President Obama is heading to Texas today for a memorial service for the thirteen soldiers and civilians killed last week at Fort Hood. Government officials said the suspected shooter, Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, will be charged by the US military rather than in a civilian court. Hasan is hospitalized in San Antonio. FBI Director Robert Mueller has ordered an inquiry into the FBI’s handling of the case, including its response to information gathered about Hasan beginning nearly a year ago. Prior to the shooting, US intelligence agencies reportedly intercepted as many as twenty emails from Hasan to a radical cleric in Yemen, but it is unclear what the emails were about. Meanwhile, the Washington Post has revealed Hasan warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid “adverse events,” the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. Hasan made the comment during a presentation when he was a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Fort Hood Shooter to Be Tried in Military Court
HeadlineNov 10, 2009