Free Republic

IN the case of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and the Fort Hood massacre, the verdict has come in. The liberal news media have been found guilty — by the conservative news media — of coddling Major Hasan’s religion, Islam. Liberals, according to the columnist Charles Krauthammer, wanted to medicalize Major Hasan’s crime — call it an act of insanity rather than of terrorism. They worked overtime, Mr. Krauthammer said on Fox News, to “avoid any implication that there was any connection between his Islamist beliefs ... and his actions.” The columnist Jonah Goldberg agrees. Admit it, he wrote in The...

Major Nidal Hasan, charged with killing 13 in the Fort Hood shooting spree, is paralyzed from the chest down and is not a flight risk, said his defense attorney after a hearing before a military magistrate in Hasan's hospital room Saturday. The accused Fort Hood shooter had his first court hearing in the intensive care unit of a San Antonio hospital at 1 p.m. His status has now been changed from pre-trial restriction to pre-trial confinement, meaning that he will be confined until his court martial. The military magistrate ruled that Hasan will stay at Brooke Army Medical Center for...

Nidal Hasan was an advisor to Homeland Security team.  Look on page 29 of the Homeland Security Institute link below. Go to page number 29, scroll down toward the bottom on the Left Column He is listed under "THINKING ANEW- SECURITY PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT ADMINISTRATION", as Nidal Hasan, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine (8TH DOWN ON LEFT COLUMN PAGE 29).  http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/PTTF_ProceedingsReport_05.19.09.pdf  

Judging from the way his critics have been going on, I would say that Tunku Varadarajan was on to something in his Forbes column "Going Muslim." The reaction to his important and well-reasoned article ironically confirms and further underlines his central point; namely, that out of political correctness we refuse to see and act on the obvious--the implication of Islamist ideology in violent acts such as the murders perpetrated by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Instead of addressing the substance of Mr. Varadarajan's arguments, the self-appointed spokespersons for Islam turn the whole discussion around and present Muslims as the victims of...

The title page of Nidal Hasan's PowerPoint demonstration for a medical lecture in June 2007, indicates how little interest he took in medicine and how much in the perceived contradiction between being a Muslim and an American soldier. As the Pentagon and Senate launch what one analyst dubs "dueling Fort Hood investigations," will they confront the hard truth of the Islamic angle? Despite encouraging references to "violent Islamists" by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, there is reason to worry about a whitewash of the massacre that took place on Nov. 5; that is...

The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in the Fort Hood massacre told a radical Muslim imam, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, in one of several e-mails exchanged between the two men, ABC News reported on Thursday. An unnamed official "with top secret access" told the network 18 e-mails were exchanged between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, from Dec. 2008 until June of this year. Other e-mails, the official said, included discussion of when jihad is considered "appropriate," and if it is acceptable for...

IN THEIR MIDST Something to ponder: Shooting suspect Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was once an active part of the local academic community of national security advisers and insiders. Maj. Hasan was a "participant" in George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute's Presidential Transition Task Force, which organized a quartet of forums from October 2008 to January

Maj. Nidal Hasan’s Actions Are Not Justifiable in Islam By Mukhtar Voss Posted: 11/16/2009 The story about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is sad and shocking. When I first learned of it, I could not stop reading about it, particularly once I found out he is Arab and Muslim. Since 9/11, there have been an innumerous number of suicide bombers, beheadings and many more acts of violence that were all done by Muslims and under the name of God, but it sincerely puzzles me to see such heinous crimes being committed by Muslims. In practicing my religion, I have never found...

Ever since he told a British reporter that he felt "no pity" for the victims of the Fort Hood massacre, Duane Reasoner Jr., an 18-year-old Muslim convert who frequently dined with accused shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan and attended the same mosque, has ducked the media. ... According to terrorism expert Jarret Brachman, Reasoner appears to be a classic example of a "jihad hobbyist," one of a group of young, online obsessives who radicalize themselves by ingesting hardcore jihadist Web content, from YouTube videos to discussion forums.

