Fort Hood, Texas
WASHINGTON -- He was by turns caring and contentious, a man quick to say "I am blessed" in casual greeting yet one who seemed to stew in discontent that he could not always keep to himself.
Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, suspect in the assault that killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, and hurt 30, salved the emotional wounds of troops returning from war even as he objected to his own looming deployment to Afghanistan, where he was to counsel soldiers suffering from stress.
But Hasan argued with fellow soldiers who supported U.S. war policy, say those who know him professionally and personally. He was a counselor who once required counseling for himself because of trouble he had dealing with some patients, said a former boss.
Authorities on Friday seized Hasan’s home computer, searched his apartment and took away a Dumpster as the 39-year-old Army major lay in a coma in the hospital, attached to a ventilator.
There are many unknowns about the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base.
Most of all, his motive.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July,
Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan’s interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.
"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said.
"I didn’t hear anything contrary to those oaths."
But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law
enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
They had not confirmed Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
Federal authorities seized Hasan’s computer Friday during a search of his apartment in Killeen, Texas, said a U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
His anger was noted by a classmate, who said Hasan "viewed the war against terror" as a "war against Islam."
Dr. Val Finnell, a classmate of Hasan’s at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, attended a master’s in public health program in 2007-2008. Finnell says he got to know Hasan because the group of public health students took an environmental health class together. At the end of the class, everyone had to give a presentation. Classmates wrote on topics such as dry cleaning chemicals and mold in homes, but Finnell said Hasan chose the war against terror. Finnell described Hasan as a "vociferous opponent" of the terror war. Finnell said Hasan told classmates he was "a Muslim first and an American second."
Hasan recently was involved in a spat with another Fort Hood soldier residing in his apartment complex, apparently related to his Muslim beliefs.
The manager of the complex, John Thompson, said the other soldier, John Van de Walker, allegedly keyed Hasan’s car and also removed and tore up a bumper sticker that read "Allah is Love." Thompson said Van de Walker had been in Iraq and was upset to learn that Hasan was Muslim.
A report filed with Killeen police on Aug. 16 indicates that Hasan’s vehicle, a 2006 Honda Civic, had been scratched by an unknown object causing an estimated $1,000 worth of damage. The report indicates that Van de Walker, 30, was arrested on Oct. 21 and charged with criminal mischief. The matter has been referred for prosecution, according to the report.
The phone number for Van de Walker wasn’t in service Friday, and Thompson, the apartment manager, said he had moved out of the complex.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan’s aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and he wanted to get out of the Army. She said he had sought a discharge for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.
Hasan was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months, though Army spokeswoman Col. Cathy Abbott was uncertain when Hasan was to leave. Abbott said Hasan was to deploy with an Army Reserve unit that provides what the military calls "behavioral health" counseling.
Another military official said Hasan had indicated he didn’t want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan. The official did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A different military official said Hasan’s family has Palestinian roots. There have been reports that he was harassed for his Muslim religion, but the official says there is no indication Hasan filed a complaint with military officials about that.
Alice Thompson, the manager at the apartment complex where Hasan lived, said he’d been living there since mid-August. Thompson said she didn’t talk to him other than to say hello in passing. Thompson said he always answered her "How are you?" with "I am blessed."
Noel Hasan said her nephew "did not make many friends" and would say "the military was his life."
A cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that after counseling soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, Hasan knew the scars of war well.
"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."
Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the armed forces who supported the wars, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.
Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, said she had known Hasan.
"You wouldn’t think that someone who works in your facility and provided excellent care for his patients, which he did, could do something like this," Kesling said. She described him as "a quiet man who wouldn’t seek the limelight" and said she was shocked when she heard he was the suspect in the shootings.
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong Muslim.
"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan’s desire for a wife.
On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.
"We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist."
Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.
He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. Military records show he also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry there in 1997.
But college officials said Friday that Hasan graduated with honors in biochemistry in 1995 and there was no record of him serving in any ROTC program.
