INVESTIGATORS HOPING to find what drove the US army major Nidal Hasan to a deadly shooting rampage last week are examining his contacts with a fiery Muslim preacher linked to two of the 9/11 hijackers.
Three days after Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 29 at a medical facility in the Fort Hood army base in Texas, officials are investigating his contacts with Anwar al-Aulaqi, a Yemeni-American preacher who served briefly at a Virginia mosque Hasan attended. It is unclear if they met.
Hasan, an army psychiatrist born in the US to Palestinian parents, was injured in an exchange of gunfire with a police officer, but is conscious and able to talk, according to a spokesman for the military hospital where he is being treated. It was unclear when he would be questioned.
Investigators are working on the assumption he acted alone, without encouragement from Islamist extremists. They are examining the combination of job stress, fear of being sent to Afghanistan, social isolation, religion and other factors to learn what made him snap. But if Hasan (39) sought spiritual guidance, advice or aid from al-Aulaqi or others known to espouse violent extremist ideas, officials will have to determine whether the army and law enforcement officials missed warning signs. Deeply and openly troubled by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hasan had sought to leave the army as far back as 2004.
He recently received orders to go to Afghanistan and only about a week before the shooting hired a lawyer in an effort to quit the military, his cousin Mohammed Hasan told media from the West Bank.
The army, short on psychiatrists and desperate to retain Arab-Americans, rejected the request, the cousin said. “This was the biggest shock for him.”
Since the attack, al-Aulaqi has praised Hasan as a hero and said any Muslim who denounces the shooting commits treason against Islam, Associated Press reported. Al-Aulaqi said Muslims could only justify serving in the US forces if they intend to “follow in the footsteps of men like Nidal”. According to the Washington Post, investigators believe Hasan visited Islamist websites.
Al-Aulaqi was born in New Mexico and is a US citizen but grew up in Yemen, where he now lives. As imam at a San Diego mosque, he became acquainted with Nawaf Hamzi and Khalid Mihdhar, two of the September 11th, 2001, hijackers. He moved to Virginia in January 2001, where he served briefly at the Dar al Hijra mosque in Falls Church outside Washington while Hasan attended services. The FBI investigated al-Aulaqi in 1999 and 2000 after learning he had been contacted by a suspected procurement agent for Osama Bin Laden.
Hasan complained bitterly of anti-Muslim harassment in the army. In August, a soldier who had served in Iraq and lived in Hasan’s block of flats defaced his car, apparently angry at an “Allah is Love” bumper sticker, the New York Times said.
People who knew him told investigators and media that Hasan was a loner who turned to Islam after the deaths of his parents in 1998 and 2001. They said he preferred studying Islam to socialising.
But in a curious departure from that narrative, Fox News reported that in the past month Hasan had visited a strip club at least three times. A performer at the Starz club near Fort Hood said Hasan was polite, courteous to the dancers and a good tipper.
– ( Guardianservice)