Events Calendar
In This Section
Florida man exonerated after 35 years behind bars
Boy, 4, caught with beer, stolen gifts
Family contesting man's deathbed marriage
Cops have jolly good time in Christmas video
Judge: Gangs more deadly than some Guantanamo Bay detainees
2009 saw most federal hate crime cases since 2001
Teacher on leave for taking choir to Hooters
Parents, school tangle over 4-year-old boy's long locks
Most Read Stories
Woman lay dead in bed for months despite visits
Chiropractor charged with health-care fraud
Lockdown smells like teen dispirit
Cattle truck overturns on Akron highway
Prade asks high court for new DNA testing
Two people shot near Summit Lake
Cavs winning, but something missing
Police: Bengals' Henry dies day after dispute
Blogs:
Pets:
County executive cancels fundraiser for Heaven Can Wait
The Heldenfiles:
Tech Stuff: BD, 3D News
Patrick McManamon:
Yet one more idle Browns thought
Akron Zips:
Porter staying put
Tribe Matters:
Strength coach leaving Tribe
Cleveland Browns:
Vrabel brags on Rob Ryan
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – December 16
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. New Jersey Nets
Buckeye Blogging:
Bucks Meet Ducks for Rose Bowl Crown
Varsity Letters:
Report: RB to visit Akron
All Da King's Men:
Spend This, You *!!%$##!ers
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Kill The Bill
Akron Law Café:
The Efficient Market Hypothesis vs. The Hypothesis That Markets are Efficient
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Car Chase:
The AM Gizmo—The Perfect Gift for Collector Car Drivers
Let's Talk Real Estate:
All I want for Christmas…..
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Sharon wants to know if the Christmas Story House is open all year.
Sound Check:
On the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Genetic Discrimination
Akron Gamer:
Trailer: 'UFC 2010 Undisputed'
Military refuses to release details about Fort Hood shooting spree or whether assailant acted alone
By Clifford Krauss and James Dao
New York Times
Published on Saturday, Nov 07, 2009
KILLEEN, TEXAS: On Wednesday and Thursday, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan seemed in a hurry to give his worldly belongings to a neighbor. First a Quran. Then bags of vegetables. Finally a mattress, clothing and odds and ends from his bare one-room apartment.
''I'm not going to need them,'' he told the neighbor, Patricia Villa. He was going, he said, to Iraq or maybe to Afghanistan.
That was just one of many small and enigmatic details to emerge Friday about Hasan, the 39-year-old Army psychiatrist accused of a shooting spree at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.
An American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent (some reports after the shootings had described him as being of Jordanian descent), Hasan was deeply dismayed with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but proud of his Army job. He wore Middle Eastern clothes to the convenience store and his battle fatigues to the mosque. He was trained to counsel troubled soldiers, but bottled up his own distress about deploying.
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, and Army Secretary John M. McHugh traveled Friday to Fort Hood — the Army's largest post — as a widespread investigation into
the shooting began.
''This is a tough one,'' Casey said at a news conference. ''It's a kick in the gut. There's no doubt about that.''
Local police said that ballistics tests showed there was one shooter, and that none of the casualties had been hit by bullets fired by the police.
But the military and federal investigators pointedly refused to release more details on how the shootings happened, why there were initial reports of multiple attackers and why officials took several hours to correct media reports that Hasan had been killed.
Most significant, officials were not prepared to say whether the attack was the act of a lone and troubled man or connected to terrorist groups, foreign or domestic. President Barack Obama asked people to avoid ''jumping to conclusions'' while the investigations continue.
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted ''Allahu Akbar!'' — an Arabic phrase for ''God is great!'' — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment.
Muslims who attended mosques with Hasan in Virginia, Maryland and Texas said they never heard him express extremist views about politics or religion. And though openly opposed to the wars, he did not express anti-American sentiments, they said.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Army officials were trying to determine ''if there is something more than just one deranged person involved here.''
Hutchison said at the base that while Hasan was the only one who had fired at the other soldiers, it was unclear whether he had planned the attack alone.
''That is a question still to be asked,'' Hutchison said. ''That is not a question that has been resolved.''
Officials look for clues
In Washington, a law-enforcement official said an early search of Hasan's computer did not indicate any direct exchanges with known terrorists. The official said investigators do not have a complete record of his Internet use, as Hasan had more than one e-mail account and used computers in several locations.
The FBI became aware of Internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan earlier this year. The postings drew attention because they favorably discussed suicide bombings. But the investigators are not clear whether the writer was Hasan.
Whether investigators conclude that Hasan acted alone — so that it was a purely military-on-military crime — or whether they uncover evidence of any civilian co-conspirators off the base will help determine whether he faces trial under military court or in U.S. District Court.