He previously had attended Barstow Community College in Barstow, Calif., and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va., according to Virginia Tech records.
sweetdulce said on November 6, 2009 at 8:09 AM
I'm sorry but anyone with the name Nidal Malik Hasan should have never been in our US military! His name screams al qaeda.....glad he's alive allow the US to behead him! Isn't that what his Muslim al qaeda family would do?!
texjoy said on November 6, 2009 at 8:24 AM
I totally agree with you sweetdulce! That's exactly what I thought when I heard his name!
kurtaz said on November 6, 2009 at 10:20 AM
This guy will meet his maker soon enough. God Bless our troops!
firedog said on November 6, 2009 at 10:49 AM
kurtaz, not soon enough. should have met his God yesterday!!!!
freeminded said on November 6, 2009 at 11:09 AM
sweetdulce, texjoy, how ignorant of you to post such a comment. There is nothing in a name. What about Timothy Mcveigh or Eric David Harris and Dylan Bennet Klebold. Do they sound like terrosts names? Yet they were. I am not a Muslim, but I sure that not all people with a Muslim name is a terrorist.
rustx65 said on November 6, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I can't wait to see what happens to him. If Hasan was so miserable, he should have just taken his own life and not of those noble and REAL soldiers. He is going to pay dearly for this.
hurricanecj said on November 6, 2009 at 11:56 AM
I totally agree with rustx65. Also why did he not just quit the Army or if he could, just retire from it ???? So many lives touched by this horrible incident. I pray for the families of those killed and those wounded that are still in the hospital.
texmex007 said on November 6, 2009 at 11:59 AM
"Well we can wage war and kill indiscriminatly around the world but when it happens here ,we are totaly shocked. I guess we don't like it when the chickens come home to roost."....
smile said on November 6, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Im serious ignorant ppl are the only ones posting stupid comments.. Why even allow them to post comments, they should delete those comments. My heart and prayers to all soldiers. Lets keep praying for them.
texjoy said on November 6, 2009 at 12:31 PM
freeminded you've got your ignorant opinion and we have ours so shup!
texmex007 said on November 6, 2009 at 12:34 PM
"I don't think people here understand that a person's faith is stronger than power or money. All the money that we send overseas so people and nations can like us doesn't really matter. Becasue in the end family and faith will allways be stronger.."
texjoy said on November 6, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Isn't it ironic that this man desperately did not want to go into battle for this country...yet he created his own battle against our soldiers here on our soil. He was not one of us! He was an ememy in our camp! You will find this out the more we find out about him.
sweetdulce said on November 6, 2009 at 12:47 PM
freeminded i can post what ever I want! That's how i feel about this situation! You don't have to like what i say. So goodbye!
noitall said on November 6, 2009 at 12:48 PM
texmex is quite the little patriot is'nt he ?
texjoy said on November 6, 2009 at 12:52 PM
BTW freeminded no one ever said that there aren't violent people with all kind of name! you need to get the wad outta your panty's! You might feel a lil better. ;-)
noitall said on November 6, 2009 at 12:57 PM
I'm afraid that even though millions of Muslims love the life style here down deep they think this nut is right . It's kinda like a Jimmy Swaggart & is prostitute
sweetdulce said on November 6, 2009 at 12:59 PM
smile i guess your comment is stupid too..
catgottong said on November 6, 2009 at 1:11 PM
Watch the movie on DVD 'Network' (1976). It tells about what the national and local media are doing now. Google - movie synopsis Network. See what the movie is about. Very interesting about how close it is to previous and current news items. It is not a 'reality' show, it is a reality movie. Fort Hood - fake news item.
redbone said on November 6, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Deport him and all his relatives, there is a price to pay.
cantu_120 said on November 6, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Isn't this man a US citizen? He may have the name Hasan, but if he is US born, he has every right to be called to duty to serve in the Armed Forces. We have countless of the very best of doctors here in the USA with such names, are they all to be deported? It's not his fault that he got inducted. He just went whacko! What about the Jehovah's Witnesses, don't they have weird beliefs as well? This man went loco, and should be held accountable. Does that mean that we are not to call US born Easterners to active duty?
