Patterico's Pontifications

11/12/2009

Hasan Charged with 13 Counts of Murder

Filed under: Obama,Terrorism — DRJ @ 2:24 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

An Army CID spokesman announced today that murder charges have been filed against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan:

“Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in connection with last week’s shootings at Fort Hood, Chris Grey, a spokesman with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, said at a news conference today.

Grey said more charges are possible against Hasan, the suspect in the shootings that killed 13 people and wounded at least 29 others. Grey said that the charges are the first step in the court martial process, and that the investigation continues, he said.

“Let me reassure the American public we are doing everything possible and we are looking at every reason for this shooting,” Grey said. “We are aggressively following every possible lead. We are collecting, analyzing and disseminating every piece of critical information pertaining to this case.”

The charges are death penalty offenses. The AP reports it has not been decided whether a 14th charge will be filed for the murder of the unborn son of Francheska Velez. Presumably charges will also be filed in connection with the wounded victims. Twelve of the wounded are still hospitalized, and one remains in intensive care.

President Obama has also “ordered a review of all intelligence related to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and whether it was properly shared and acted upon within individual government agencies.” Good decision, and I hope it will help us avoid tragedies like this in the future. I also hope the Army investigators and any federal reviewers will keep an open mind, especially since the FBI has already ruled out “terrorist activities or planning.”

— DRJ

21 Responses to “Hasan Charged with 13 Counts of Murder”

  1. If a charge of treason is not applicable in this case when would it ever be applicable?

    MKStach (a938de)

  2. From the “No Sh*t” Department. Actual LA Times headline:
    “Fort Hood suspect’s contact with cleric spelled trouble, experts say”

    MikeHu (e9e89c)

  3. Of course the Justice Department refuses to identify this as (yet another) act of terrorism on the part of a muslim in the USA. Otherwise they might actually have to take steps.

    This way they can continue to collect campaign dollars and voter support from places like Dearbornistan while castigated extremely concerned citizens as racists. What’s not to like about that (from a completely power-mad perspective, of course). And, after all, aren’t these just our chickens coming home to roost in the slave states of America???

    iconoclast (e0e808)

  4. I think they have the number wrong. It should be 14. That child in the womb of the dead pregnant officer counts as a living human being too.

    The Emperor (82e13a)

  5. The “no indication of terrorism connections” is an FBI macro. First button they hit.
    Problem is, they see it as a limit.

    Richard Aubrey (46d961)

  6. And how can they “rule out” terrorism and say they have not jumped unto any conclusion? Is it not too early to “rule out” terrorism when investigations are still going on? Someone’s afraid of finding the truth.

    The Emperor (82e13a)

  7. It sounds like the guvmint is finally getting the picture.

    Patricia (b05e7f)

  8. Why is the FBI so quick to declare this incident NOT a terrorist incident? Because the FBI investigated Hasan in 2008 and determined that the communications he had with the main subject of the FBI Anti-Terrorism Task Force were nothing and they cleared Hasan.

    If it comes out that this incident is a called terrorism then it proves the FBI screwed up, big time!

    Brett (0247fc)

  9. Does the new hate crime law apply here?

    sierra (4be1ff)

  10. The FBI is retarded.

    happyfeet (b919e7)

  11. They might also could be gay. You know, like the CIA.

    happyfeet (b919e7)

  12. […] US Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) spokesman announced “MAJ Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in connection with last week’s shootings at Fort Hood,” said Chris Grey, a CID […]

    Fort Hood Shooter Charged with 13 Murders « Cynical Synapse (725c82)

  13. From the “No Sh*t” Department. Actual LA Times headline:
    “Fort Hood suspect’s contact with cleric spelled trouble, experts say”

    Comment by MikeHu — 11/12/2009 @ 3:24 pm

    What makes me laugh is that the times needed experts to come to this conclusion.

    Alta Bob (e8af2b)

  14. There’s no good evidence to date that Hasan is a “terrorist.” Mass murder, even mass murder that the killer believes is divinely ordered, is not terrorism.

    Terrorism is a strategy and tactic which seeks a political goal, either a change in government policy or a regime change, through commission of indiscriminate public attacks.

    Killing fellow soldiers just because one has decided that America is an enemy of one’s religion is, in and of itself, not terrorism. It may be genocide; it may be a hate crime; it may be treason.

    Now, it could be the case that investigation will uncover some political aim, but so far it looks like this Hasan is more akin to his namesake Hasan Akbar, who is on death row for killing two fellow soldiers in Iraq.

    Cyrus Sanai (3b1f29)

  15. Let’s set aside whether this was terrorism, Cyrus. Would you agree it appears Hasan killed because of his religious beliefs?

    DRJ (dee47d)

  16. I’m amazed that someone is insisting there isn’t even ANY good evidence to suggest terrorism. Terrorism is a concept that doesn’t have an agreed upon definition, and it’s politically charged enough that some people will go nuts trying to over or under define it. It’s an unwinnable argument until we can come up with a definition, first. Though I think honest people know what it is, fairly easily.

    The guy, who has ‘soldier of allah’ on his business card, shouted ‘allah akbar’ while shooting people, so anyone disagreeing with the existence of a religious motive is simply dishonest.

    This guy was a hermit and a weirdo, but we can’t get inside his head. It’s clear that Cyrus is not familiar with Islam. Shouting Allah Akbar is obviously a statement that Islam is the correct way of life. Therefore, he is telling people to ‘submit’ to his way of life, as he executes non believers. That’s terrorism. I’ve looked at four definitions, and it meets each one. This cannot reach the level of proof, since we’re talking about his thoughts, but to say there’s no good evidence is quite strange.

    Allah Akbar means something more than God is Great. It means a particular religious concept is the only one acceptable. Combined with violence, and it’s probably an attempt to coerce through violence.

    Dustin (bb61e3)

  17. That said, I agree that it is important to keep in mind that he was religiously motivated. I just don’t think anyone is ignoring that angle, except maybe a very limited number of people in the atheist blogosphere. Everyone else is firmly in “OMG MUSLIM!!” mode, because it attracts eyeballs and sells to the masses.

    attorney (45df7c)

  18. […] Hasan Charged with 13 Counts of Murder […]

    The News Factor: updated headlines 11-13-09 (c06615)

  19. I’m trying to think why the prosecutors even might want to charge Hasan with a terrorism crime when they’ve got more than a dozen counts of murder that, from this remove, appear to be slam dunks.

    That said, there are two obvious and very different explanations: one is that Hasan, inspired by his religious beliefs, decided to murder a bunch of people; the other is that Hasan, having decided to murder a lot of people, chose to frame it in terms of his religious beliefs.

    In either case, though, he’s a murderer, and from this amateur remove, the charges appear pretty straightforward — why would the prosecutors want to complicate their job by claiming that it was done to give aid and comfort to enemies or as terrorism? The penalties do top out with the DP, already.

    About the only reason I can think to go with additional charges would be in a hopeless attempt to avoid the tealeafing from Rachel Maddow and company — the notion that since they didn’t charge terrorism, it was just some sort of isolated incident. That may be of some minor political benefit, but it isn’t the prosecutors’ job.

    Joel Rosenberg (677e59)

  20. I’d like him charged with treason, too. As Grim pointed out, a psychologist murdering about-to-deploy troops would have know the effect that would have on their morale, and that damage is treasonous.

    htom (9a087f)

  21. Fuad Kamal runs a covert operation with the code name “Anaara Media” which recruits Islamic militants internationally. Fuad Kamal is an explosives expert, munitions expert and is trained in the martial arts. He is a dangerous individual with a high level of sophistication and training.

    Shasta (835ac7)


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