Under either civilian law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a murder conviction could carry the death penalty.
Hasan's background
The emerging portrait of Hasan is that he came from an immigrant family defined by upward mobility. His parents came to the United States in the early 1960s from a village on the West Bank. They settled first in northern Virginia before moving to Roanoke to open a series of small businesses, including restaurants and a store.
Paul M. Holt III, a private investigator who went to high school with Hasan, called his parents ''salt of the earth,'' saying: ''If you were hungry and didn't have enough money, they'd let you come back later and pay for it.''
But like many others, Holt said Hasan had few friends and was quiet to the point of introversion. ''He wasn't very personable,'' Holt said. ''I can't imagine him sitting and listening to people's problems.''
After graduating with a degree in biochemistry from Virginia Tech University in nearby Blacksburg, Va., Hasan was commissioned an officer in the Army and sent to medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, where he graduated in 2003.
He did his internship and residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before entering a two-year fellowship that gave him a master's of public health and trained him in disaster psychiatry.
Two students in the fellowship programs said Hasan sat alone in the front of the class and rarely socialized with other students, other than to debate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He made clear he strongly opposed both, the former students said.
Hasan had also told family members that he had experienced anti-Muslim harassment in the Army and had tried for several years to be discharged. But the Army, which had paid for his education and was in great need of psychiatrists, refused, family members said.
Others' descriptions
At the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., Hasan was a regular at Friday prayers and occasionally helped with a program for the homeless. Sabir Rahman, past president of the mosque's board, called him ''a very gentle person'' who ''never expressed strong words about anybody.''
At the Dar al-mosque in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan's family often prayed and he occasionally went, the imam, Shaikh Shaker Elsayed, recalled that his greatest interest seemed to be in finding a wife.
And Yahya Hendi, a part-time chaplain at Bethesda Naval Hospital, said Hasan once praised him for giving a sermon opposing extremism.
In Killeen, another neighbor of Hasan, Willie Bell, got a call from the soldier Wednesday night. Bell had given Hasan his wireless password, and now the major was asking him to turn on his Internet system.
''He said, 'Nice knowing you, friend,' '' Bell said. '' 'I'll be moving.' ''
On Thursday morning, Hasan left the apartment complex in his car, without wearing his traditional Muslim cap, Bell said. The FBI confiscated Bell's laptop, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KILLEEN, TEXAS: On Wednesday and Thursday, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan seemed in a hurry to give his worldly belongings to a neighbor. First a Quran. Then bags of vegetables. Finally a mattress, clothing and odds and ends from his bare one-room apartment.
''I'm not going to need them,'' he told the neighbor, Patricia Villa. He was going, he said, to Iraq or maybe to Afghanistan.
That was just one of many small and enigmatic details to emerge Friday about Hasan, the 39-year-old Army psychiatrist accused of a shooting spree at Fort Hood that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.
An American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent (some reports after the shootings had described him as being of Jordanian descent), Hasan was deeply dismayed with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but proud of his Army job. He wore Middle Eastern clothes to the convenience store and his battle fatigues to the mosque. He was trained to counsel troubled soldiers, but bottled up his own distress about deploying.
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, and Army Secretary John M. McHugh traveled Friday to Fort Hood — the Army's largest post — as a widespread investigation into
the shooting began.
''This is a tough one,'' Casey said at a news conference. ''It's a kick in the gut. There's no doubt about that.''
Local police said that ballistics tests showed there was one shooter, and that none of the casualties had been hit by bullets fired by the police.
But the military and federal investigators pointedly refused to release more details on how the shootings happened, why there were initial reports of multiple attackers and why officials took several hours to correct media reports that Hasan had been killed.
Most significant, officials were not prepared to say whether the attack was the act of a lone and troubled man or connected to terrorist groups, foreign or domestic. President Barack Obama asked people to avoid ''jumping to conclusions'' while the investigations continue.
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted ''Allahu Akbar!'' — an Arabic phrase for ''God is great!'' — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment.
Muslims who attended mosques with Hasan in Virginia, Maryland and Texas said they never heard him express extremist views about politics or religion. And though openly opposed to the wars, he did not express anti-American sentiments, they said.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said Army officials were trying to determine ''if there is something more than just one deranged person involved here.''
Hutchison said at the base that while Hasan was the only one who had fired at the other soldiers, it was unclear whether he had planned the attack alone.
''That is a question still to be asked,'' Hutchison said. ''That is not a question that has been resolved.''
Officials look for clues
In Washington, a law-enforcement official said an early search of Hasan's computer did not indicate any direct exchanges with known terrorists. The official said investigators do not have a complete record of his Internet use, as Hasan had more than one e-mail account and used computers in several locations.