freeminded said on November 6, 2009 at 2:05 PM
sweetdulce said on November 6, 2009 at 8:09 AM "I'm sorry but anyone with the name Nidal Malik Hasan should have never been in our US military!" So if Adam Pearlman and Jose Padilla were in the military you would not have a problem??
msdiva said on November 6, 2009 at 2:21 PM
He should have killed himself, IF he had that many issues
birdshooter said on November 6, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Motive? are you kidding me, this guy is a radical Muslim on a jihad. It's plain to most people except the media who is always politically correct not wanting to offend any race or creed, especially Muslims.
dubie said on November 6, 2009 at 2:28 PM
typical rag head, outstanding job officer hope you recover fully ,and able to return to your job,might add great shooting
joneagle said on November 6, 2009 at 3:12 PM
someone said earlier and I;m repeating, goes to show you that not all Muslims are terrorists, but ALL terrorists ARE Muslims!! AND shut up freeminded, yeah we know about the OK bombings and stuff like VT's shootings.
txsongbird said on November 6, 2009 at 3:47 PM
y'all mark my words! It'll come out in a few months that this guy was connected to Al-Quaeda and that he was on some mission from them to infiltrate our military and kill Americans. I'll bet my last collar button, that killer was plannin' this for a long, long time.
sircharge said on November 6, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Joneagle.. I truly wish you could have somehow taken place of one of the victims. You are trash. TexMex.... your name sounds like an illegal alien. Chances are that you should be deported
whatinthehe said on November 6, 2009 at 4:07 PM
wow its crazy to see these comments. how can you look at someone's name and say this person is a terrorists?? so descriminatory. its sad and its unfair but are we surprise? crazy things seem to be happening everyday nowadays and a lot of the criminals have "american" names...whatever that means. stop hating based on sterotypes, just bc it was muslims that attacked america and just bc al queada (spelling) is made up of muslims does not mean all muslims are terrorists. free your mind. understand that you cant base an entire race off of what a few have done. i pray for the families of the victims.
whatinthehe said on November 6, 2009 at 4:07 PM
wow its crazy to see these comments. how can you look at someone's name and say this person is a terrorists?? so descriminatory. its sad and its unfair but are we surprise? crazy things seem to be happening everyday nowadays and a lot of the criminals have "american" names...whatever that means. stop hating based on sterotypes, just bc it was muslims that attacked america and just bc al queada (spelling) is made up of muslims does not mean all muslims are terrorists. free your mind. understand that you cant base an entire race off of what a few have done. i pray for the families of the victims.
stjakk said on November 6, 2009 at 5:01 PM
The article states:....Hasan "viewed the war against terror" as a "war against Islam."..................... You cannot serve two masters....this man made his choice......I do not normally advocate treating one group of CITIZENS differently from any other group.....but we have got to know what is in the minds of Islamic Americans.........next time this happens it maight not occur with hand guns but rather a dirty nuke.................
stjakk said on November 6, 2009 at 5:04 PM
This clearly shows the need for gun control...No psychiatrist should EVER have access to a firearm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
fredipuppy said on November 6, 2009 at 7:17 PM
NBC, ABC, CNN all describing Hassan as a victim of American foreign policy. News Flash ! He's a stinkin Jihadist. Time to name a Genocide Csar. Where's Heinrich Himmler when you need him. Stop the debate on health care and start a rational discussion about a Final Solution.
daisymay said on November 7, 2009 at 4:15 AM
Stjakk, there is a need for gun control. Unfortunetly, we are in Texas, and it's not of a popular opinion but this keeps happening over and over again. Our kids were sitting ducks on a US military base unarmed. Who had the automatic weapon? Someone who bought it from a local store, showed all the id, did it legally, and then went nuts and murdered our servicemen and women. As unpopular as the topic of gun control is, this jerk wouldn't have been able to kill anyone if that Texas store didn't sell him that gun. And don't give me the "guns don't kill people...BS" because sane people can buy guns and then flip out, but it's too late then, isn't it? The more mass killings there are, the more I think guns should be locked up and kept for the police only. How many more are going to be killed?
