Fort Hood Massacre Liveblogging

* I’m going to update this semi-regularly for the next couple of hours. At the moment, information is surprisingly not-so-surprisingly sketchy. Often times, you get conflicting information about what happened in the immediate aftermath of an event like this.

So far, I’ve heard, there are two key pieces of data that I’m hearing conflicting data on:

* Was there one shooter or three shooters?

* Some sources are saying the one confirmed shooter, Malik Nadal Hasan, was a newly converted Muslim, while there are denials that is the case from other quarters. It wouldn’t exactly be shocking if we had a Muslim associated with terroristic violence after the other 500 gazillion incidents his co-religionists have been involved with, but we probably shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. After all, crazy people going on shooting sprees are not exactly unheard of either.

Incidentally, if he is a Muslim and engaged in this attack for religious religions, do you really believe the military and the DOJ would admit it or would they sweep it under the rug in the name of political correctness? I’m betting on the latter, but we’ll see how it plays out.

7:20

The suspect’s name is apparently “Nidal Malik Hasan.”

7:21

This is an interesting detail, but it seems to be third hand, so take it with a grain of salt:

Hunt said his son told him he loaded up many of the wounded and drove them to the hospital. The wounded relayed what they saw inside when the shooting happened.

“They were telling him that one guy was shouting something in Arabic while he was shooting,” Tom Hunt said. “He couldn’t say much more than that.

7:24

From The Corner, another bit of info that fits in with the Muslim going on a terroristic rampage theory:

Major Nadal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Muslim convert, was born and educated in Virginia. He is a psychiatrist who worked at Walter Reed for six years (and got a poor performance evaluation there). Hasan was transferred to Ft. Hood and worked at the psych ward there. He complained about deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fox has interviewed someone who worked with him at Ft. Hood (Terry Lee) who says he was a harsh critic of U.S. foreign policy who said Muslims had a right to stand up and fight against the aggressor in Iraq and Afghanistan – i.e., us.

7:42

* I am hearing unconfirmed reports that the shooter has always been a Muslim — and is not a convert.

* From “Media will tiptoe around Ft. Hood shooter’s religion, but God help us if his car radio was on a talk radio station this morning.” — Erick Erickson

7:44

From Mary Katharine Ham: “Kay Bailey Hutchison says on Fox Hasan was very unhappy about deployment and she has been told Hasan was targeting the people he shot.”

7:47

Also from Mary Katharine Ham

“I’ve heard twice now that the two other suspects have been released, on radio from TX Congressman & on Fox.”

7:54

From The Corner:

“Fox has interviewed the shooter’s cousin, Nader Hasan, who says Nidal Malik Hasan was raised a Muslim – he is not a convert.”

There’s a huge double standard with the way cases like this are covered. The most tenuous evidence of any sort of connection to any conservative group by a shooter is used as evidence as some sort of Right Wing extremism run amok.

Meanwhile, we have stories about Muslims killing people, specifically in the name of their religion, coming out every day of the week and the press bends over backwards to turn a blind eye to it. Most Muslims ARE NOT violent jihadists. But, there are a significant number of them who are, it’s a serious problem, and it needs to be addressed head-on instead of pretending it’s a non-issue.

Is it possible Hasan is just some nut who would have snapped whether he was a Christian, Jew, or Muslim? Sure. Is it also possible, and in fact more likely, that his religion had a lot to do with his actions? Yes, it is and we need to face up to it. Most Muslims are good and decent people, but they — and we — need to stop turning a blind eye to the Muslim death cultists who are murdering people in the name of Muhammad.

9:50

The verdict’s in, folks: Muslim Jihadi.

The military psychiatrist accused of gunning down 12 people in Texas lived most of his life in the D.C. area where he was considered a caring Muslim by friends — but he had recently made disturbing statements about suicide attacks.

…He was described as a caring person by a local Muslim leader, but those who got to know him after he was transferred to Fort Hood in July recalled hearing disturbing statements that foreshadowed Monday’s violence.
Six months ago Hasan came to the attention of the FBI because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings.

After lauding a Muslim U.S. Army soldier who killed comrades in Kuwait in 2003, Hasan wrote in an online posting, “If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers … that would be considered a strategic victory.”

…At Fort Hood, Hasan exhibited a troubled state of mind. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who worked with Hasan at the psych ward at Fort Hood, told Fox News that about six months ago he heard Hasan say, “Maybe the Muslims should rise up and fight against the aggressor,” in Iraq and Afghanistan — referring to the U.S. Army.

9:52

Was Hasan left in place even though he was dangerous? Was it because of political correctness? We definitely need an investigation to find out.

“Hasan said of Little Rock soldier slaying that a Muslim had stood up to US Military. Comment reported to command, ‘fell on deaf ears.'” — Steve Schippert

10:16

Hasan a “devout Muslim.”

Hasan attended the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring and was “very devout,” according to Faizul Khan, a former imam at the center. Khan said Hasan attended prayers at least once a day, seven days a week, often in his Army fatigues.

Khan also said Hasan applied to an annual matrimonial seminar that matches Muslims looking for spouses. “I don’t think he ever had a match, because he had too many conditions,” Khan said.

“We never got into details of worldly affairs or politics,” the former imam said of his conversations with Hasan. “Mostly religious questions. But there was nothing extremist in his questions. He never showed any frustration. . . . He never showed any . . . wish for vengeance on anybody.”

However, a fellow Army officer who worked with Hasan told Fox News Channel that the psychiatrist had expressed strong opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He would make comments to other individuals about how we should not be in the war in the first place,” Col. Terry Lee told the network. “He made those comments, and he stuck strongly to his faith, but as soldiers we have a duty to follow orders from our commander in chief, and our political views are set aside.”

10:58

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 determined for certain whether 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.

One of the officials said late Thursday that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of Hasan’s computer.

11:04

Via NPR:

A source tells NPR’s Joseph Shapiro that Hasan was put on probation early in his postgraduate work at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He was disciplined for proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues, according to the source, who worked with him at the time.

11:35

The more I keep hearing that Hasan wasn’t a “radical” Muslim, the more disturbing I find it given some of his attitudes and activities:

A co-worker at Walter Reed said Hasan would not allow his photo to be taken with female co-workers, which became an issue during Christmas season when employees often took group photos. Co-workers would find a solo photo of Hasan and post it on the bulletin board without his permission.

Not getting photographed with women. Sure, that’s normal…not!

11:42

Hasan’s alleged comment (Via Patterico’s Pontifications)

There was a grenade thrown amongs a group of American soldiers. One of the soldiers, feeling that it was to late for everyone to flee jumped on the grave with the intention of saving his comrades. Indeed he saved them. He inentionally took his life (suicide) for a noble cause i.e. saving the lives of his soldier. 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. Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory. Their intention is not to die because of some despair. The same can be said for the Kamikazees in Japan. They died (via crashing their planes into ships) to kill the enemies for the homeland. You can call them crazy i you want but their act was not one of suicide that is despised by Islam. So the scholars main point is that “IT SEEMS AS THOUGH YOUR INTENTION IS THE MAIN ISSUE” and Allah (SWT) knows best.

12:06

This guy definitely planned out what he intended to do:

News Channel 25’s Henry Rosoff has learned the Hasan, was giving all of his furniture along with copies of the Qu’ ran to neighbors Thursday morning.

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