career.' That was a dream that she made happen for me."

Francheska Velez had recently returned from Iraq and was transferred to Fort Hood last week because she was pregnant, her father said.

In the wake of his loss, Juan Velez struggled to comprehend why.

"It's a very difficult slap because you understand if it was terrorists or if it happened over there during the war. What hurts the most is that one of her own killed her and in her own house, the base where there should have been security."

Spc. Kham Xiong, St. Paul, Minnesota

Kham Xiong, 23, was preparing for his first deployment since joining the Army, his sister told CNN affiliate KARE.

Xiong enlisted last year and was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January, Mee Xiong said.

She thinks her brother was at the site of the shooting because he was getting a medical checkup and vaccinations, she said.

With another brother serving in Afghanistan, the news of Kham Xiong's death is "hard on the family," his sister said.

"He is a loving person, everyone loves him and adores him," Mee Xiong told KARE.

Her brother was a father of three, KARE reported.

 

[X-mo-1979]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091108/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting

  By ANGELA K. BROWN and ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writers Angela K. Brown And Allen G. Breed, Associated Press Writers  – 2 hrs 34 mins ago

FORT HOOD, Texas – There was the classroom presentation that justified suicide bombings. Comments to colleagues about a climate of persecution faced by Muslims in the military. Conversations with a mosque leader that became incoherent.

As a student, some who knew Nidal Malik Hasan said they saw clear signs the young Army psychiatrist — who authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 29 others wounded — had no place in the military. After arriving at Fort Hood, he was conflicted about what to tell fellow Muslim soldiers about the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, alarming an Islamic community leader from whom he sought counsel.

"I told him, `There's something wrong with you,'" Osman Danquah, co-founder of the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "I didn't get the feeling he was talking for himself, but something just didn't seem right."

Danquah assumed the military's chain of command knew about Hasan's doubts, which had been known for more than a year to classmates in a graduate military medical program. His fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan's "anti-American propaganda," but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept officers from filing a formal written complaint.

"The system is not doing what it's supposed to do," said Dr. Val Finnell, who studied with Hasan from 2007-2008 in the master's program in public health at the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. "He at least should have been confronted about these beliefs, told to cease and desist, and to shape up or ship out."

Military criminal investigators continued late Saturday to refer to Hasan as the only suspect in the shootings, declining to say when charges would be filed. "We have not established a motive for the shootings at this time," said Army Criminal Investigative Command spokesman Chris Grey.

A government official speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case said an initial review of Hasan's computer use has found no evidence of links to terror groups, or anyone who might have helped plan or push him toward the shooting attack. The review of Hasan's computer is continuing and more evidence could emerge, the source said.

Hasan likely would face military justice rather than federal criminal charges if investigators determine the violence was the work of just one person.

But Hasan's family described a man incapable of the attack, calling him a devoted doctor and devout Muslim who showed no signs that he might lash out with violence.

"I've known my brother Nidal to be a peaceful, loving and compassionate person who has shown great interest in the medical field and in helping others," said his brother, Eyad Hasan, of Sterling, Va., in a statement. "He has never committed an act of violence and was always known to be a good, law-abiding citizen."

Others recalled a pleasant neighbor who forgave a fellow soldier charged with tearing up his "Allah is Love" bumper sticker. A superior officer at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, Col. Kimberly Kesling, has said Hasan was a quiet man with a strong work ethic who provided excellent care for his patients.

Still, in the days since authorities believe Hasan fired more than 100 rounds in a soldier processing center at Fort Hood in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S., a picture has emerged of a man who was forcefully opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was trying to get out of his late November deployment to Afghanistan and had struggled professionally in his work as an Army psychiatrist.

"He told (them) that as a Muslim committed to his prayers he was discriminated against and not treated as is fitting for an officer and American," said Mohammed Malik Hasan, 24, a cousin, told the AP from his home on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. "He hired a lawyer to get him a discharge."

Twice this summer, Danquah said, Hasan asked him what to tell soldiers who expressed misgivings about fighting fellow Muslims. The retired Army first sergeant and Gulf War veteran said he reminded Hasan that these soldiers had volunteered to fight, and that Muslims were fighting against each other in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories.

"But what if a person gets in and feels that it's just not right?" Danquah recalled Hasan asking him.

"I'd give him my response. It didn't seem settled, you know. It didn't seem to satisfy," he said. "It would be like a person playing the devil's advocate. ... I said, `Look. I'm not impressed by you.'"

Danquah said he was so disturbed by Hasan's persistent questioning that he recommended the mosque reject Hasan's request to become a lay Muslim leader at Fort Hood. But he never saw a need to tell anyone at the sprawling Army post about the talks, because Hasan never expressed anger toward the Army or indicated any plans for violence.

"If I had an inkling that he had this type of inclination or intentions, definitely I would have brought it to their attention," he said.

Finnell said he did just that during a year of study in which Hasan made a presentation "that justified suicide bombing" and spewed "anti-American propaganda" as he argued the war on terror was "a war against Islam." Finnell said he and at least one other student complained about Hasan, surprised that someone with "this type of vile ideology" would be allowed to wear an officer's uniform.

