Jihadist battle cry is called ‘speculation' (Gen. Casey again)

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 11/09/2009 | By Sig Christenson and Scott Huddleston - Express-News

[Responsibility2nd]

FORT HOOD — One of the most sensational allegations stemming from last week's shooting spree at Fort Hood was a claim that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar!” before firing into scores of soldiers at a large post processing center.

A day after Army chief of staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. expressed concern over potential anti-Muslim reaction in the wake of the mass shooting, Fort Hood appeared to distance itself from the controversy.

A spokesman for the post, asked to clarify comments made last week by Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the Fort Hood commander, who suggested that Hasan issued the jihadist battle cry, called it “speculation.”

“The supposed shouted quote is still a matter of speculation and under investigation by CID,” Bruce E. Zielsdorf said. “Lt. Gen. Cone is correct in saying he'd heard such reports, but without audiovisual documentation of the incident, it is still an issue to be addressed through the investigative process, and we will do nothing to jeopardize that effort.”

The post has offered no hard evidence that Hasan uttered those words or shown that witnesses have confirmed it independently of each other before word spread around the post and in the media.

Cone told the CBS “Early Show” on Friday that “there are reports, unconfirmed, that he was saying ‘Allahu Akbar.'”

In an interview Friday on NBC's “Today” show, Cone said there were “first-hand accounts here that are similar” to reports of Hasan using those words.

One of the wounded, Pfc. Joseph Foster, told CNN that he was doing paperwork for his deployment in January to Afghanistan when said he heard a cry and then nearby gunfire.

“I was sitting in about the second row back when the assailant stood up and yelled ‘Allahu akbar' in Arabic and he opened fire,” Foster told CNN's “American Morning”

In an interview that aired Monday, Foster, who refused to discuss the incident in a news conference Sunday, said he couldn't be certain the shooter said those exact words, explaining that “with that much adrenaline, you tend to forget things.”

Americans across the country have reacted in anger, and media reports worldwide have drawn a tighter focus on Hasan's opposition to the war in Iraq and ties to a mosque used by two 9-11 hijackers.

One conservative Web site, Pajamas Media, ran a column Monday in which the writer, Ron Radosh, denounced efforts by the Army to play down religion as a factor in the attack. “Any objective observer would think it a tragedy if the Army swept the motivations of someone like Hasan under the rug,” Radosh wrote.

But both Casey and Fort Hood's commander continued to express concerns that people were rushing to judgment. Casey worried in a Sunday television appearance of a backlash against Muslim soldiers, while Cone dismissed the notion that Hasan was waging a holy war on his fellow soldiers.

“I would say this in my view did not have to do with religion,” Cone said in a “town hall” televised Monday night on a Killeen-area PBS affiliate.

He also alluded to concerns that the Army has long held about the toll that multiple deployments have taken on soldiers and their families.

“In many ways, it was for many of us one of our worst fears, that this would happen and it would be one of our own that is suspected of conducting this attack,” he said.

Cone briefed viewers on today's memorial ceremony featuring President Barack Obama. Earlier in the day, he met with the media and promised that the Army would take a “hard look” at what, if anything, could have been done to prevent Thursday's shooting.

“We are going to take a very hard look at ourselves, and anything that might have been done,” adding that the examination would be “a big look.”

Hasan remained in Brooke Army Medical Center. The Associated Press reported that family members Monday had hired a former military judge, John P. Galligan, to act as Hasan's attorney.

The AP reported Monday night that Galligan met with Hasan briefly, and that the attorney said law enforcement would not be questioning Hasan at this time.

Earlier in the day, Galligan avoided specifics about the case, saying, “There's a lot of facts that still need to be developed, and the time for that will come in due course.”

But he cautioned that the intense publicity surrounding his client had complicated efforts to try him at Fort Hood. The Army said Sunday that 328 media organizations from several nations were reporting the story from the post.

Typically, the trial would be here, with legal proceedings initiated by Hasan's commanders.

“You've got his commander-in-chief showing up tomorrow,” Galligan told the AP. “That same kind of publicity naturally creates an issue as to whether you find a fair and impartial forum, whether that's in the military or even if it were in a federal forum.”

