Hasan’s Days are Numbered

Sixteen Years Has Passed Since the Fort Hood Massacre and Nidal Hasan Is Out of Options

Beege Welborn

On November 5, 2009, an Army psychiatrist named Nidal Malik Hasan took a pistol fitted with a laser sight, entered an Army processing center on Fort Hood in Texas, and proceeded to slaughter his fellow unarmed and defenseless soldiers as they prepared for a deployment.

By the time the Army major was stopped, he had killed some thirteen fellow servicemen and wounded more than thirty others. The packed, confined quarters helped Hasan in his deadly attack.

…The shooting began about 1:30 Central Time at Hood’s Soldier Family Readiness Center where Cone said soldiers from multiple units were crowded into the center for a scheduled weekly “make up time” for medical and dental appointments.

Casualties were high due to the enclosed location, but would have been much worse were it not for the training and quick reaction of the soldiers, Cone said, adding that he was on the scene quickly after the shooting began.

“Suffice it to say…the American soldier did a great job,” he said.

From the reports of eyewitnesses, he said, the soldiers – “many of them combat lifesavers” — reacted instantaneously, ripping off parts of their own clothing to treat the wounded.

“I credit the first responders,” he said. “God bless these soldiers and Department of Army civilians. As horrible as this was, it could have been much worse.”

…The suspect is believed to have used two handguns in the shooting, one a semiautomatic, Cone said. And in responding to a question, “As a matter of practice, we do not carry weapons on Fort Hood,” he said. “This is our home.”

The only saving grace was that Hasan had attacked a room full of combat veterans getting ready to head back out.

Once the initial shock of the attack passed, battle-tested Army members swung into action, either in concert against their attacker or to immediately attend to offering life-saving aid to wounded comrades.

The courage displayed that black day was off the charts.
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Hasan survived the wounds received at the hands of Sgt Todd’s pistol, but remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Within days of the shooting, media reports revealed that Hasan had ‘been on their radar.’ The major had been corresponding via email with Yemeni-based terrorist Imam Anwar al-Awlaki – notable for being President Obama’s first drone strike assassination of a US citizen – and that his military colleagues had been concerned and warned of his increasing radicalization for several years preceding the murders.

The Pentagon further enraged feelings when they took what was an obvious act of domestic terrorism and called it ‘workplace violence.’

…Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated “we object to—and do not believe—that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this … This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith.”[160] Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. said “I’m concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers … Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.”

Hasan was arraigned in 2011 at a military court, charged with thirteen counts of premeditated murder and thirty-two counts of attempted murder (a charge was not filed for the death of a three-month-old fetus lost with its mother), found guilty on all counts at his 2013 court-martial, and sentenced to death.

In April, the jihadi lost his final death sentence appeal on the civilian side of the house.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will be petitioning the President to sign Hasan’s death warrant.

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Category: Big Pentagon, Crime, Death penalty