Posted on 11/06/2009 7:04:42 AM PST by traumer
Army psychiatrist remains on ventilator after rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 28
A US army psychiatrist about to be deployed to Afghanistan allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar", or "God is greatest", as he opened fire at a military base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 28.
The gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, shouted the Arabic phrase just before he began his shooting spree at Fort Hood military installation yesterday, according to the base commander, Lieutenant General Robert Cone.
Hasan's family said he had been dreading deployment.
Twelve of those killed were soldiers; one was a civilian. All of the wounded were in a stable condition, officials said at a press conference today. Among them are Hasan himself and Kimberly Munley, the civilian police officer who shot Hasan and was hit in the gunfire.
Contrary to initial reports, Hasan is alive but has not yet been interviewed by investigators as he is on a ventilator. "He is in a stable condition," an army medical spokesman said.
Commander Colonel Steven Braverman, who was a colleague of Hasan at the Darnall army medical centre on Fort Hood, said Hasan performed well in his job and had showed no obvious signs of trouble. "We are not aware of any problems that he had while he was here at Darnall," said Braverman, adding: "We had no problems with his job performance while he was working with us."
Braverman confirmed Hasan had received orders to deploy to Afghanistan.
One of Hasan's cousins, Nader Hasan, told reporters he had been dreading going to war, having counselled scores of returning soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," the cousin said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there."
Family and fellow officers said Hasan had complained of harassment by other troops about his Middle Eastern ethnicity and Muslim faith.
The FBI was last night going through Hasan's phone and computer records to see if a motive could be identified. Agents were checking back on website postings by a man who identified himself as Nidal Hasan that appeared sympathetic to suicide bombings.
At about 1.30pm yesterday, Virginia-born Hasan is said to have opened fire with two handguns at the base's soldier readiness centre where troops were having equipment checks, dental treatment and undergoing other preparations before being flown to Iraq or as they returned from combat. Neither of the guns are believed to have been military-issue.
Ford Hood's deputy base commander, Colonel John G Rossi, said about 500 soldiers were in the area when Hasan entered the centre wearing military uniform. He shot some victims at close range and others were injured as the bullets ricocheted, Rossi said.
Troops are not allowed to carry firearms on the base and armed military police quickly swarmed to scene. One of them, a female officer, brought him down.
Soldiers tore up their uniforms to bandage the injured. Troops at a graduation ceremony nearby, attended by 600, have been praised for quickly blocking the doors when the firing began.
The base went into lockdown for several hours amid fears other gunmen were involved.
Greg Schanepp, who was representing a local congressman at the graduation, told how a soldier who had been shot in the back came running towards him and alerted him to the shooting, telling him not to go in the direction of the killer.
The base commander, Cone, said only military police on the base carried guns.
Cone did not speculate on a motive, but the army released a statement saying the shootings did not appear to be an act of political terrorism. Two other people were questioned and then released.
Federal law enforcement officials told Associated Press that Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of his web postings, which discussed suicide bombings and other threats.
One of the web posts that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades. "To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. It's more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," said the post. "Scholars have paralled [sic] this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers."
The officials said Hasan appeared to have made the postings but it was still being checked.
The wounded were taken to hospitals in the central Texas region. Lisa Pfund said her daughter Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach and was in a stable condition. "We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," she told Associated Press.
Barack Obama, interrupting a speech in Washington, said the incident was a "horrific outburst of violence".
The gunman showed no signs of worry or stress when he stopped at a convenience store for his daily breakfast of hash browns, said Jeannie Strickland, manager of a local 7-Eleven.
"He came in [Thursday] morning just like normal," she told the Houston Chronicle, "nothing weird, nothing out of the ordinary."
Video footage was shown on CNN last night apparently of Hasan in a shop in the morning – about six to seven hours before the shooting – looking relaxed as he bought some goods.
Fort Hood gunman’s entire life is probably ‘Allahu Akbar’.
Islam means “Submit.” My reading of the Quran tells me that Allah, through his prophet and subsequent followers, demands my humble, contrite obedience, or my death.
I can not effing BELIEVE they are going to bury this the way they are!
Expect it. They are already starting. It must have been AYTHING other than the actual truth. This PC nonsense is making me freakin SICK!
If we refuse to protect ourselves as a people then we d*mn well deserve to be destroyed!
I kept losing my mind yesterday when I kept hearing everyone say “on American soil”. American soil! What the h*ll IS AMerican soil at this point? There is no American soil if this kind of thing is allowed to continue!
Bump for answer
...I know. But the blatant act, the clear warning of it, those individuals and their families who died and are suffering because of it when it could have been averted, all frost me to no end.
Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that it will take at least one - maybe more - suitcase nukes to be set off during major sporting events for the message to get through. Even at that, the PC Police will say we will have to accept those things as acceptable "collateral damage."
Probably just a coincidence /liberal
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Kenya!
Kenya who?
Kenya show me your birth certificate?
Shut off his.........ventilator now.
I just think we are in more danger when we deny the obvious facts. This man was known to them, they were suspicious of him from his postings and from his preaching Islam to his patients and from the DHS transition thing.
His Martyrdom Operation could have been much worse though if not for a girl, Sgt Kimberly Munley- civilian Ft Hood police officer.
My guess is that there were plenty of people worried about this nut job but were afraid to really push the issue for fear of running afoul of the political correctness crowd.
Military court...military justice...firing squad or hanging. He won’t have to worry about going to Iraq now....
Can his victims sue the military for failure of due diligence? (I think that is the term in the law)
LOL...that’s a keeper!
So he yells Alahu Akbar, but there’s not evidence it was politically motivated?
Hmmm..
So then if I yell “Kill all the Naggers” before opening fire on a rap concert, it won’t be a hate crime either. Right?
This is the trouble with reporters and editors with military stories....they are so far removed from military experience that they inject all kinds of little screw-ups into their stories unknowingly, and their equally ignorant fellow reporters and editors are not capable of catching it. The result is that the 27 million veterans + active duty + their families are, off the bat, suspicious of the accuracy of other details.
There is no rank of "Commander" or Commander Colonel" in the Army. If the Colonel is the commander of a unit (a role, not a rank), then the reporter should have stated what he was commander of. At any rate, since he is described as a "colleague" of Hasan, that means the colonel is not the commander of the unit Hasan was in.
The press does the same thing with reporters on religious stories, who can't tell you the difference between a Bible and a Bar Mitzvah, reporters who are in the bottom third of the US population in general knowledge on important subjects.
I have no idea if they are allowed to sue
Then again, Timothy McVeigh was yelling “All for Jesus!!” when he bombed the Federal Building, right? You don’t remember?........< /sarc>
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