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.

[ETL]

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Amazon Book Review:
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[Cvengr]

I don’t understand what incentive anybody has in denying and covering up that which is obvious in this crime, but it seems as if that is all any person in a position of authority in this Administration can persuade themselves and their subordinates to perform.

If it is the intent of the entire chain of command to completely undermine all faith, trust, and confidence the public might be able to muster in their abilities and intentions, they have worked well.

Extraordinary.

[ANGGAPO]

There are more that a few that heard it.

[SE Mom]

Isn’t that the truth? I was just thinking about him this week...a man without mushy morals. He would be getting to the bottom of this NOW.

The damage this is doing to the morale of our military cannot be overstated...

[Cvengr]

SSSSHHHHHHH!!!! It’s like the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, but we don’t want to tell anybody, because that might influence their discrimination of the Japanese Empire from American idealism.

[uncitizen]

So all those witnesses (who could’ve been killed themselves) who heard the jihadist say Allah Abkar were all hallucinating? They didn’t really hear it. It was what they wanted to hear because they hate muslims so much. Yeah, ok it makes more sense that they all lied or imagined it than that they all actually heard it.

All those witnesses who heard gunshots coming from the grassy knoll and/or saw people behind the fence were imagining that too.

[armymarinemom]

You said it!! He would be demanding answers from both the CIA and FBI! God Bless that man.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Yep—the Islamofascist-in-cheap, will do his level best to bury this. I hopin’ my sarcasm didn’t offend anyone here, but this atrocity is very offensive to me.

[potlatch]

There are MORE warnings.......... Let Gen. Casey "SPECULATE" on THIS;

 

 

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Damn...where did that come from...?

Oh the new Muslim Mafia..book....they are trying to shut that down....

Saw that on a thread....

Time for everyone to get a copy.

[potlatch]

[Damn...where did that come from...?
Oh the new Muslim Mafia..book....they are trying to shut that down....]

Yes. World Net Daily, and I should have put that on it! The article is dated today too.

[spunkets]

First hand eyewitness accounts are not speculation. That's why jihadi Hasan's lectures, or e-mail exchanges with jihadi imams aren't referred to as speculative.

"I don't know who the Army fears most. Muslims or the Press."

They far their commie masters.

[Gritty]

... without audiovisual documentation of the incident, it is still an issue to be addressed through the investigative process....

Casey is just an Politically Correct, @$$ sucking twit. And this guy is commanding our Army!!??

I doubt we have audiovisual documentation of the actual shooting by Hasan, either. Does that mean he didn't do it, despite the scores of witnesses?

Before the final report is finally published, the soldiers on scene will recant what their own lyin' eyes and ears saw and heard and it will be determined what was really shouted by Hasan was, "All over here to the bar!", just as he opened fire.

I guess we'll have to let Major Hasan go and maybe give him an apology for his inconvenience? Oh, and maybe Obama will also tug his forelock while publicly apologizing to the Muslim World for the terrible misunderstanding? Don't discount it.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I just ordered it and some other books from Amazon...

At least I think I did....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

a local radio host in L A

Would that be on KFI?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Before the final report is finally published, the soldiers on scene will recant what their own lyin' eyes and ears saw and heard and it will be determined what was really shouted by Hasan was, "All over here to the bar!", just as he opened fire.

ROFL!

[BenLurkin]

Yes. Bryan Suits.

[BOBTHENAILER]

From Rush today ""This is what the left likes to call blaming the victim, isn't it? And it has the double virtue in the Times' eyes of slandering Soldiers as violent louts," and, boy, you ought to see this New York Times story. "

I call it a good day when I can beat Rush

[Fred Nerks]

Lucy, everyine needs to see this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383865/posts?page=21#21

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

[Fred Nerks]

Lucy, everyone needs to see this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2383865/posts?page=21#21

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