Galligan oversaw a case 12 years ago in a small post courtroom on Fort Sam Houston that involved Robert Shapiro, the defense attorney in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. As the judge, Galligan began court early, and it generally ran into the evening each day. He even brought the jury back on a Saturday night to hear additional testimony.

“I thought he was a very, very intelligent judge,” Shapiro said. “I found that he paid very close attention to the evidence, that he researched the law and he actually made some very unprecedented rulings that allowed polygraph evidence to be entered in our case, so I found him to be a terrific judge, obviously very, very hard working and very dedicated.”

One veteran military attorney said publicity in the case cuts another way — at witnesses who have claimed they heard Hasan cry “Allahu akbar!”

A decade ago Frank Spinner represented Marine Capt. Richard Ashby, accused of killing 20 people by flying his jet into an Italian gondola cable.

Ashby was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the 1988 incident.

One key to the defense was impeaching eyewitness testimony. Spinner raised questions about what the witnesses actually saw by showing that their minds might have been influenced by media reports after the tragedy.

In Italy, Spinner said, “we found there were a lot of witnesses that saw immediate reports about what was going on, and we were able to show that they incorporated into their memory what they saw on TV. So they might have seen the plane fly nearby, but we had testimony to show that they may have been contaminated or influenced by what they saw in media reports.”

The issue is likely to come up, especially because there are hundreds of potential witnesses and little way to avoid publicity over the shooting, which has been the dominant news story since Thursday.

As of Monday evening, Foster, 21, of Ogden, Utah, and 26 other wounded troops had been discharged from area hospitals. Fifteen remained hospitalized, with six of those in intensive care units.

[Responsibility2nd]

This needs repeating on an hourly basis:

 

 

And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Graphic picture of the FBI/Army investigation into absurd allegations that the ALLEGED shooter, Biilybahab Nidally Hasan, shouted out Allie in the Hot Bar, before unloading his right wing. Bible clinging guns into alleged innocent bystanders.

The focus of the investigations has now shifted into an intense examination of the alleged victims, in order to ensure that they did not precipitate the incident by harassing Billybahab into a justifiable reaction.

[Responsibility2nd]

....shouted out Allie in the Hot Bar.....

__________________________________

I always understood it was ALLAH FUBAR these moose-lims shouted out before the went out to Jihad your a$$.

[montag813]

Next from Casey...

"He didn't shout 'Allah Akbar'"

"He asked "do you have a Clark bar?" and snapped when they only had Snickers.

[laotzu]

I see you read the comments too.

Thanks. I didn't read that comment; I made it.

[eeevil conservative]

Casey’s pack of lies.....a spin fest...

the ivory tower elites just don’t trust us peasants...

[Rannug]

PC casey should meet General Patton, a real American soldier, who would immediately slap the shit out of casey.

[My Favorite Headache]

I am so lost and confused. Why are we covering this up for Islam? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? The Army is being handcuffed by political correctness since 2001. If we were allowed to go in and get the job done exactly how we are supposed to (nuke the mountains of Afghanistan like we did Hiroshima, the entire debate would be over.

This is 100% proof that we are not the nation we used to be.

[cookcounty]

As an Army vet, with a son who’s an Iraq vet, I have to say that my confidence in the Army officer corps is seriously shaken.

I can’t see Casey’s face on TV without thinking “who are you, and can I trust you?”

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Aghhhh!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting this:

Related:

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For much more on this Jihad attack see this thread:

Fort Hood Texas: Free Republic Archives

And regarding the Leftists spinning regarding a Sudden Jihad afflication:

Sudden Jihad or Inordinate Stress at Ft. Hood?

And:

The war is upon us.... Every Freeper needs to read this book:

Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left (Paperback)

*************************************EXCERPTS*******************************

Review

An original look at those who want us to fail in the Middle East, both at home and abroad. The -- Davis Hanson, Author, Ripples of Battle

***********************************snip******************************

By Kat Bakhu (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

I had long wondered why people on the Left had the propensity to speak more positively about people who would slit their throats than they do about their own country, which affords them more freedom and opportunity than anywhere else. David Horowitz has answered that question thoroughly and convincingly in his Unholy Alliance. Where I felt bewildered and confused, I now feel crystal clear. Unholy Alliance is such a great book.

