Shooting at Ft. Hood

[Calabrio]

12 People Killed and 31 Wounded in Fort Hood Shooting
Suspected Gunman Is Identified by ABC News as Major Malik Nadal Hasan
By EMILY FRIEDMAN and RICHARD ESPOSITO

Nov. 5, 2009 —

Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting spree at a Texas military base in a murderous rampage that officials believe was carried out by an Army officer.

The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, told Fox News that military sources informed her that the gunman was about to be deployed to Iraq.

The shooter was killed and two other suspects, who are also soldiers, have been apprehended, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.

The general said there were "eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter," and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.

Cone called the attack "a terrible tragedy, stunning." He said the community was "absolutely devastated."

President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a "horrific outburst of violence."

"It is difficult enough to lose" soldiers overseas, but it is "horrifying that they should lose their lives at an Army base in the U.S.," he said.

The president said "my prayers are with the wounded and the families of the fallen."

The Senate and the House of Representatives held a moment of silence this evening for the victims of the Fort Hood massacre.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered flags be flown at half mast until Sunday.

Cone said the motive for the attack, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. CT, is unclear.

Fort Hood, located just 60 miles north from Austin, is the largest U.S. military installation in the world, and has suffered the greatest number of casualities of all American bases in the war on Iraq.

The base is a 340 sq. mile facility located in Killeen, Texas and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division, which was one of the first groups of soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Cone said that a gunman entered a facility known as the Soldier Readiness Facility, where soldiers who are preparing to deploy go for last minute medical check ups and dental treatment. Sources told ABC News that the soldiers gathered there were getting ready to deploy to Iraq.

The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn't sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack.

"The gunman opened fire and essentially due to the quick respond of the police forces was killed," said Cone.

The shooter was killed by civilian law enforcement and one police officer died in the shootout, Cone said.

The gunman's suspected accomplices were taken into custody in an adjacent facility known as the old SportsDome Complex.

Fort Hood Went on Lockdown After 12 Shot Dead

Schools on the base has also been placed on lockdown. A message on Fort Hood's public affairs office Web site reads, "Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel. This is not a Drill. It is an Emergency Situation."

According to a source on the base, it is rare for firearms to be on the base because they are locked up.

Homeland Security said it is still gathering information and that the "Army is taking the lead" as of now. FBI agents from Waco and Austin, Texas, are being deployed to the scene.

An army spokesman said that unit commanders have been instructed to account for all of their personnel.

"The immediate concern is to make sure that all of our soldiers and family members are safe and that's what commanders have been instructed to do," said Jay Adams of First Army, Division West, located at Fort Hood.

The CounterTerrorist Unit said they have "no word" yet on whether this incident was terrorism-related.

At least six victims are being treated at the Metroplex Hospital five miles away. Area hospitals are all requesting blood donations to treat victims.

According to icasulaties.org, 483 soldier deaths from Fort Hood since war started. Fort Hood has suffered more deaths in Iraq than any other US home base.

ABC News Internet Ventures

 

[JohnnyBz00LS]

It was reported late last night contrary to earlier reports that the shooter, Malik Nadal Hasan was NOT dead and was in stable condition. Nor was the 1st responding officer who shot him.

 

[fossten]

We should probably take guns away from our military. That would solve the problem.

 

[ground_zero298]

LMFAO nice one Fossten

 

[fossten]

Apparently the gunman, Malik Hassan, is a muslim.

There's a lot of evidence that this was a terrorist attack.

 

[ground_zero298]

I was at fort hood for 2 1/2 years. He could have done way more damage with his rank then what he did. A few key people higher up in the chain would have caused some real dismay. I just feel bad for the rest of the muslim troops. This guys started some real :q:q:q:q for them. I met, knew, and worked with a handfull of muslims while I was in. All the ones I met were very good people. Not the extremest muslims you see on tv. I know my technical terms may be off, please don't beat me up to bad fostten.

 

[04SCTLS]

[FONT=Verdana,Sans-serif]Ft. Hood suspect reportedly shouted `Allahu Akbar'[/FONT]

Nov 6, 8:27 AM (ET)

By JEFF CARLTON

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20091106/D9BQ28F80.html

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment, which is Arabic for "God is great!" before the rampage Thursday, which left 30 people wounded, including the gunman.
An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers. Cone said Hasan was hospitalized in stable condition and that investigators hope to interrogate him as soon as possible. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.

