Authorities had concerns about suspect - web postings referred to suicide bombers as brave heroes-AP

[jefferson_dem]

AP sources: Authorities had concerns about suspect
By LARA JAKES

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officials say the suspected Fort Hood, Texas, shooter had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was killed during the shooting incident that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

One of the Web postings 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."

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/gen/ap/US_Fort_Hood_Shooting_Suspect.html

[NightWatcher]

1. I think he's a terrorist motivated by ideological sympathies for the Iraqis, Afghanis, and other

brown people that we are bombing.

how he got by this far in the Army is still what I find curious. When I heard about the events today, I suspected a 20 year old who had infiltrated...not a 40 year old Major

[dschis]

28. I say again SLEEPER

[TwilightGardener]

2. Nah. The DU Diagnosis is already in: had to be PTSD-by-Proxy.

[Barack_America]

5. Yeah. I'm sure hearing the atrocities at the root of other soldiers' PTSD...

...had nothing to do with it.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Invent all the theories you like for yourself.

[Barack_America]

8. Ditto.

[TwilightGardener]

10. I haven't--I don't invent shit.

I wait for the facts.

[dschis]

30. A Little personal history

A few years ago. Gangs had infiltrated the Army and were smuggling parts of weapons into dumpsters in the 'back forty' in Fort Hood, going back later to pick them up and taking those parts off post. Anyone who has been to Fort Hood could see that could be done. The answer was to lock all of the dumpsters. That went on for a little while, then a captain was killed in a drive-by, gangland type shooting. The CG (Commanding General) locked the post down in a similar fashion. The steps and behind the scenes action that are taken during an incident like this would make your eyes glaze over. I'll tell over the next few days Ft Hood will not be in normal operational mode.

I can't read the minds of the chain of command at Ft Hood, but there were reasons they did what they did. I'm sure it wasn't just PTSD though. If that were the case, you would see a lot more of that kind of thing.

A lot of guys obviously haven't been in that environment. I've been there....

[AspenRose]

41. That's true about the gangs infiltrating the military

Bloods, Crips, White Supremacists.

[Cha]

3. Not good.

This is so sad bc a lot of innocent people died and others could be subjected to hate where there was none before.:(

[timeforpeace]

24. He's alive so his ideology will be examined and see the light of day. He's no victim.

[Cha]

32. Of course, he's not a "victim".

[Kdillard]

4. If true there should be serious questions about how on earth this

guy was able to make it up so high in the Army.

[Barack_America]

7. It was the deal he made with the military for medical school.

When you finish your medical residency you are apparently promoted to Major before beginning your service payback.

What I'm wondering is why he was still active after this investigation and the poor performance result he was apparently given.

The army seems to be very hard up for PTSD specialists if they were willing to overlook all of this.

[slackmaster]

12. My cousin did that in the Navy in the '70s - Instant full Lieutenant

He was probably regarded as a valuable asset.

[Kdillard]

17. I would say so.

[Teaser]

9. MD's get higher ranks, IIRC, then enlisted men and women

of course, my knowledge comes from M*A*S*H, so take it for what it's worth.

[Recursion]

22. Major isn't all that high

It's either still a company-grade officer or the lowest field-grade officer, I forget which. It's the commissioned equivalent of a corporal.

[slackmaster]

11. How many red flags does the military need to see before pulling someone off active duty?

The guy should have gotten a general discharge and allowed to go on with his life.

[TwilightGardener]

13. I wonder if he could have simply resigned his commission and gotten out

voluntarily--even if he had to pay back the government for his training?

[dschis]

33. I'm telling you

This guy was some kind of sleeper. I don't have clue when he was gotten to, but I'm telling you

[atreides1]

16. What red flags?

He's a muslim? He disagreed with the war?



Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan

The Virginia-born soldier was single with no children. He graduated from Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001. At Walter Reed, he did his internship, residency and a fellowship.

[dschis]

34. Internet messages that I've seen suggest something

[slackmaster]

35. Read and learn

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting_suspect

[Blue_Tires]

38. you'd be surprised at how far the benefit of the doubt can go in a lot of cases

fwiw the Virginia Tech shooter had at least twice as many red flags -- any casual look at his student history and behavior would indicate he should have been under psychiatric lockdown and evaluation...(or at the bare minimum kicked out of school)

[Patsy Stone]

14. So the next logical step was for them to send him to Iraq?

:wtf:

[Cha]

15. Really.

[Barack_America]

19. Apparently the military has 1 PTSD expert for every 700 soldiers.

That stat was quote on MSNBC several times this afternoon (I cannot confirm it myself).

Perhaps they felt he was a risk they had to take.

Says something about the PTSD crisis, no?

[Patsy Stone]

20. PTSD

will be George Bush's longest-lasting legacy.

There's a special place in hell for people who send soldiers into battle and refuse to care for them when they are in need, or after they come home.

[optimator]

18. Did they have a warrant?

[WinkyDink]

21. These are the post-Bush years, don't forget.

[timeforpeace]

25. Finally! Been waiitng all day for the obligatory Bush's Fault™.

[windbreeze]

26. Well, all the time Bush was Prez...we heard how everything was Clinton's fault...

so, what's the diff??? Seems strange to see this post on DU..wb

[AllieB]

29. I know it's hard for you to hear that about your President.

But he did get us into two wars.

[Garbo 2004]

23. Feds haven't confirmed Hasan as author of the postings, no official investigaton opened after 6 mo

& yet Fed law enforcement (FBI?) is leaking this unconfirmed info to the press?

Why not wait till the important matter of the postings' authorship is actually confirmed before blabbing to the press? It's not like, "yeah we thought something might be up but we sat on it for six months" is going to win them "attaboys" for being on the case that wasn't actually a "case" since they didn't open an investigation.

[ShortnFiery]

27. The "reporting" here is beginning to stink. What really happened?!?

I bet we'll never know. We've been lied to so many times, why do you think the government will give us the truth THIS TIME?

[dschis]

31. Sometimes we just have to wait

Take the initial reporting with a grain of salt. Most of these people have no clue what the military is really like. Take for one, he's a major...he must have done some things right. Medical Officers join the Army as captains (sort of like a resident) when they become a fully fledged doctor they become majors. It's like a being promoted from E1 to E2 or 2LT to 1LT you have to really mess up to not be promoted. They do this because doctors have advanced degrees and you are paying for their particular skills as opposed to their soldierly or command skills.

[treestar]

39. Amen

"Journalism" these days is really "speculation."

[avaistheone1]

40. Sounds like a serious failure by Homeland Security and the Army to me.

[arcadian]

36. A speculative article and people here are taking it as fact.

Irresponsible journalism, the article itself says they aren't sure the guy wrote those messages. Why does the AP run with such bullshit?

[ClarkUSA]

37. Nothing Maj. Hassan felt or experienced justifies his horrifyingly despicable act of mass murder.

Plenty of Muslims in this country have been targets of harassment, yet I don't see them walking into crowded public
areas and shooting down scores of innocent fellow Americans. There's plenty of soldiers who have PTSD who have
not gunned down their fellow soldiers en masse. There are plenty of anti-war soldiers who have voiced their opposition
to the war without resorting to senseless acts of mass murder. This guy never even got deployed overseas to Iraq.

There's more to this story than is apparent right now. The fact he did this while dressed in Muslim garb and yelled,
"Allah Akbar" before opening fire is suggestive of some sort of cultural/religious reasons for his terrible and criminally
insane act of violence which has devastated the families of those he killed and wounded.