One of the difficulties in discussing Islam’s more troubling doctrines is that they have an anachronistic, even otherworldly, feel to them; that is, unless actively and openly upheld by Muslims, non-Muslims, particularly of the Western variety, tend to see them as abstract theory, not standard practice for today. In fact, some Westerners have difficulties acknowledging even those problematic doctrines that are openly upheld by Muslims — such as jihad. How much more when the doctrines in question are subtle, or stealthy, in nature? Enter Nidal Malik Hasan, the psychiatrist, U.S. Army major, and “observant Muslim who prayed daily,” who recently...

The Obama administration on Tuesday had the president's National Security Council take control of congressional briefings on the Fort Hood killings and asked Democratic leaders to delay a probe, as top Republicans said intelligence shortcomings blamed for failing to prevent the 9/11 attacks are re-emerging. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said that the NSC had taken over the briefings "due to the high visibility of the issues surrounding the tragic event at Fort Hood," and that Democratic leaders agreed to postpone any congressional action on the shootings. But Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants a "unified" in quiry into the Army's in ability to recognize warning signs of the sort broadcast for months by its homicidal Islamist psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. "This is larger than the Army," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell yesterday. "These are issues that need to be looked at department-wide." Well, that shouldn't take any longer than a year or two -- scant comfort to the soldiers and Marines silently going into harm's way wondering whose side that man with the gun over there is really on.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is questioning the motive behind what he sees as the Justice Department’s reluctance to provide information about the Fort Hood massacre to congressional investigators. Sessions said he talked last week to Attorney General Eric Holder, who told him that the Justice Department and the FBI could not provide information to Senate investigators because it could hinder the prosecution of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged gunman accused of killing 13 people at the sprawling Army base in Texas. Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and also a member of the Armed Services panel, believes...

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is joining Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in publicly declaring that the attack on Fort Hood is likely an act of Islamist terrorism. Cornyn wrote a letter to President Barack Obama today urging the White House not to let "political correctness" get in the way of investigating the Nov. 5 massacre that left 13 people dead and more than 30 wounded.

As Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, officially begins his inquiry this week into the disturbing failures that enabled Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to stay in uniform, it must go beyond the normal excuses related to bureaucratic bungling. With the discussion this week devolving into interagency finger-pointing, lost has been the simple fact that the failures were systemic. Although the military has done valiant work fighting in Muslim lands, it doesn't seem to grasp how to assess when Muslim personnel could pose an internal threat. It's easy to rely on hindsight to second-guess after the fact, but based...

After a week of blame throwing centered around the Fort Hood shooting, including a round of highly placed stories leaked by anonymous government sources, the shooters motivations are still cloudy. Was he motivated by radical jihadist hatred of America, mental illness, alienation, fear of deployment, or all of the above? As details emerge, President Barack Obama has called for a review of all intelligence surrounding Hasan and whether agencies shared information and acted correctly. The review, headed by John Brenan, assistant to the president for homeland security, is due Nov. 30th. Meanwhile the critics on the right are using the...

If Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan saw himself as a jihadist warrior, we may never hear about it at his trial. The defense, judge and even prosecution may have an interest in keeping the shooter's radical worldview under wraps. Maj. Hasan will be on trial, but jihadism will not.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood gunman, had sought military prosecutions against soldiers he claimed confessed "war crimes" to him during counselling sessions. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, last threatened to pursue prosecutions against other soldiers on Nov 2. Two days later he went for extra target practice at a shooting range where he bought 10 targets and fired more than 200 rounds He also closed his bank safety deposit box, telling a bank worker: "You'll never see me again." The day after that he went on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood, America's largest military installation, killing 13 people...

The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its Monday briefing on the deadly Fort Hood massacre at the request of the White House -- despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29. The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its Monday briefing on the deadly Fort Hood massacre at the behest of the White House, despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29. An aide to committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Fox...