It begins with the leftist movements at the beginning of the 20th Century, and works its way up to the present day, exploring the anti-American attitude of these movements in detail. Horowitz shows that the enemies of the US back then are largely the same group today, operating under the same misperceptions, making the same mistakes, and pursuing the same impossible utopia.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Who is Bruce E. Zielsdorf ?

And the base commander will later back away from this quote:

“I would say this in my view did not have to do with religion,” Cone said in a “town hall” televised Monday night on a Killeen-area PBS affiliate.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Last night, a local radio host in L A had an interesting report about Hasan. He claimed that a story may soon break about Hasan telling returning GIs (who he was supposed to be treating) that they were criminals and should have died in Iraq.

I want to hear about that when we get some more on that....

[ETL]

"Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 11 people before being shot and wounded by police at Fort Hood, had said Muslims should "rise up" and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq, a former army colleague said."

"He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that we should not be in the war in the first place." He said that Major Hasan said he was "happy" when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June. An American convert to Islam was accused of the shootings.

Col Lee alleged that other officers had told him that Major Hasan had said "maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Times Square" in New York."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6511591/Fort-Hood-shooting-Nidal-Malik-Hasan-said-Muslims-should-rise-up.html
_____________________________________________

"Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/alert/sns-ap-us-fort-hood-shooting,0,4218901.story?track=rss

[Republic of Texas]

You already know the answer. Casey is a coward and we cannot trust him. Thanks for your service.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You ask WHY?

The war is upon us.... Every Freeper needs to read this book:

Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left (Paperback)

*************************************EXCERPTS*******************************

Review

An original look at those who want us to fail in the Middle East, both at home and abroad. The -- Davis Hanson, Author, Ripples of Battle

***********************************snip******************************

By Kat Bakhu (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews

I had long wondered why people on the Left had the propensity to speak more positively about people who would slit their throats than they do about their own country, which affords them more freedom and opportunity than anywhere else. David Horowitz has answered that question thoroughly and convincingly in his Unholy Alliance. Where I felt bewildered and confused, I now feel crystal clear. Unholy Alliance is such a great book.

It begins with the leftist movements at the beginning of the 20th Century, and works its way up to the present day, exploring the anti-American attitude of these movements in detail. Horowitz shows that the enemies of the US back then are largely the same group today, operating under the same misperceptions, making the same mistakes, and pursuing the same impossible utopia.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For much more on this Jihad attack see this thread:

Fort Hood Texas: Free Republic Archives

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the comments:

*******************************EXCERPT**************************************

artvandela 7:00 PM

Comment: (required)

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The commander at Ft Hood did not just chan(g)ce his story, this was an order that came down the chain of command, and who sits at the top of the chain of command?
Our nations first muslim president (in the sense that Clinton was the first black prez).
Don't believe the Prez and the Pentagon are censoring what soliders say?

This was from Time today: "one officer who attended the Pentagon's medical school with Hasan said: "He was very vocal about being a Muslim first and holding Sharia law above the Constitution," this officer recalled. When fellow students asked, "How can you be an officer and hold to the Constitution?," the officer said, Hasan would "get visibly upset — sweaty and nervous — and had no good answers."

This medical doctor would only speak anonymously because his commanders have ordered him not to talk about Hasan."

His commanders ordered him NOT to talk about Hasan, just like the commander at Ft Hood and soliders who witnessed the attack are being ordered not to say he yelled "Allahu akbar."

The prez will not allow the military investigaters to look at Hasan's anti-American statements or any thing that would make Islam look bad.

My guess is the prez and his cabal will turn this on the Army and get them to blame the supposed "anti-Islamic" in Army for this nut cracking. Who wants to bet the Prez will stop the Army from seeking the death penalty?

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Some punctuation added...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

See #38...

And #4.

[Responsibility2nd]

I’ve been bumping that thread.

It’s very good. Kim has done a fantastic job.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2380089/posts?page=297#297