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WASHINGTON (ArmyTimes/AP) — Intelligence agencies intercepted communications last year and this year between the military psychiatrist accused of shooting to death 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings.
Major Hasan’s 10 to 20 messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia where Major Hasan worshiped, indicate that the troubled military psychiatrist came to the attention of the authorities long before last Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, but that the authorities left him in his post.
Counterterrorism and military officials said Monday night that the communications, first intercepted last December as part of an unrelated investigation, were consistent with a research project the psychiatrist was then conducting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on post-traumatic stress disorder.
WASHINGTON (NT Times) — The Homeland Security Department’s intelligence division became concerned about Awlaki late last year when he published a new group of violent lectures targeting U.S. audiences, according to a Jan. 22, 2009 intelligence note.
On Dec. 23, 2008, Awlaki, on his Web site, encouraged Muslims across the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Awlaki also used these postings to declare his support for the Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab, according to the Homeland Security intelligence note, obtained by The Associated Press.
In December of last year, Customs officials intercepted a flash drive of Awlaki’s lectures that his wife sent from Yemen to an Islamic publishing house in Denver, the intelligence note said.
January 5, 2009 – Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki, the famous da’i who originated from the USA harshly condemned the brutal Israeli strikes on the Gaza strip, and at the same time he criticized the leaders of the Arab nations and called them “impotent” for their incapability of taking any assertive action on the Zionist regime for their brutality towards the Palestinian citizens, which had taken place for decades. In his personal blog entitled “The Meaning of Gaza”, Sheikh al-Awlaki gave three important points from his thoughts about what have been happening and what is currently happening.
First, al-Awlaki stated that the occurrence in Gaza showed that the enemies of Islam (Zionist Israel) have succeeded in giving a hard slap on the face of the Islamic ummah. He assessed that the responses received from the Islamic ummah for the brutality of the Zionist Israel were not enough and their directions were unclear. In this matter, Awlaki compared it with what happened during the time of Rasulullah SAW, the moment a Muslimah was attacked by the Jews. Rasulullah SAW declared war towards the Jews.
- “Today in Gaza, though the number of casualties amongst the Palestinian Muslims had reached by their hundreds, we only saw demonstrations and criticisms, and the Arab leaders only held a high level meetings which are useless. Those were the only actions and therefore it has become our responsibility to heighten the awareness of the masses around us regarding the events.” Awlaki wrote.
The Shuhada Of Palestine- Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki
Israeli Ambassador Meridor: “We have no grand political scheme”
(FP) Jan. 6, 2009 – I spent the morning at a lecture organized by GWU’s outstanding Homeland Security Policy Institute’s Ambassador’s Roundtable Series featuring Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor. It was a profoundly dismaying experience. Because if Ambassador Meridor is taken at his word, then Israel has no strategy in Gaza.
Asked three times by audience members, Meridor simply could not offer any plausible explanation as to how its military campaign in Gaza would achieve its stated goals. Indeed, he at times seemed to offer this absence of strategy as a virtue, as evidence that the war had been forced upon Israel rather than chosen: “we have no grand political scheme… we were forced to defend ourselves to provide better security, period.” With current estimates of 550 Palestinians dead and 2500 wounded, and the region in turmoil, the absence of strategy is not a virtue.
Meridor’s narrative is assuredly familiar to anyone who follows the op-ed pages. He argued repeatedly that “this was not a matter of choice, not something we picked or were hoping for”, but rather a war launched by Hamas to which Israel was forced to respond.
Previous diaries:
Issue?
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ROCKVILLE, Md. (Reuters) Jan. 6 — Elected officials, community leaders and hundreds of supporters of Israel will gather to assert Israel’s right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism and hold Hamas responsible for the current war and encourage Americans to stand by Israel.
Confirmed speakers include: Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor; Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD); Members of Congress Shelly Berkley (D-NV); Eliot Engel (D-NY); Mark Kirk (R-IL); Robert Wexler (D-FL); Frank Wolf (R-VA); Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and others.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC) is the public affairs and community relations arm of the Jewish community representing 210 Jewish organizations and synagogues throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The JCRC focuses on government relations, Israel advocacy, inter-group relations, and social justice.
Sallai Meridor speech Part 1
Sallai Meridor speech Part 2
Sallai Meridor addresses the National Press Club during Israel’s Defensive Operation in Gaza
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
As we all realize, Israel has been a bete noire for Muslim extremists for decades. Yet, Israel again and again gives them the amunition by which create these jihads, which provide justification. And America, Israel’s primary supporter, is only taken down with them.
The last Gaza massacre (there was another one in 2006 that is less popular) only added to the flames. And America jumped into them with the Israelis by essentially condoning it (Goldstone Report).
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (The Telegraph) – In the house next door, Hasan’s brother Anas had locked himself indoors with his wife, refusing to speak to anyone, including his relatives.
According to his cousins, Hasan was badly scarred by the deaths of his parents in 1998 and 2001. Along with his two brothers, he became increasingly devout, they said.
