As military and law-enforcement investigators waited to interview Major Hasan, a contradictory portrait of him emerged. Neighbors described him as a man who dressed alternately in a military uniform and flowing white robes, and who gave a copy of the Koran to his next-door neighbor a day before the shooting.
Reports from the shooting suggested that soldiers may have heard him shout something like “Allahu Akbar” ”” Arabic for “God is great!” ”” just before he fired two automatic handguns. He was shown on a security video tape from a local convenience store wearing white robes just hours before the shooting. And family members said that he had complained about being harassed expressly because he was a Muslim, and that he had expressed deep concerns about deploying.
Acquaintances said Major Hasan was upset about his future deployment in a war zone, and heatedly opposed United States foreign policy in discussions with fellow soldiers. Earlier this year law-enforcement officers monitoring Islamic Web sites identified a man of the same name as a blogger who posted comments on suicide bombings in which he equated such acts to those by soldiers who use their own bodies to shield fellow soldiers from exploding shrapnel.
I don’t really give a rat’s rump about motive. MAJ Hasan was a doctor. In the military doctors and nurses are what’s called “rear echelon,” and they’re even in a separate chain of command than “regular” troops. The key question then is this:
[b] How on earth did a rear esh guy get a weapon and ammo on base?[/b]
Unless there’s an awfully good answer, he clearly had help, and the motive becomes quite clear.
[blockquote]He was trained to counsel troubled soldiers, but bottled up his own distress about deploying.[/blockquote]
Other reports indicate he argued with soldiers about the morality of the war. Since counseling is intended to be a “values free” process, why should a soldier who is coming back from a war zone be questioned by the counselor about the correctness of the soldier’s actions? How does this in any way alleviate PTSD? Soldiers who were treated by him should be questioned. How much damage had he done prior to the shootings? Why should he be stressed about deploying? He would have been a non combatant. He had no problems of conscience taking the free education he got from the Army.
No — he’s a Soldier first. As to how he got a weapon onto base, it’s simple: he drove on with it.
Ft Hood has a number of unmanned “Phantom Express” lanes similar to EZ Pass toll lanes — drive up to the gate, scan your ID, and the gate opens. Of course, even at a post with 100% manned gates, getting a weapon on base is simple — it’s still an ID check. While vehicle inspections might sound like a solution, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to bring private weapons on post, including hunting and the gun club firing ranges.
#1 You are joking, right? Many military personnel of all types own private firearms. Admittedly it has been a while since I served, but as I recall, officers and senior NCOs could keep private firearms in their on-base houses as long as they were registered with the MPs.
I was going on initial reports that he had used GI sidearms and (possibly) a GI 5.56. It is known that he did not live on base. Latest reports are that he used legally purchased civilian sidearms. The Army still refuses to say he acted alone.
#5,
Ft Hood identified him as the sole suspect yesterday (I’ve been following this on the Ft Hood website).
It’s been over a decade since I’ve been on a military base, but my experience was that it would be a simple matter for someone, even a civilian, to bring a weapon on base. In recent years it might be harder to get a weapon into a building.
What I’m waiting to hear from some of our Texas gun lovers is, “If soliders were allowed to pack iron on base, this would not have happened. As soon as he whipped out the pistol, scores of soliders would have opened fire on him.”
As it is, there have been some suggestions that some of the wounded were injured not by the Major, but by those shooting at him.
I believe that Ft Hood has until now been an “open post,” but that will no doubt change.
I served my entire military career in the Air Force, and at NO time were weapons and ammo carried by military personel except the Air Force Security Police at any installation to which I was assigned……and there were many assignments. Unless I was in command of a security detail as an additional duty, I never carried a weapon.
It would not surprise me if Maj. Hasan was involved in a conspiracy……given his evident extremist predilections.
Well for one thing THE PRESS IS THE LAST THING I WOULD RELY ON TO IDENTIFY A FIREARM. I don’t know what he used. The 5.56 is the same round used in the M16 rifle and that is not what we think of when we think of a side arm.
Actually this would be easy. All he would need to do is conceal it in his car, drive to where he wanted to and get out and take it into the building. Weapons are normally locked up on base and, as a general rule, only MPs and/or sworn law enforcement carries loaded weapons on post. Think of any city. 8 is exactly correct.
The only time I carried a loaded weapon on post (Ft. Knox) in the mid 1970’s (other than the rifle or pistol range) was when I was a class A agent to pay troops in cash. I carried a loaded .45 pistol (magazine loaded and in the weapon, but no round chambered) and my guards carried M16A1 rifles (loaded magazines, but no round chambered). When I was in basic the DI’s carried .45 pistols and loaded magazines, but not in the pistols.
According to the Wall Street Journal ( http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125750297355533413.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories ), “One person with knowledge of the weapons said one was a revolver, the other a FN Herstal “Five-seveN”tactical pistol, which one firearms Web site describes as capable of defeating ‘most body armor in military service around the world today.'” The Herstal fires a 5.7 X28 cartridge. Here is their web site: http://www.fnherstal.com/index.php?id=269&backPID=263&productID=66&pid_product=295&pidList=263&categorySelector=5&detail;=
It appears that the ammunition available for military use can penetrate body armor, but ammunition for the civilian market cannot. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN_Five-seveN#Ammunition
Pretty potent weapon.