Cone said Hasan was not known to be a threat or risk. He acknowledged that it was "counterintuitive" that a single shooter could kill and injure so many people. But he said the massacre occurred in "close quarters."
"With ricochet fire, he was able to injure that number of people," Cone said. Authorities are investigating whether Hasan's weapons were properly registered with the military.
The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.
The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops and families who had recently earned degrees.
Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.
"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise - then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.
Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.
The bodies of the victims would be taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for autopsies and forensic tests, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
There also will be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.
Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.
"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cooke, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.
Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition, said her mother, Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis.
"We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund said. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Nathan A. Hewitt, 26, of Lafayette, Ind., was shot in the hip and calf, his uncles Elmo Robledo and Rex Deaton told the Journal & Courier.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood in July, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. The 39-year-old Army major received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said "I got the impression that he was a committed soldier." He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and he wanted out of the Army.
"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case. The FBI, local police and other agencies searched Hasan's apartment Thursday night after evacuating the complex in Killeen, said city spokeswoman Hilary Shine. She referred questions about what was found to the FBI. The FBI in Dallas referred questions to a spokesman who was not immediately available early Friday morning.

 

[fossten]

I was at fort hood for 2 1/2 years. He could have done way more damage with his rank then what he did. A few key people higher up in the chain would have caused some real dismay. I just feel bad for the rest of the muslim troops. This guys started some real :q:q:q:q for them. I met, knew, and worked with a handfull of muslims while I was in. All the ones I met were very good people. Not the extremest muslims you see on tv. I know my technical terms may be off, please don't beat me up to bad fostten.

Two issues here.

1. Maybe not all muslims are terrorists, but lately all terrorists have been muslim.

2. Everybody who knows anything about military bases knows that they are 'gun free zones.' They're as vulnerable as a shopping mall.

I don't feel bad for the rest of the muslim troops. They should be on notice that their 'RELIGION OF PEACE' is a sham.

It's time we were honest about Islam. PC will kill this country.

 

[Calabrio]

This isn't an isolated incident either. There have been a number of smaller acts of violence based on Islam in the military in recent years, most of us will remember the Muslim, Asan Akbar, in Iraq who through grenades into the tents of his fellow soldiers. He killed two officers and injured 14 other people.

Arguably, the "good" American Muslims are considered bad Muslims according to their faith. That kind of internal conflict can be explosive.

We need to recognize that there is a hostile population within the military. PC behavior gets people killed.

It should also be noted how bad the security on the military bases has become. A lot of the service members I know blame it on the DOD.

 

[JohnnyBz00LS]

..can't believe I scooped Shag or Foss on this one....

Fort Hood Shooter Advised Obama

...says WND's Jerome Corsi....

Well, if you were wondering what paranoiac smear artist would be the first to step out and attempt to name President Barack Obama as the man who guided Nidal Malik Hasan to his murderous rampage at Fort Hood yesterday, the answer -- naturally! -- is Jerome Corsi. Corsi has a long history of lunatic, fact-averse ravings and he fails to disappoint on that regard on the pages of World Net Daily, today, in a piece entitled "Shooter advised Obama transition." Except, of course, he didn't do any such thing.

Corsi hangs his entire allegation on a document produced on May 19, 2009 by The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute entitled "Thinking Anew, Security Priorities For The Next Administration." In that document, Nidal Hasan is listed, on page 29, as a "Task Force Event Participant." He was one of hundreds of people listed as a "participant." Significantly, Nidal was not the author of the document. He was not a member of the HSPI's "Presidential Transition Task Force." Nor was he a member of the HSPI's "Task Force Staff." He was not a member of the HSPI's Steering Committee or a briefer to the task force.

Also, the activities of the HSPI here do not in anyway constitute official transition advice to the White House, despite the fact that a committee got named the "Presidential Transition Task Force" and the HSPI's activities involved identifying homeland security priorities and offering advice. Here is what the HSPI does:

Founded in 2003, The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) is a nonpartisan "think and do" tank whose mission is to build bridges between theory and practice to advance homeland security through an interdisciplinary approach. By convening domestic and international policymakers and practitioners at all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia, HSPI creates innovative strategies and solutions to current and future threats to the nation.
The task force gave itself the following mission: "to further policy discussions of the top strategic priorities in the area of security in order to generate actionable recommendations, for the Administration taking office in January 2009, designed to effectively meet the most vexing challenges the United States faces today."

Essentially, what the HSPI did (and all of this is spelled out explicitly in this document's executive summary) is convene a giant group of security wonks and academics, heard some briefings, made some "internal deliberations," and generated a set of priorities and recommendations. Then those recommendations got published, and maybe someone at the White House read them, but it's more likely that the content ended up as material to cite in the middle of further security-wonk discussions.

And at some point in the process, Nidal Hasan might have sat in a room while this was happening, with a few hundred other people.

But none of this constitutes formal advice given to the president on homeland security during the transition of power. This was a university panel that has sod all to do with the White House, generating ideas, and calling it "advice" for the president. If two or three of you wanted to meet up with me at the Au Bon Pain on Pennsylvania Avenue this afternoon and chat today, we will have accomplished basically the same thing.