“They became very religious after their mother died,” Mohammed Hasan said. “They were very observant. They prayed a lot.”
Mohammad Hasan, cousin of U.S. Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan, watches the news about his cousin from the family home in Ramallah, West Bank Photo: DEBBIE HILL
Yet the two cousins insisted that the major’s religion was not tinged with political fanaticism, although they said he had become increasingly withdrawn and uncommunicative in recent years. Even so, they had little reason to believe that he was a man on the edge.
“Nidal is a very stable minded person,” Mohammed Mohammed said. “Why would he kill? He was against violence.
“His actions could have been in self defence – we don’t know. Maybe they angered him to the point of cornering him and he felt he had no option.”
They angrily rejected suggestions that their cousin’s shooting spree had been motivated by a hatred for America or as an act of terrorism.
“My cousin is not a terrorist,” said Mohammed Hasan. “He was born in America, he graduated from Virginia (Tech) University. He was proud to be graduate. He was always preaching about the US education system. He was an optimistic person. He loved life.”
Although he had always wanted to follow other members of his family into the army, Nidal Hasan was shocked that he was never accepted as a true American, the cousins said.
He was constantly taunted and provoked until six months ago, he hired a lawyer to sue the army, the cousins said, explaining they kept in touch with developments in Hasan’s life either through telephone calls to him and his family or from Hasan’s brother, who returned to the West Bank four years ago.
They heard that he had become increasingly unhappy, both at the treatment of his peers and also because he had been ordered to deploy “in Iraq and Afghanistan”. But the two cousins insisted that Hasan’s opposition to being sent abroad was as much because he was planning to marry.
≈ Cross-posted from my earlier diary — @BooMan ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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[Comment was first posted on Sat Nov 7th, 2009 at 12:39:09 AM PST – seems still relevant for this diary – Oui]
Religion was an issue, furthermore found first possible link to political activism on Israeli occupation and attack on Gaza by Olmer administration.
(CNN) – Mohammad Hasan remembered his cousin’s trip to Jerusalem, 6 miles from Ramallah, 15 years ago to learn about his roots. “He acted normal.”
More recently, Nidal Hasan may have attended a lecture in January at George Washington University involving the Israeli U.S. ambassador Sallai Meridor and other officials discussing Israel’s offensive into Gaza last winter. Video from the lecture shows a person who appears to be Hasan dressed in military fatigues seated in the audience taking notes.
CNN's Paula Hancocks talks to the cousin of Nidal Hasan, the alleged gunman in Ft. Hood shootings.
CNN interview with Mohammad Hasan in Ramallah
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Your point about a Palestinian component to his actions may have some validity if viewed as additional stressors that contributed to his snapping. The increased stress in Hasan’s life of the past several months has overlapped the events beginning with Israel’s assault on Gaza and the House’s vote to condemn the Goldstone Report. In the intervening time, he hired a lawyer to get him out of the military. He was moved away from his remaining family in the DC area to the middle of Texas. And he was harrassed and his car vandalized for having a Muslim bumper sticker.
None of this justifies his actions. Murdering 13 people is not a rational act. But going postal never is.
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President Obama said it was “hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy.”
“No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor,” Obama told the crowd on a steamy Texas afternoon. “And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice — in this world and the next.”
Quite a number of victims killed were of the Army Medical corps, including specialisation psychiatry for PTSD sufferers.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Except I have not seen any information indicating that Palestine was a major issue for him. Have you? I IS possible that I missed it, of course.
On the other hand, the notion that he was acting on behalf of some cause or other, be it Palestine or Islam, does not fit at all. The kind of act he committed has all the marks of a psychologically compromised person who snapped under extraordinary life pressure, not of a zealot who was devoted to a cause.
I think he is just a guy, an immigrant, who after losing both his parents in rapid succession, had little for support system and came to rely on the mosque. He needed to be discharged from military service to rebuild some kind of life in the absence of his parents (very difficult as an immigrant, and a muslim immigrant in the post 9/11 usa with the discrimination that entails). He doesn’t seem to be connected with the palestinian cause per se, but sees his community as being muslims, whom he consequently doesn’t want to be engaged in combat against. Imo the lesson here is usa military has to be sensitive to those who ask to be discharged and for what reasons they ask.
Very difficult to rebuild one’s life after losing both parents in rapid succession, even more difficult if other support systems are lacking.
I think that is definitely one of the lessons, among numerous lessons.
I hope another less at least SOME of us will learn is not to leap so eagerly and enthusiastically on “let’s blame Islam”/let’s blame the Arabs bandwagon.
