Tim Reid: Warning signs were there as killer strove to leave military
Saturday November 07 2009
His name appears above radical internet postings discussing Islamic suicide bombers in a favourable light -- something the FBI was alerted to six months ago.
He became involved in frequent arguments with soldiers at Fort Hood because of his declarations that fellow Muslims "should stand up and fight against the aggressor", and his vocal opposition to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He even appeared to celebrate the shooting death of a soldier at an Army recruiting centre in Arkansas in June, carried out by a Muslim convert. He said at the time that Muslims should strap on suicide bombs and detonate them in New York's Times Square.
These extraordinarily provocative statements and actions by US army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan came months before his massacre at Fort Hood, which began with him shouting "God is Great" in Arabic.
The apparently clear signs of Hasan's growing anti-Americanism prompted questions and anger yesterday over why he was never investigated -- an action that could have prevented Thursday's tragedy at the Texas army base.
Hasan (39), an American-born Muslim who grew up in the Washington suburbs and joined the army out of patriotic duty, told relatives he had been harassed because of his religion after the September 11 attacks, and called derogatory names such as "camel jockey".
"Some people can take it and some people cannot," his aunt, Noel Hasan, said. "He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military." Hasan spent months trying to leave the army, also hiring a lawyer. He offered to pay back the money the army spent sending him to university and medical school, but to no avail.
His cousin, Nader Hasan, said he had recently expressed deep concern about being deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq -- where he was due to go at the end of this month. He did not want to go because of his recent experience.
For the past six years as an army psychiatrist, he had counselled soldiers returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there. He was doing everything he could to avoid that. He wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn't go over." Going to Iraq or Afghanistan had become his cousin's "worst nightmare".
Yet it also appeared likely yesterday that his fear of being deployed was probably due to a revulsion of being part of an operation in which fellow Muslims would be killed.
Hasan's faith had intensified in recent years, first after the deaths of his parents in 1998 and 2001, and then with his mounting opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Colonel Terry Lee, who worked with Hasan in Fort Hood's psychiatric unit, said his colleague had begun making "outlandish" comments about the American presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He said, precisely, that maybe the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor," Colonel Lee said, adding that after Barack Obama was elected, Hasan expressed hope that the new President would end both wars.
When that did not happen, Colonel Lee said, Hasan, who he described as a loner, "became more agitated about the conflicts". He got into frequent arguments with soldiers because of his opposition to the wars.
After the shooting in Little Rock, Colonel Lee added: "He seemed happy about it. He said . . . maybe we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said maybe . . . people should strap bombs on themselves and go into Times Square."
Six months ago, the FBI was alerted to a posting on a website called Scribd.com, under the username "NadalHasan", comparing the actions of an American soldier who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq with those of Islamist suicide bombers.
"He intentionally took his life for a noble cause, saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. It's more appropriate to say he is a brave hero," Nadal Hasan wrote.
"If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard, that would be considered a strategic victory."
US officials said the FBI looked into the posting but had not begun an official investigation by the time of the shooting.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque where Hasan worshipped in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, said he often spoke with him about his desire to find a wife. Hasan had filled out a form at the mosque for those who were seeking a wife.
Mr Khan said Hasan was a devout Muslim, and would pray every day, seven days a week, often in military uniform.
"I got the impression he was a committed soldier. We hardly ever got to discussing politics. Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist," Mr Khan added.
Hasan was born in northern Virginia, close to Washington, to parents who had immigrated to America from the small West Bank town of el-Bireh near Jerusalem. His parents owned restaurants and a shop.
He is single, and has two brothers, one of whom has returned to Jerusalem, where he is married to a Palestinian. The other brother lives in Virginia. The family prospered in the US, with various Hasans entering banking, medicine and the law.
He received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry in 1997 from Virginia Tech university, scene of the massacre of 32 people in 2007, and his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington. (© The Times, London)
- Tim Reid in Washington
Irish Independent