Corsi, in fact, knows this. He writes:

While the GWU task force participants included several members of government, including representatives of the Department of Justice and the U.S Department of Homeland Security, there is no indication in the document that the group played any formal role in the official Obama transition, other than to serve in a university-based advisory capacity.
In short, the facts Corsi obtained torpedo the premise of his piece, which, I remind you, is that the "shooter advised [the] Obama transition." Were this being written for a responsible journalistic entity, some creature called an "editor" would have stepped in and said, "Hey, Jerome, you realize that by your own findings, you article is complete horse:q:q:q:q, right?" But this is World Net Daily, written by and for complete charlatans.

UPDATE: I contacted Frank Cillusso, the director of the HSPI at George Washington University, who tells me that Nidal Hasan has no affiliation with the HSPI or with George Washington University, at all. "[Hasan] has no role on the task force, other than the fact that he attended these meetings as an audience member, as did hundreds of others." Hasan's name appears on the list of participants only because he provided the HSPI with an RSVP, indicating his attendance. Cillusso told me, "We always record RSVPs and publish them as a matter of transparency, and will continue to do so."

 

[JohnnyBz00LS]

1. Maybe not all muslims are terrorists, but lately all terrorists have been muslim.

Scott Roeder is muslim? James W. Von Brunn is a muslim? Bruce Edwards Ivins is a muslim? Eric Robert Rudolph is a muslim? Timothy McVeigh is a muslim?

You are full of :bsflag:

 

[Calabrio]

Scott Roeder is muslim?

Is he a terrorist, or a just murderer?
He shot one person.

James W. Von Brunn is a muslim?

No, he's more of a nazi, despite the some of the commonalities he's certainly not a muslim.
But was that terrorism or simply violence and murder?

Bruce Edwards Ivins is a muslim?

This story is over eight years old, so I don't think this classifies as "lately."
And if hadn't killed himself before trial, would he have been a terrorist or a criminal?

Eric Robert Rudolph is a muslim?

Again, old story, so I don't think is qualifies as a "lately."
But based on my understanding, I would agree that Rudolph was a terrorist.

Timothy McVeigh is a muslim?

Again, 1996. That's 13 years ago. Not "lately."
Yes, he was a terrorist.
But I don't know if you can say that the Oklahoma Bombing had no muslim involvement. There's compelling evidence to support such a claim.

You are full of BS

Why don't you just make a list of purse snatchers and other random violent criminals and add them to your list as well? Why not just add Lee Harvey Oswald to your list of recent terrorists while your at it?

Fossten was speaking in a generality,but at no time has anyone said that ALL violent CRIME is being committed by Muslims. Are you arguing that Muslims ARE NOT responsible for the vast majority of international terrorism in the world, or domestically today?

Maybe the Ft Hood shooter's religious and his self-professed "Palestinian" identification are merely coincidence and unrelated. I suspect that won't be the case. However, the media and military are being extremely "sensitive" regarding how this story is being covered and the information being made available to the public.

The identity of the shooter was known, and on the internet, for quite a while before the MSM were willing to report it because of the Islamic association.

 

[fossten]

Timothy McVeigh was a patsy.

There, I said it.

So, Ahmadinejohnny, you believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace?

 

[SoonerLS]

One clarification: the Murrah Building bombing was April 19th, 1995, not 1996. There are unclear potential links to white supremacist groups, but there are none involving Islamic extremists (or Muslims of any persuasion), AFAIK.

The identity of the shooter was known, and on the internet, for quite a while before the MSM were willing to report it because of the Islamic association.

If the MSM sat on his name, it wasn't for long, because I know it was on the news channels by mid-afternoon. Given the confusion surrounding the story as late as 7pm Central last night, I'd be more willing to chalk that up to editorial caution than political correctness.

FWIW, NPR had some good coverage of the story on Morning Edition this morning ( http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3 ), and they didn't appear to be pulling any punches:

...The suspect was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being sent to Texas in July. He was apparently upset about being scheduled to deploy overseas, according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who told Fox News that she was told Hasan may have been targeting specific individuals.

A source told NPR's Joseph Shapiro that Hasan was put on probation early in his postgraduate work at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He was disciplined for proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues, according to the source, who worked with him at the time.

-- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120159765&ps=rs

They also mentioned his participation in a session with other doctors wherein they were supposed to discuss conditions and treatments, but he gave a lecture on Islam that the participants thought was more a profession of his beliefs than a scholarly discussion. (I looked, but the transcript of that segment isn't online yet.)

 

[MonsterMark]

This act by this coward was atrocious.

Just as bad was Obama's pathetic performance as CIC yesterday at the presser.
What a loser our CIC is, AND, incredibly insensitive.

But that goes hand in hand with being a narcissist.

