Shootings at Fort Hood, 12 dead so far, scores injured

[NutLoose]

A sad, sad day for all involved, condolences to the families of those bereaved and injured.......

Why?? :sad:

Fort Hood shooting: 12 killed at US army base - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6511135/Fort-Hood-shooting-12-killed-at-US-army-base.html)

[Robert Cooper]

Latest here is that Major Hasan, a Muslim convert, was scheduled to deploy to Iraq but didn't want to go. Guess we will know a little more after they have talked to him. Understand he was shot and is in hospital under guard.

Condolences to the families of the fallen and the wounded.
:(

[Ned Parsnip]

Latest here is that Major Hasan, a Muslim convert, was scheduled to deploy to Iraq but didn't want to go

Robert, he was not a convert - he was an American Muslim from birth.

And the Army knew since 9/11 that he disagreed with the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan

[barnstormer1968]

Just heard on the radio that one of the injured has now also died, bringing the total to 13 dead.

This is awful news, and as crass as this may sound ( I apologise if it does), as least this sounds like one person was suffering from some form of mental health issue, rather than it being a terrorist infiltrator.

My thoughts go out to all the families involved, both in this case and also the recent shooting of British soldiers too.

R.I.P

[Forkandles]

Robert, he was not a convert - he was an American Muslim from birth.

And the Army knew since 9/11 that he disagreed with the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan

My Grandma told me that her Dad disagreed with shooting Germans because of his relatives in Hamburg, but it didn't stop him getting blown up in France...

[ORAC]

The inevitable inquiry should be interesting. I thought the whole idea of the Department Homeland Security and enhanced intelligence exchange was supposed to ensure that things like this didn't get through the net?

Torygraph report: (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6511591/Fort-Hood-shooting-Nidal-Malik-Hasan-said-Muslims-should-rise-up.html) ...........Federal law enforcement officials have said Maj Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials said the postings appeared to have been made by Maj Hasan but they were still trying to confirm that he was the author.

[ORAC]

Fort Hood Shooter’s Defense: I Was Protecting the Taliban (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/350229/fort-hood-shooters-defense-i-was-protecting-taliban-dimitrios-halikias)

At a hearing yesterday, Major Nidal Malik Hasan announced in court that he will use a “defense of others” argument to justify his actions. Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 and wounding 29 in a shooting at Texas’s Fort Hood in 2009, claims that he sought only to protect the lives of Taliban leaders, arguing that it was necessary for him to massacre the American soldiers in order to prevent Taliban members from being killed.

When asked specifically to name the people whom he was defending, he said “the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban,” and specifically named founder Mullah Omar. The Department of Defense has classified the attack not as a terrorist act but as “workplace violence.”

Two days ago, Hasan was granted approval to defend himself in court, meaning that he will be allowed to directly address the judge and question witnesses — many of whom are victims of the shooting. But Hasan’s proposed defense suggests that the he may be using his right to self-representation as an opportunity to launch a radical Islamist, anti-American tirade in court, similar to the performance of convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, the 9/11 conspirator who denounced America as he received his sentence of life imprisonment.

The judge has delayed jury selection, giving Hasan a day to prepare a brief in his defense.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Dear Western World,
a 3 1/2 year wait for trial is not justice.
3 1/2 months, maybe.

[Bigpants]

He is a traitor.

[Courtney Mil]

The 42 month wait for the trial was due to Nidal Hasan changing lawers and then mounting multiple appeals to be allowed to keep his beard for the trial. The good news is that the Army won't let him plead guilty in order to keep the death penaly available as his sentence.

[Ken Scott]

The good news is that the Army won't let him plead guilty in order to keep the death penaly available as his sentence.

Is that really 'good news'? Wouldn't that just create another martyr to ecourage others to the cause? And aren't we a little above biblical 'an eye for an eye'? (See recent events in Woolwich).

Let him rot for the remainder of his life to consider his actions, say I.

[Lonewolf_50]

Bullet to the head has been long overdue.

[Party Animal]

The good news is that the Army won't let him plead guilty in order to keep the death penaly available as his sentence.

Courtney,

Not sure how an individual can be put on trial and not have the opportunity to plead guilty? Can you expand on your story? Are you also saying that someone who pleads guilty in Texas cannot be given the death penalty?

Just askin - and hoping that capital punishment will apply to this individual sooner rather than later...

[West Coast]

Ken

The problem I see is he likely looks back on the shooting as an accomplishment and the purpose Allah put him there that day.

Leave him to some of the victims in a room and don't ask too many questions when he exits said room horizontal.

[Robert Cooper]

Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that could result in a death sentence. Maj. Hasan faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Bob C

[Courtney Mil]

Indeed. What Bob said.

Pleading guilty is sometimes a way to avoid a death sentence.

[Trim Stab]

Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea to charges that could result in a death sentence.

So why was Sgt Robert Bales allowed to plead guilty to murdering 12 Afghan civilians?

[SASless]

Scotts old fella.....the Muslims very much believe in the "Eye for an Eye" thing....so fair is fair in this insistence upon the Death Penalty. One must be attentive to Religious Beliefs of others should One not?

[Robert Cooper]

Bales made a plea deal. If the prosecution removed the death penalty and only went after life in prison then he would plead guilty. Once the possibility of a death penalty was removed the judge could let him plead guilty.

Not a lawyer but believe that's how it went down.

I guess the same route could be open to Hasan, unless the prosecution insist on the death penalty being kept in.

Bob C

[Always a Sapper]

Send him to Gitmo on conviction and put him in with the general pop, see how long he lasts....

[Dysonsphere]

Send him to Gitmo on conviction and put him in with the general pop, see how long he lasts....

No send him to the US version of the glasshouse in colchester and see how long he lasts there.