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

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

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

...had nothing to do with it.

I wait for the facts.

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....

Bloods, Crips, White Supremacists.

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

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

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.

He was probably regarded as a valuable asset.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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)

:wtf:

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?

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.

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

But he did get us into two wars.

& 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.

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?

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.

"Journalism" these days is really "speculation."

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

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.