 

[Calabrio]

One clarification: the Murrah Building bombing was April 19th, 1995, not 1996. There are unclear potential links to white supremacist groups, but there are none involving Islamic extremists (or Muslims of any persuasion), AFAIK.

Actually, there are potential links to Islamic groups. A reporter named Jayna Davis wrote a book called "The Third Terrorist" on the subject.

I'd be more willing to chalk that up to editorial caution than political correctness.

I'd chalk it up to both.
Had his name been James Smith, I don't think they would have sat on the name so long. There was additional caution BECAUSE his name was so "ethnic" sounding, that seemed evident in the way the news was being reported. Many of the reports all said they had a name but weren't ready to release it due to sensitivities.

 

[Calabrio]

Just as bad was Obama's pathetic performance as CIC yesterday at the presser.
What a loser our CIC is, AND, incredibly insensitive.

But that goes hand in hand with being a narcissist.

That press conference yesterday was absolutely stunning.

You know, Bill Ayers was actively involved in a plan to launch an attack and massacre the families at Ft. Dix in New Jersey.

 

[lincolnx2]

Two issues here.

1. Maybe not all muslims are terrorists, but lately all terrorists have been muslim.

2. Everybody who knows anything about military bases knows that they are 'gun free zones.' They're as vulnerable as a shopping mall.

I don't feel bad for the rest of the muslim troops. They should be on notice that their 'RELIGION OF PEACE' is a sham.

It's time we were honest about Islam. PC will kill this country.

Foss, you cant attack a whole religion, I can't the number of times my "terp" saved my life while I was on a MiTT team, this is one guy, I don't know what his problem was, but if we start making every muslim in the military feel uncomfortable, we will really be in for a rude awakining.

 

[bones1182]

Foss, you cant attack a whole religion, I can't the number of times my "terp" saved my life while I was on a MiTT team, this is one guy, I don't know what his problem was, but if we start making every muslim in the military feel uncomfortable, we will really be in for a rude awakining.

Most of these guys don't know the half of it but i say if they want to pick a fight with an entire religion because they can't distinguish between extremist views and the mainline views maybe they should go spend twelve to fifteen months in the sandbox. I have to go with the "All Americans" sorry screaming eagles.

 

[fossten]

Foss, you cant attack a whole religion, I can't the number of times my "terp" saved my life while I was on a MiTT team, this is one guy, I don't know what his problem was, but if we start making every muslim in the military feel uncomfortable, we will really be in for a rude awakining.

Muslims who aren't on a jihad are already uncomfortable. If you don't understand what I just said, you need to study up.

 

[lincolnx2]

Jihad is something totally different, while I am no expert or Islam, I have spent a great deal of time learning about other religions, I will feel for muslim troops if they felt uncomfortable in uniform, my old SGM was muslim, he had the power to make the whole BN feel uncomfortable if he wanted to. We need to get away from the typical american ways, we need to stop labeling groups of peoplel based on A persons action.

 

[Calabrio]

You judge individuals based on their actions, but if you fail to recognize cultural issues due to sensitivity, then you're making mistakes that can be fatal.

No one said that Muslim's shouldn't be allowed in the military, or that they are all bad people. However the internal and cultural conflict that exist needs to at least be RECOGNIZED and addressed responsibly.

Pretending it doesn't exist won't help anything either.

 

[lincolnx2]

You judge individuals based on their actions, but if you fail to recognize cultural issues due to sensitivity, then you're making mistakes that can be fatal.

No one said that Muslim's shouldn't be allowed in the military, or that they are all bad people. However the internal and cultural conflict that exist needs to at least be RECOGNIZED and addressed responsibly.

Pretending it doesn't exist won't help anything either.

The conflict isn't with Muslims, its with Extremeist. Muslims are given a bad name because of a few bad apples, thats the same with culture, we as americans choose to label a group or culture by the bad that a group does. All muslims don't do "jihads" infact most muslims that stay here in the US are standup, law abiding citizens, and to make them uncomfortable, would not be a good move.

 

[fossten]

The conflict isn't with Muslims, its with Extremeist. Muslims are given a bad name because of a few bad apples, thats the same with culture, we as americans choose to label a group or culture by the bad that a group does. All muslims don't do "jihads" infact most muslims that stay here in the US are standup, law abiding citizens, and to make them uncomfortable, would not be a good move.

The way the Koran is being interpreted by the imams, if you're a muslim, you're supposed to be on a jihad, otherwise you're considered a bad muslim.

 

[lincolnx2]

The way the Koran is being interpreted by the imams, if you're a muslim, you're supposed to be on a jihad, otherwise you're considered a bad muslim.

By which imams? Its the extremeist who say "kill the infidel" or "do a jihad" if your statement were true, we would have "jihad" everyday.