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Fort Hood suspect shouted religious slogan before firing
FORT HOOD -- An Army psychiatrist about to be deployed to a combat zone overseas shouted a religious slogan in Arabic before fatally shooting 13 people -- including 12 soldiers -- and injuring 28 others at this sprawling Central Texas military post on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander at Fort Hood, said on NBC's Today Show that witnesses heard Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shout "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire. The phrase means "God is great!" in Arabic.
Anyone surprised? Didn't think so.
The death toll rose by one overnight when one of the wounded died. Today, Col. John Rossi said all the wounded were in stable condition, including the suspect and the policewoman who shot him. Identities of the dead and wounded were not released this morning as notification of family members continued, Rossi said.

Hasan is accused of attacking his fellow soldiers about 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where troops waited to see doctors as they prepared to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan -- or return from combat. Armed with two pistols, he shot more than 40 people before military police and civilian police officers responded, officials said. He was wounded by a civilian policewoman, who was injured in the exchange, police said. The assault lasted about 10 minutes, Rossi said.

Hasan's motives were unclear, and early on Thursday, he showed no signs of worry or stress when he stopped at 7-Eleven for his daily breakfast of hash browns, said Jeannie Strickland, the store's manager. "He came in (Thursday) morning just like normal," she said.

However, surveillance video showed he was wearing religious attire rather than typical civilian or medical clothing. Strickland said that was unusual and she asked him about it, but he replied that he did that sometimes.
Apparently that had become his standard garb a few weeks previous, although it's not clear whether that was just his new version after-work sweats, or if he wore it to work as well.
A few hours later, officials said, the Virginia native began his rampage on the post. Fort Hood, near Killeen, is the largest active duty post in the United States, with 340 square miles of facilities and homes. More than 50,000 military personnel and about 27,000 family members and civilian support personnel live and work there.

Calling it a "terrible tragedy," Cone, the post commander, said officials "believe the evidence indicates it was a single shooter." Cone did not speculate on a motive, but the Army released a statement saying the shootings didn't appear to be an act of political terrorism.
I think I'll leave out what I think about THAT statement....
The man was forty, unmarried, socially awkward, and fairly universally disliked. The kind with a potential for violent explosion irrespective of religious fanaticism, so that was a reasonable first assessment. Given what they now know, the Army's unofficial view has changed, I'm sure.
Two others were questioned and later released.

Federal law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that 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. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," said the Internet posting. "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 say Hasan appeared to have made the postings, but they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.
Somebody needs to lose their job over that decision
No, it's not right to proceed without better information than that. And until the FBI investigators did, they couldn't go ask his colleagues about the man...
Killeen police officials late Thursday said their officers were at Nidal's apartment on the outskirts of Fort Hood. "We do have officers up there assisting the federal agents," said Killeen police spokeswoman Carroll Smith. Smith also said that the department's SWAT officers were sent to the apartment.
More local reaction during shooting at the link
No doubt the contents of Dr. Hasan's computer will be interesting, I'm sure. Especially his Contacts list.

Posted by: 2009-11-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=282655