"Clearly I think it was a terrorist act, whether he was connected to another group or not or a formal group is question we'll find out over the next couple of days," said Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit. (Fox News 11/7)

While the military is still reeling and recovering from the massacre at Fort Hood, my wife, Gena, and I decided to boost the morale of military personnel by visiting the cadets at West Point and the wounded warriors at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston. Little did I know that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the shooter at Ft. Hood, was hospitalized there. The day before Veterans Day, we visited West Point. We were amazed by its pristine and picturesque setting, 50 miles north of New York on the Hudson River. It was also fascinating to learn more about...

I just saw another one of those videos. You know the ones - the kind that Fox "News" loves to show; of the clueless teabagger with tears in her eyes, complaining that she wants her country back. They're designed to tug at our heartstrings, but they have just the opposite effect on me. What I see is a social bigot who thinks the world is about to come to an end because Barack Obama is the president instead of the White House butler. The complete irony of that clip is the fact that, the very Black man that she's complaining...

THE dead at Fort Hood had not even been laid to rest when their massacre became yet another political battle cry for the self-proclaimed patriots of the American right. Their verdict was unambiguous: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an American-born psychiatrist of Palestinian parentage who sent e-mail to a radical imam, was a terrorist. And he did not act alone. His co-conspirators included our military brass, the Defense Department, the F.B.I., the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and, of course, the liberal media and the Obama administration. All these institutions had failed to heed the warning...

Council for American-Islamic Relations national communications director Ibrahim Hooper said Sunday that the U.S. still isn't clear if the shootings at Fort Hood were an act of terrorism. "To call it an act of terror is to jump to conclusions, to rush to judgment," Hooper said in an appearance on TV One’s "Washington Watch." "Why can't the killer at Fort Hood just be a crazy guy? Don't take it out on American Muslims because you're upset about another issue," he said in response to questions the shooting has raised about American Muslims in the U.S. Army. Appearing Sunday on ABC’s...

In the aftermath of the massacre at Fort Hood and the deaths of fourteen people, some members of Congress demanded investigations into why the Army and the FBI failed to identify and stop Major Nidal Malik Hasan before he had an opportunity to commit mass murder. Some of the revelations from Hasan’s past, including communications with an al-Qaeda recruiter in Yemen, have Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Sen. Joe Lieberman promising to conduct separate investigations into the failure of counterterrorism efforts. President Obama warned Congress to stay out of it, at least until the FBI finishes investigating the shootings: President Barack...

In case you missed the media coverage of the Fort Hood shooting for the last several days, let's sum up the main theme: Nidal Malik Hasan is not a terrorist. CNN continued that theme early Thursday morning with an interview from a profiler who claims that Hasan is nothing more than a lonely, wifeless, psychopath in the midst of a midlife crisis.

... Nidal Malik Hasan is a jihadist. That so many refuse to even consider this in the face of the overwhelming evidence might help explain why those whose job it was to keep us safe refused to see it back when it really mattered. On May 31, 2001, Nidal Malik Hasan attended the funeral service for his mother, Hanan Ismail ("Nora" to those who knew her) at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. According to an obituary in the Roanoke Times, Nora was well-known "for her leadership in running the Capitol Restaurant," where she would "keep...

President Barack Obama vowed Saturday to hold accountable anyone who may have missed "potential warning signs" about the danger posed by Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan. The president's comments, in his weekly address to the nation, came as a lawyer for the Army major said that Hasan had been left paralyzed from the waist down after police shot him to end the slaughter on the Central Texas post. "We must compile every piece of information that was known about the gunman, and we must learn what was done with that information," Obama said, according to an advance text...

Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer insight into the biggest question burning up the blogosphere today: Today's question: The House and Senate are moving forward with different bills to reauthorize the Patriot Act, which expires at the end of the year. Will this effort divide Democrats? And will it hamper President Barack Obama's call for unity on healthcare reform?

The massacre in Fort Hood, Texas, was an act in the war the Islamists declared some three decades ago against America, the great Satan in particular, and the west in general. At what point in his life Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- 39 years of age, Muslim by birth to a Palestinian-American immigrant family and a psychiatrist serving in the U.S. military -- became in his own mind a loyal soldier of the global Islamist jihad (war) is highly relevant as are other details of his private life in piecing together the psychological profile of this accused mass murderer. It...