But Finnell said no one filed a formal, written complaint about Hasan's comments out of fear of appearing discriminatory.

"In retrospect, I'm not surprised he did it," Finnell said. "I had real questions about what his priorities were, what his beliefs were."

Hasan received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 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 at the suburban Washington hospital, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Hasan was promoted from captain to major in 2008, the same year he graduated from the master's program. Bernard Rostker, a military personnel expert at the Rand Corp., said Hasan's advancement was all but certain absent a serious blemish on his record, such as a DUI or a drug charge.

"We're short of officers, particularly at the major and lieutenant colonel level because of the war, and we're short of psychiatrists," said Rostker, who served as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness during the Clinton administration. "There would have had to be something very detrimental in his record before there would have been a banner that would have said, 'No, we don't want to promote him.'"

Both military and civilian investigators have yet to talk with Hasan, who reportedly jumped up on a desk and shouted "Allahu akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great!" — at the start of Thursday's attack. He was seriously wounded by police and transferred Friday to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, and officials said late Saturday he was no longer on a respirator.

"Hopefully, they can put together the pieces and find out what in the world was in his mind and why he went crazy," Danquah said. "Aaaaah, it's sad. Those soldiers could have been my soldiers."

___

Associated Press Writers Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank, and Devlin Barrett, Richard Lardner, Pamela Hess and Jessica Gresko in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.


There are two points.

Why was he not talked to about spewing the beliefs of the enemy at a US forces school?What would have happened 20 years ago if someone gave a communist speech?Labeling someone a extremist isnt a racist move.However this proves the fear in OUR system.

As well I hope someone is talking to the muslim soldiers hasas has spoken with about killing other muslims.Who knows what was said behind closed doors.And who knows what could happen.

Thoughts with the families.

 

[George Wallace]

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act." 

Texas shooting suspect no longer on ventilator


LINK

07/11/2009 9:46:17 PM

CBC News
The suspect in the 13-death shooting at a Texas military base has been taken off a ventilator but is still in intensive care at a military hospital, a U.S. army spokeman says.


Spokesman Col. John Rossi told reporters Saturday night that he did not know if Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan can communicate.

Hasan was shot four times - including at least once in the torso - by two civilian officers after Thursday's rampage.

Rossi said Hasan, a military mental health doctor, had been slated for deployment to Afghanistan in late November. There were earlier reports that he was scheduled to be sent to Iraq but didn't want to go.

Thirteen people - 12 soldiers and one civilian - were killed and 30 wounded at Fort Hood on Thursday when a gunman opened fire in a room crowded with hundreds of soldiers. The dead included a pregnant woman.

Seventeen victims who received gunshot wounds remain in hospital, Rossi said.

Long-term trauma likely

Meanwhile, the head of surgery at one of the hospitals said Saturday that some of the survivors may never completely recover from their injuries and may suffer from long-lasting psychological trauma.

Roy Smythe, chairman of surgery at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, where some of the victims are being treated, said progress has been seen in most of them.

Of the original 10 patients admitted to his hospital, four have gone home. Six had been in the surgical intensive-care unit, Smythe said, but on Saturday only two remained there.

Those in the ICU were no longer on ventilators and were considered stable.

"I would say that some of them are out of the woods, but some of them - again their injuries are so severe that only time will tell how they'll do in the long run," he said.

"Some of these patients are young and sometimes young patients will surprise you in regards to their rehabilitation. But there is a possibility that some of these patients will be physically impaired for the rest of their life.

"And there's certainly no doubt that many of them will be psychogically impaired the rest of their lives."

U.S. President Barack Obama used his Saturday morning radio and internet address to pay tribute to those killed at the military base, calling the shooting a "crime against our nation."

"It is an act of violence that would have been heartbreaking had it occurred anyplace in America," Obama said. "It is a crime that would have horrified us had its victims been Americans of any background. But it's all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable because of the place where it occurred and the patriots who were its victims."

The casualty toll could have been much higher if two civilian police officers had not intervened, officials told reporters Friday.

Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley was directing traffic on the base when she got the call. She was at the shooting scene in less than four minutes, said army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey.

Munley is listed in stable condition following surgery Friday after being shot at least three times.

Another police officer, Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, saw Munley lying on the ground and also fired at the suspect, who was hiding at the side of the building where the massacre took place, a deployment processing centre.

It's not clear whose bullets hit the suspect.

In his radio address, Obama praised those who stopped the suspect and those who tended to the injured for their "valour, selflessness and unity of purpose."

"We saw soldiers and civilians alike rushing to aid fallen comrades, tearing off bullet-riddled clothes to treat the injured, using blouses as tourniquets, taking down the shooter even as they bore wounds themselves," Obama said.

"We saw soldiers bringing to bear on our own soil the skills they had been trained to use abroad - skills that been honed through years of determined effort for one purpose and one purpose only: to protect and defend the United States of America."