cranky said on November 7, 2009 at 7:33 AM
daisymay think about it , if the military personnel would have been allowed to carry guns on post, maybe only a couple of people would have been killed instead of 13. You people always want to yell gun control when it was one person who did something. I have not had to pull my pistol as a civilian, but I do carry it just in case I need it. I was taught by my dad how to treat and use a gun and further trained in the Armed forces, and I inturn taught my children to respect guns. This act was perpetrated by one individual who was by reports and posts a radical. He was a suspect of posting on the internet but they didn't move on it. The system doesn't work it all takes to long to investigate if it had already been six months. TexMex you need to go back to Mexico.
dubie said on November 7, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Daisy may I have to disagree with you ,there are more people that dont flip out then those that do and the more guns that are available in situation like this,the less casualties would have been reported.This guy was planning this for awhile,and should be called just what he is, a terriorist. You cant take away the right for someone to carry a gun to protect themself or there would be more of this happening,even a nut case like this might think twice if he thinks somebody might have a gun and shoot back.
stjakk said on November 7, 2009 at 10:59 AM
Holy Jump'n Jesus......i've posted the same 'gun control' comment twice...once here and once on a different board....and people react to the 'gun control' portion of the comment........but its NOT a gun control comment....its a joke a bout psychiatrists...i am absolutely against any type of restrictions on personal ownership.....................except maybe when it comes to psychiatrists
lmac10 said on November 7, 2009 at 11:32 AM
You people are representing some of the most ignorant and embarrassing people I have ever witnessed. I am truly embarrassed to be living within the vicinity of you. How can you so blatantly discriminate against other American citizens because of their religious beliefs? Isn't that what the majority of you ignorant people complain about in the first place? Its just because it's not Christian that you have a problem with it, you fools. This country was founded on the defining principles of FREEDOM in all aspects: religion,choice,speech,press,life,etc. Our Founding Father's were Deist, and that's barely Christian if you ask me haha! This IS NOT a place to discriminate, I thought we learned that from the Civil Rights Movement, but I guess not. What happened to the original America we all once knew? Land of the Free, the land of opportunity? The place were anyone, and everyone can go and at least get a chance for success. I miss that America, and may he be tried JUSTLY for his actions.
lmac10 said on November 7, 2009 at 11:37 AM
And FYI I am not a Muslim campaigning for this man. I am a white male, raised christian and taught that all men are equal and that God loves us all the same! Open your eyes people and let the horrible fumes of hate and incompetence spew from your spouts allowing you to be fresh and rejuvenated. Let us not judge this man for who he is, but let us judge him for what he did!
stjakk said on November 7, 2009 at 11:47 AM
lmac10.....pardon the collective righteous indignation...but we have a right to our anger........
stjakk said on November 7, 2009 at 12:06 PM
lmac10,if the Islamic community in America wants to be a full beneficiary of the peaceful,well wishes of her FELLOW AMERICANS...if they want us to treat them as brothers in our democracy....THEY'VE GOT TO START GIVING US REASONS TO TRUST THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.........But they never do.................I cannot trust them........
whatinthehe said on November 9, 2009 at 7:19 AM
how can you ot trust them? there are thousands of muslims living in this country and the majority have no desire to harm anyone, again you're judging an entire group of ppl based on a few sour apples. thats whats wrong with your comments. what this man did was deplorable but we must keep this in context and not assume every psychiatrist or muslim has the same thoughts and wishes as this man. it's wrong bc your comments seem to be sterotyping all muslims (and i am not a muslim either) but again everyone has a right to their own religious beliefs and should not be persecuted based on those beliefs. he did the crime, he hsould o the time but attacking ALL muslims because of this incident is just wrong. what happens when a white man goes off and does something like this? are you going to blame your entire race? no because that was just one maniac and he wouldnt represent anyone else but himself in your mind. GOD bless.