It was reported that Terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan was screaming allahu akbar (Usually translated "God is [the] greatest) as he Murdered American Soldiers on the Fort Hood Military base. This phrase is recited by Muslims in numerous different situations. For example, when they are happy or wish to express approval, when they want to praise a speaker, during battles, and even during times of extreme stress or euphoria. GOD IS GREAT, INDEED, however, I do not believe that GOD would approve of this type of behavior when using his name.

Security Forces Pursuing Mastermind of Texas Attack Yemen Post Staff Yemeni security forces are currently pursuing cleric, Anwar Al-Aulaqi, who allegedly had links to N(i)dal Hassan who carried out the deadly attack in the port of Fort Hood army base, opposition media reported.Reports have revealed that there were links between the two men where Hassan was frequently visited a mosque in the state of Virginia, in which imam Al-Aulaqi was leading prayers. It is reported that the Yemeni authorities had arrested Al-Aulaqi in 2006, on suspicion of holding up religious militants to kidnapping foreigners, but he was released due...

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with 13 counts of murder for the Fort Hood massacre, but 14 persons were killed. Army Pvt. Francheska Velez, a 21-year-old Chicago native, was six weeks pregnant when she was gunned down. Her unborn child is the 14th victim, but the death so far has been ignored by our government.

According to news accounts, of which there have been many, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is to be tried by general court martial on charges that he committed thirteen premeditated murders during his November 5 rampage at Fort Hood. The legal details are seeping out, slowly and sometimes erroneously. The case, as would be expected, has been widely covered by the media, and President Barack Obama has ordered a review of how U.S. intelligence agencies handled information they may have gathered about Hasan following questions about whether authorities may have missed warning signs about him. With all due respect,...

The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved for the states and the people.Amendment VIIn all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be...

Shortly after 9/11, there was a lot of talk about how no one would ever hijack an American airliner ever again – not because of new security arrangements but because an alert citizenry was on the case: We were hip to their jive. The point appeared to be proved three months later on a U.S.-bound Air France flight. The "Shoebomber" attempted to light his footwear, and the flight attendants and passengers pounced. As the more boorish commentators could not resist pointing out, even the French guys walloped him. But the years go by, and the mood shifts. You didn't have...

Grieving soldiers and families at Fort Hood, Texas, will get a visit from Sarah Palin next month as part of her national book tour, her publisher told Washington Wire. The former vice presidential candidate, whose book “Going Rogue,” will be released on Tuesday, had already agreed to visit the Army base, according to her publicist. She said that after last week’s shooting that left 13 people dead and 30 wounded, an official on the base contacted HarperCollins to say that Palin should stick with the planned appearance. The Dec. 4 event had not been announced publicly or included in a...

LEE COUNTY: Federal Bureau of Investigation agents showed up at the house of 61-year-old Dan Ross to find out why he tried to send flowers to the alleged Fort Hood shooter, who Ross calls a 'hero.' Ross is a former Vietnam War soldier and Christian. He says his faith led him to order roses for Major Nidal Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 soldiers at Fort Hood. Ross calls Hasan a hero. "The FBI were the ones who actually killed those 13 people, because they were well informed that this guy was against the United States of America," said...

Shortly after 9/11, there was a lot of talk about how no one would ever hijack an American airliner ever again – not because of new security arrangements but because an alert citizenry was on the case: We were hip to their jive. The point appeared to be proved three months later on a US-bound Air France flight. The “Shoebomber” attempted to light his footwear, and the flight attendants and passengers pounced. As the more boorish commentators could not resist pointing out, even the French guys walloped him. But the years go by, and the mood shifts. You didn’t have...

The U.S. Army psychiatrist charged with 13 counts of murder in the Fort Hood Army base shootings may be permanently paralyzed from the waist down due to the gunshots used to subdue him, his lawyer said on Friday. John Galligan, a retired Army colonel appointed to represent Major Nidal Malik Hasan during an upcoming military trial, also said Hasan, 39, could face more charges. The U.S. Army has charged Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim who is the son of immigrant parents, with premeditated murder in the deaths of 13 people on November 5 at the huge military base in Texas. He...

ilitary prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was formally charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder, according to a senior Army officer familiar with the matter. The last execution of an active-duty serviceman took place in 1961. Despite evidence that Maj. Hasan had contact with a radical Muslim cleric, the decision to file the murder charges against him in military court, rather than in a civilian one, reflects the Army's belief that the suspect acted alone and without any assistance from foreign or domestic terror groups. Christopher Grey,...