With files from The Associated Press

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Funny how this clown has a huge crisis of conscience after the military pays for a nice doctoral level education.  He probably figured since he had been treated with such kid gloves all of his career he could just sashay away whenever he felt like.  How horrifying for him to find out what "commitment" and "obligation" actually means  : But I guess he found a third option.
He is a coward, a traitor and nothing close to being a decent human being.  He shall go to that special place in Hell reserved for wretched ones such as he. 

 

[kratz]

If you are looking for third or fourth options, the alternative is he could have deserted to here, fought extradition, appealed to the HRC and spewed his hate under an acknowledged medical license here in Canada.

 

[George Wallace]

If you are looking for third or fourth options, the alternative is he could have deserted to here, fought extradition, appealed to the HRC and spewed his hate under an acknowledged medical license here in Canada.

And been yet another waste of Taxpayers money, there and here.

 

[mariomike]

"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."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6526030/Fort-Hood-gunman-had-told-US-military-colleagues-that-infidels-should-have-their-throats-cut.html

Excerpt: "One Army doctor who knew him said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim soldier had stopped fellow officers from filing formal complaints."
"in front of dozens of other doctors"

"Fort Hood's 9/11: What cowards we are. Political correctness killed those patriotic Americans at Ft. Hood as surely as the Islamist gunman did.":
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/fort_hood_xjP9yGrJN7gl7zdsJ31vnJ

 

[The Bread Guy]

Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda
Army Major in Fort Hood Massacre Used 'Electronic Means' to Connect with Terrorists
RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE and BRIAN ROSS, ABC News, 9 Nov 09
Article link

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

One senior lawmaker said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts.

CIA director Leon Panetta and the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, have been asked by Congress "to preserve" all documents and intelligence files that relate to Hasan, according to the lawmaker.

On Sunday, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist....

More on link

 

[PMedMoe]

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

Un-frikken-believable.

 

[tomahawk6]

The Army Chief of PC I mean Chief of Staff George Casey made this comment on the talk show circuit yesterday.

"Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Sunday it's important for the country not to get caught up in speculation about Hasan's Muslim faith, and he has instructed his commanders to be on the lookout for anti-Muslim reaction to the killings at the Texas post."
"He says focusing on the Islamic roots of the suspected shooter could "heighten the backlash" against all Muslims in the military.

Casey says diversity in the military "gives us strength.""

 

[mariomike]

The Army Chief of PC I mean Chief of Staff George Casey made this comment on the talk show circuit yesterday.

Quote:
"Casey says diversity in the military "gives us strength.""

Where have I heard that before? That's the new official motto of Canada's Megamess Megacity. 
http://www.toronto.ca/protocol/motto.htm
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Toronto_Coat_of_Arms.jpg

 

[Rifleman62]

Note, no alert to the media.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/07/george-w-bush-secretly-visits-fort-hood-victims/

Former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura secretly visited Fort Hood last night (7 Nov 09) and spent "considerable time" consoling those who were wounded in Thursday's shooting spree, Fox News has learned.

The Bushes entered and departed the sprawling military facility in secret, having told the base commander they did not want press coverage of their visit, a source told Fox News.

The couple was described as "deeply concerned" about military families on Fort Hood after Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire on soldiers and civilians, killing 13 and wounding 38.

The Bushes, who have a 1,600-acre property known as Prairie Chapel Ranch less than 30 miles from Fort Hood in central Texas, spent between one and two hours visiting the wounded and their families.

Also:

Other sources said the former first couple spent about two hours meeting with the wounded, family and soldiers, talking quietly and at times hugging them as they did in private at other times of crisis such as post-9/11.


http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/11/low_key_visit_to_fort_hood_by.html

November 08, 2009
Low key visit to Fort Hood by President and Mrs. Bush
Ethel C. Fenig

No photo ops, no grandstanding, no comments--just a quiet comforting visit from former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura to Fort Hood, Texas.

After traveling to the base, which is about 30 miles from their ranch, the former first couple spent about two hours visiting the wounded before slipping away as unobtrusively as they arrived, specifically telling the base commander no press coverage according to Bill Sammon of Fox News.

A fine example to set. Except President Obama decided to take a break from passing health care reform and holiday at Camp David.

The worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 and Obama can't even make it to Fort Hood to visit his wounded troops?

An interesting contrast, don't you think?



President Obama will be at Fort Hood on Tuesday to speak at the memorial. He will attend with all available media. Interesting to note that when President Obabma visted Dover AFB recently , only one of the families allowed photos to be taken of the casket. I guess they see through the guy and his party also.

 

[KevinB]

W for all his faults (real and imagined) and his wife are a real class act.

Nobama on the other hand...

I'll keep my guns, freedom and money, you can keep your change!

 

[Rifleman62]

Ageed.

And how many of the US or Cdn media ever mentioned the former President's visit?? Did CTV/CBC ?

 

[vonGarvin]

As an aside to perhaps why the POTUS failed to attend to Ft. Hood: it wasn't about him.  Same reason why he's not in Berlin today.  (He did send a video, according to this site)  But he was there in Copenhagen for Chicago's bid for the Olympics, and he's going to Oslo to get his Nobel Prize. See this. 
Actions, my friends, not words.