12 dead 31 injured in attack on US army base by soldier

[Perfectionist]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8345713.stm

Twelve people have been killed and 31 injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, the commander there has said.

Lt Gen Bob Cone said the shooter had been killed in the incident and two suspects arrested. All were American soldiers. The base is locked down.

Lt Gen Cone said the motive for the shooting was not known. One of the dead was a policeman, others were soldiers.

President Barack Obama described it as "a horrific outburst of violence".

US media reports have named the gunman as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He was reportedly in his late 30s or early 40s and due to be sent on a mission to Iraq.

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-ar...t-hood-2009-11

There are unconfirmed reports that Major Hasan was a convert to Islam and originally from Virginia. He was reportedly scheduled to deploy to either Iraq or Afghanistan and was unhappy about it.

http://twitter.com/misstearah



# They just brought a CART full of boxes w/transplant parts in them. Not good not good.about 1 hour ago from Tweetie

# Okay we just saw a soldier on a stretcher w/2 armed guards walking by. He didn't look like he was in great condition. Shooter #2??about 1 hour ago from Tweetie

# A ****ING MAJOR? Are you kidding me? A MAJ! For those of uthat don't know, Army MAJ have pretty serious rank. Dickabout 1 hour ago from Tweetie

# Now there are more shootings in Liberty and Kuma Village. Sirens are going again! Will it stop?!?about 2 hours ago from Tweetie

# There are 9 dead at site, 3 dead at hospital, 2 severely critical & rest but 3 are critical. We just saw a girl that got shot in face. Ughabout 3 hours ago from Tweetie

# THERE'S ANOTHER SHOOTER!! IT HASNT STOPPED! They haven't found them all yet!ONE IS SHOOTING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!about 3 hours ago from Tweetie

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/rmhn

On Thursday 5th November 2009, @randirummer said:

RT @BradBeheler: Suspected Gunman Is Identified by ABCNews as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. A recent Muslim convert, thus putting a whole new spin on the tragedy. (Heartbreaking, and a Dr. Nonetheless)

http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23FtHood

Fox News (I know, ick) found a picture:

seems people unarmed at the time at a medical checkup - apparently he was a psychiatrist

lrhicks RT @jazgar: URGENT Blood donors in Ft Hood area call 254-724-4376 ALL BLOOD TYPES. Scott & White Blood Donation Ctr. #fthood pls RT

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...t_about_u.html

[Terbinator]

Sad sad story. Makes you think about the world outside our lives a bit more.

[Perfectionist]

http://twitter.com/misstearah suddenly no longer exists, possibly told to remove it by superiors

Google cache snapshot was taken over an hour ago, it's still up for now: http://google.com/search?q=cache:FNq...com/misstearah

Sad sad story. Makes you think about the world outside our lives a bit more.

Well said...

pretty angry about that poor girl... This seems like the US's 7/7

[finlay666]

Already heard a joke about it

[MadduckUK]

so have i, dont know if its the same one obviously

[Perfectionist]

[Blastuk]

source?

[Perfectionist]

For that? Silly flash gallery on the statesman that doesn't let you link directly / show pics on forums or other websites: http://www.statesman.com/ap/mediahub...jsp?tId=198875

[Rave]

Apparently the shooter's still alive. Which could make for a fascinating insight into the mind of a spree killer.

[TheAnimus]

Apparently the shooter's still alive. Which could make for a fascinating insight into the mind of a spree killer.

Indeed, when i heard this bit this morning I was amazed, did he give himself up? Or where they just that good at a take down, if so that is amazing testament to the training of the MPs (who would risk it when the guy is murdering innocents).

Either way, its tragic, and I really hope it doesn't destabilise internal army relations with non Christians.

[nichomach]

According to R4, the guy was shot, initially reported as dead, later confirmed to be alive and was described as "stable", this last I assume referring to his physical rather than psychological condition... It's a horrific incident, and I entirely concur with your last point, TA. Hopefully, it will just be seen as a lone nutjob (which it almost certainly is).

[Barakka]

News this morning said he is an army Psychologist, they had his cousin on talking about it.

Apparently he's known for a long time that he was to be deployed to Iraq but the first his family knew was the news reports of this incident. They said it would be his worst nightmare as he has told his family for the past few years that he has been struggling to cope with having to deal with all the psychological effects of attrocities on the soldiers coming back, and having to help the soldiers deal with them. He had also been engaging a military attorney to try and buy his way out of the army, but had no luck. His family had apparently been also worried that he was being bullied since the Iraq and Afghanistan activity of recent years due to his ethinicity, and beliefs.

The danger here is that it will just be reported as a case of Muslim extremist infultrates US Army, rather than any real story about what screwed him up.

[tinners]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8345713.stm

"His death is not imminent," said Lt Gen Cone.

An interesting choice of words.

What a senseless act.

[0iD]

"We've known over the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare," his cousin, Nader Hasan, told Fox News.

The Associated Press cited an unnamed official as saying that Maj Hasan had received a poor performance evaluation from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center before transferring to Fort Hood in July.

Another official was quoted by the New York Times as saying that the FBI had become aware of internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan.

Maj Hasan is a military psychiatrist and was reportedly due to be sent on a mission to Iraq or Afghanistan.

His cousin said Maj Hasan had been resisting such a deployment.

"He hired a military attorney to try to have the issue resolved, pay back the government, to get out of the military. He was at the end of trying everything," Nader Hasan told Fox News.

He also said that Nidal Malik Hasan had been battling racial harassment because of his "Middle Eastern ethnicity".

Prior to Fort Hood, Maj Hasan served as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which treats wounded troops from combat zones.

Must've been under severe emotional/mental pressure to crack like that. Possibly, by doing the job he did the knowledge of what could happen was too much. I'm not defending his actions, it's just all so very sad.

[TheAnimus]

Ok so not *that* similar.

[Perfectionist]

Apparently the shooter's still alive. Which could make for a fascinating insight into the mind of a spree killer.

I think there was about one word in that "mind", beginning with J and ending with D ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...d-rise-up.html

Col Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with him at the military base in Texas, alleged Maj Hasan had angry confrontations with other officers over his views.

[..]"He was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans," Col Lee told Fox News.

"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 Maj 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.

Article on his scribd page:
http://www.scribd.com/NidalHasan

05/20/2009

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. 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. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE" and Allah (SWT) knows best.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/69322567.html

His name appears on radical Internet postings. [..]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.

(THAT'S THE ABOVE ONE! THEY KNEW OVER HALF A YEAR AGO ABOUT THIS GUY...)