If he is convicted of a capital crime, Hasan could join five other men ranging from a fellow Muslim soldier who "fragged" other U.S. soldiers with a grenade at the start of the Iraq war to a serial rapist and murderer. The number of Hasan's alleged victims - 13 dead - far exceed the number of any of the other convicted killers on the military death row. The Wall Street Journal reported today that prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for Hasan. SNIP John Bennet was the last soldier to be executed by the military. He was hanged in...

The deranged Fort Hood gunman - accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others - snapped after being dumped by a lover, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively. Authorities say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan - an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent - became deeply disturbed over his imminent deployment to Afghanistan. But his final decline into madness was triggered by his miserable failure at romance. While the investigation is being kept under tight wraps, a top government source, close to the case, told The ENQUIRER: "There's evidence he was dumped by a lover." The ENQUIRER has also learned the 39-year-old...

It's one thing to avoid the "terrorist" label when reporting on Ft. Hood suspect Major Nidal Hasan. It's quite another to say that those who do use it are making a political calculation to "paint the Democrats as soft terror." Yet that's what MSNBC's Rachel Maddow insisted on her Nov. 11 broadcast. Maddow launched into a minute-and-a-half soliloquy on why it is bad for the Democratic Party when commentators label Hasan a "terrorist." She even attempted to make the case on Hasan's behalf against a terrorism label. Who needs a legal team when you have friends like Maddow and Chris...

An Austin congressman said Thursday that he has confirmed that Fort Hood massacre suspect Nidal Malik Hasan wired money to Pakistan, which Muslim extremist groups use as a base to raise funds and carry out terrorist attacks. Rep. Michael McCaul's statement followed a Dallas Morning News report that authorities were looking into whether such wire transfers had occurred. It also came as Army officials announced charges of premeditated murder against Hasan, who could face the death penalty.

It is sad and disturbing commentary on the state of American culture when the facts surrounding an event, such as the slaughter that took place at Fort Hood, can not only be manipulated to facilitate a political ideology but blatantly ignored in the pursuit of a political agenda. In the face of the most potent enemy the United States and the free world has ever know – aggressive and violent radical Islam – our leaders and members of the mainstream media are doing just that; manipulating the truth to facilitate an agenda, and we are all in danger because of...

FORT HOOD, Texas — The attorney for the Army psychiatrist accused of killing fellow soldiers at Fort Hood says doctors have told the soldier he may be paralyzed from the waist down. Attorney John Galligan told The Associated Press on Friday that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan told him that he has no feeling in his legs and doctors say the condition may be permanent. Galligan says Hasan also told him he had extreme pain in his hands. Hasan was shot by police officers responding to last week's shootings at Fort Hood. Galligan spoke with him Thursday in the intensive care...

From across the banks of the Sheboygan River, after night fell in tiny Kiel, there was a final beauty in the flickering lights spread across Veteran’s Memorial Park.Hundreds of mourners, friends and family of Amy Krueger, strangers too who came to learn who she was – and wonder why she died – burned candles in her memory and slowly lifted them aloft. Held them there.This is a place, a small town far from Fort Hood, where the 29-year-old soldier’s memory will be held forever – where the monument near the dais where they cried and sang is for all those...

The “Crazy” Hasan ABC and several other news outlets are reporting that Major Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood killer, had contacts with numerous Muslim extremists and had visited jihadist “chat rooms” on the Internet. Anonymous FBI officials predict the details of his other suspicious activities will become public soon. I hope so. But there are a lot of important people, from the president to media mavens, who are obviously committed to convincing us that we shouldn’t believe our own eyes and ears. First they suggested that Hasan was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Obama was pushing that idea earlier...