The FBI became aware of Internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan earlier this year. The postings drew attention because they favorably discussed suicide bombings. But the investigators are not clear whether the writer was Hasan.
Whether investigators conclude that Hasan acted alone — so that it was a purely military-on-military crime — or whether they uncover evidence of any civilian co-conspirators off the base will help determine whether he faces trial under military court or in U.S. District Court.
Under either civilian law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a murder conviction could carry the death penalty.
Hasan's background
The emerging portrait of Hasan is that he came from an immigrant family defined by upward mobility. His parents came to the United States in the early 1960s from a village on the West Bank. They settled first in northern Virginia before moving to Roanoke to open a series of small businesses, including restaurants and a store.
Paul M. Holt III, a private investigator who went to high school with Hasan, called his parents ''salt of the earth,'' saying: ''If you were hungry and didn't have enough money, they'd let you come back later and pay for it.''
But like many others, Holt said Hasan had few friends and was quiet to the point of introversion. ''He wasn't very personable,'' Holt said. ''I can't imagine him sitting and listening to people's problems.''
After graduating with a degree in biochemistry from Virginia Tech University in nearby Blacksburg, Va., Hasan was commissioned an officer in the Army and sent to medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, where he graduated in 2003.
He did his internship and residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before entering a two-year fellowship that gave him a master's of public health and trained him in disaster psychiatry.
Two students in the fellowship programs said Hasan sat alone in the front of the class and rarely socialized with other students, other than to debate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He made clear he strongly opposed both, the former students said.
Hasan had also told family members that he had experienced anti-Muslim harassment in the Army and had tried for several years to be discharged. But the Army, which had paid for his education and was in great need of psychiatrists, refused, family members said.
Others' descriptions
At the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., Hasan was a regular at Friday prayers and occasionally helped with a program for the homeless. Sabir Rahman, past president of the mosque's board, called him ''a very gentle person'' who ''never expressed strong words about anybody.''
At the Dar al-mosque in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan's family often prayed and he occasionally went, the imam, Shaikh Shaker Elsayed, recalled that his greatest interest seemed to be in finding a wife.
And Yahya Hendi, a part-time chaplain at Bethesda Naval Hospital, said Hasan once praised him for giving a sermon opposing extremism.
In Killeen, another neighbor of Hasan, Willie Bell, got a call from the soldier Wednesday night. Bell had given Hasan his wireless password, and now the major was asking him to turn on his Internet system.
''He said, 'Nice knowing you, friend,' '' Bell said. '' 'I'll be moving.' ''
On Thursday morning, Hasan left the apartment complex in his car, without wearing his traditional Muslim cap, Bell said. The FBI confiscated Bell's laptop, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 08:03 AM, 11/07/2009
Just another peace loving Muslim killing Americans. I am sure the left wing media will portray him as misunderstood and abused for his faith to discount and rationalize his murders.
akron, oh
Posted 09:11 AM, 11/07/2009
I'm not buying the excuse. One does not join the military and not expect to get deployed.
With that said, I'll wait for more information to see if he went left of center and was actually a lone terrorist of some kind.
Akron, OH
Posted 02:22 PM, 11/07/2009
AGAIN, news of the Ft. Hood massacre is not even mentioned on the front page of this ABJ online site. ("Big questions, small answers", buried at the bottom after all the local, state, sports and entertainment "news" gives no indication it's about Ft. Hood and our TROOPS.)
LOOK at all the "stuff" in the most-read stories list, and none of the Ft. Hood stories make the list.
ABJ, Stop burying the Ft. Hood story that would show the honor of our troops and the EVIL of the shooter!!!!
Current Most Read Stories List:
Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Family found dead in Ohio home
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Boy tells 911 operator he shot father in anger
Child in home when gunmen break in, demand cash and drugs
Akron police follow blood trail to murder suspect
Sex-toy study at Duke University raises some eyebrows
Man appears alive at own funeral
Park service wants to replace historic Tinker Creek Aqueduct
Comics & Games
Get ready for detour, delays on Route 8
Drunken driving chair sells on eBay
Driver's licenses looking fishy
Suspected Cleveland serial killer seemed harmless, neighbors say
UA lawyer to recommend scrapping new DNA rule
Horoscopes
LeBron dominates by leading all scorers
Baby missing for 5 days found alive under bed
Heading to Howe House
High school sports scoreboard
1 dead, 5 hurt in Orlando shooting; gunman caught
Letters to the editor - Nov. 6
Suspects arrested in the thefts of seven vehicles from Norton dealership
Orrville, Oh
Posted 04:01 PM, 11/07/2009
The ABJ is to be commended; for only; reporting facts; about Major Nidal Malik Hasan; killing; honorable; American soldiers; at Fort Hood!
