Senator calls for investigation of shootings at Fort Hood / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, November 9, 2009

Associated Press

November 9, 2009

LM Otero/AP Photo

A soldier reads a Bible during Sunday church service at the 1st Air Cavalry Division Memorial Chapel at Fort Hood, Texas.

Fort Hood, Texas — A key U.S. senator said Sunday he would begin an investigation into whether the Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology.

Sen. Joe Lieberman’s call for an investigation came a day after classmates who participated in a 2007-2008 master’s program at a military college said they complained to superiors about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and what they considered to be his anti-American views, which included a presentation that justified suicide bombing and telling classmates that Islamic law trumped the U.S. Constitution.

“If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have zero tolerance,” Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wants Congress to determine whether the shootings constitute a terrorist attack.

Army Chief of Staff George Casey warned Sunday against reaching conclusions about motives. “I think the speculation (on Hasan’s Islamic roots) could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Dr. Val Finnell said Saturday that he and other classmates participating in a 2007-2008 master’s program with Hasan at the Uniformed Services University complained about his comments, including that the war on terror was “a war against Islam.”

Another classmate said Sunday that he complained to five officers and two civilian faculty members at the university. He wrote in a command climate survey sent to Pentagon officials that fear in the military of being seen as politically incorrect prevented an “intellectually honest discussion of Islamic ideology.” The classmate requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, the FBI will probably look into whether Hasan attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001 when a radical imam preached there, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center, confirmed that Hasan’s family participated in services at the mosque in Falls Church, Va. He said the Hasans were not leaders there and their attendance was normal, and he did not know whether Hasan ever attended services there.

In 2001, Anwar Aulaqi was an imam, or spiritual leader, at the mosque. Aulaqi told the FBI in 2001 that before he moved to Virginia in 2001, he met with 9/11 hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi several times in San Diego. Al-Hazmi was at the time living with Khalid al-Mihdhar, another hijacker. Al-Hazmi and another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, attended the Dar al Hijrah mosque in early April 2001.

The mosque is one of the largest on the East Coast, and thousands attend prayers and services there every week.

Faizul Khan, former imam of the Muslim Community Center in nearby Silver Spring, Md., where Hasan also worshiped, said he was not aware that Hasan had attended services at Dar al Hijrah but said it would not be unusual for Hasan to attend more than one mosque concurrently. Khan said he did not recall Hasan mentioning having been taught or preached to by Aulaqi.

Hasan was in critical but stable condition at an Army hospital in San Antonio. He was breathing on his own after being taken off a ventilator on Saturday, but officials won’t say whether he can communicate.

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9 November 2009
at 9:19 a.m.

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Thing (Anonymous) says…

There are indications that the shooter had displayed extremist ideas before this shooting. Unfortunately, because of political correctness and his rank, the problem was ignored.
9 November 2009
at 9:58 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Looks like Leon Panetta, an appointee of Barack Hussein Obama is on the hook for this one:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/1…

“Fort Hood Tragedy: Terrorist Attack?

As the Army searches for answers about the Fort Hood tragedy, Dean Reynolds reports on the signs that the alleged shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had ties to radical Islamic groups.

(AP)

(CBS) The Army psychologist accused of committing the worst mass shooting at a military facility in the United States last week had tried to contact people within al Qaeda, and U.S. intelligence agencies knew about the alleged shooter's attempts, according to a report ABC News published Monday.

The revelation comes a day after lawmakers discussed the possibility of launching a congressional investigation into the shootings at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 29 wounded.

Monday's report said it was still unclear whether the American intelligence community alerted the Army about suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who attended the same mosque as two of the 9-11 hijackers. Hasan is in critical condition at an Army hospital and breathing on his own.

Thus far, the CIA has refused to brief the congressional committees charged with overseeing the intelligence agencies, a senior lawmaker told ABC News.

Congress has asked CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair “to preserve” all documents and intelligence files related to Hasan, the lawmaker told the news organization. ”
9 November 2009
at 10:08 a.m.

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Wallythewalrus (Anonymous) says…

In a posting on his Web site Monday, Awlaki praised Hasan, calling him “a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”
The cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, led a northern Virginia mosque in 2001 which was attended by Hasan - and by three of the 9/11 hijackers.
Questioned but not arrested after the 9/11 attacks, he is now based in Yemen, from where his online lectures have been inspiring jihadists over the years since.
He criticized U.S. Muslim organizations for condemning the shooting attack, calling them hypocrites and - quoting from the Koran - saying “painful punishment” awaited them… Just another nut case I suppose. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/11/us-…