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Was his favorite daily expression. Nidal Malik Hasan was NOT an immigrant. His parents came to the US in 1962 from TransJordan (West Bank after the 1967 war). Hasan was born in 1970 and raised as a US citizen. His father died in 1998 and his mother in 2001. He had every chance to live the American dream. He did very well getting a college and university education. He has family, friends and acqaintances like every other person. My personal experience: my parents emigrated to the US when I was 10 years old. Through school and college one gains many friends within a few years. I have mentioned this before, he may have struggled with an identity crisis searching for his roots. But still his anger was fed by corrupt US foreign policy, the portrayal of a war against Islam (RustyPipes) within the Bush administration and the US armed forces. Still desillusionment by itself is no reason to murder fellow Americans.
Extracurricular activity while stationed at Fort Hood has similarity with the Florida 9/11 hijackers while in the end phase of planning the attack. Someone tell me the logic of devout Moslims. Hypocrisy all around.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
thanks for correction. and I certainly am not trying to justify what he did which is horrendous. just trying to get to the question of what made him snap. haven’t seen the date his mother died, but 2001, he would be facing the loss of family (he said he wanted to find a wife) at the same time a lot of anti-Islam sentiment built. I’m speculating that ramped up the internal pressure that caused him to snap. where one immigrates from and where they live in the usa also have an impact. but to reiterate- not trying to justify what he did. just seems to me it was more in the category of going postal.
For the record, Transjordan did not exist in 1967. It ceased to exist in 1949 when King `Abdullah declared independence, and named the country The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Perhaps my comment was not phrased clearly enough. I was agreeing with Oui only to the extent that Palestine may have been one issue in his life. Rather than accepting that his actions were for some particular cause, I meant merely that his identity as a Palestinian American (with a brother and cousins in the West Bank whom he had visited and with whom he communicated frequently) may have brought additional stresses in his life in the past year between the assault on Gaza and many American politicians’ refusal to even read a report which described the massacre before condemning it as a lie. Just additional sources of stress that contributed to his snapping under extraordinary life pressure.
Of course, even if Hasan’s motivations had no connection whatsoever with I/P, with Joementum on the case, you know this is going to be spun as Islamofascism and Palestinian terrorism.
Your thinking seems rational. For those of us with a connection to Palestine, and even for those who merely are aware and care about the situation, it is an additional stressor in our lives, particularly given the events of the last year or so and the lies around them. So, it would not be surprising if the situation there added to the heavy burden of personal stress he has been carrying, especially since 9/11.
What I do not understand is why some people appear to be absolutely desperate to convince themselves and others that this crime, unlike every other similar crime (including a number of attacks by military members on military bases), was a case of religious/political violence. The day after Nidal Hasan committed his crime a man named Jason Gutierrez – obviously Latino, most likely Catholic – went on a rampage in Orlando against a former employer, and no one has tried to suggest that it was anything other than a person who snapped under extraordinary life pressure, even though that guy was under nothing close to the stress endured by Nidal Hasan over the last eight or nine years.
Some people are so desperate to show that Nidal Hasan was motivated by some sort of religious and political fanaticism that they will out and out lie (see my comment at the bottom of this page). I can only attribute this to virulent anti-Muslim bigotry combined with anti-Arab racism. What a shame.
Well, according to slimemasters like David Brooks, you’re just another liberal letting Hasan off easy with therapeutic doublespeak (not that Brooks has any history of viewing life through the Islamofascism lens or anything):
What silly people would worry that some ignorant Americans might run out and attack an American Sikh at the local gas station for wearing a turban or anything like that? Or that there might be an even higher level of racial or religious profiling than America has had since the enactment of the PATRIOT ACT?
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Recommended deconstruction of some of the stories going around:
Fort Hood Cover-Up: A Dozen Tales of Disinformation – By Mark Ames – The eXiled
I don’t want to go too deep down the Fort Hood Rabbit Hole Of Weirdness, so I’m just going to get off my chest some of the incredibly weird shit that’s being thrown around in the media to confuse us or throw us off. It’s looking pretty clearly like there’s a cover-up in progress, and not a very professional cover-up either. But the sad thing is that all the confusion and bullshit thrown our way will probably succeed in its goal of steering the public away from whatever it is the military doesn’t want us to find out about the shooting massacre.
Anyway, here’s my list of The Top Twelve Disinformation Tales to keep an eye on:
by A swedish kind of death on Wed Nov 11th, 2009 at 12:56:26 PM PDT
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Wonder how this story of his liking of lap dances and strippers fits in too?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/09/national/main5587838.shtml
Apparently the NY Times also covered this in their print edition story on links between Nidal Hasan and a cleric but edited out of the online story.
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Indeed, I linked to a faux news item above. The contradiction of sexual frustration in not finding a partner and a cultural priority of marriage and establishing a family. In comment from his cousin in Ramallah who states: “Hasan’s opposition to being sent abroad was as much because he was planning to marry.” Is this a coded description of anticipating heavenly delights and meeting virgins? But like I stated, this is beyond my comprehension and this may all be BS.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
My God, Oui, this must be a sickness with you. How many “real” Americans – i.e. not Arab and not Muslim – have tried to avoid deployments because they were about to marry? When there was a draft in the U.S. how many tried to get out of the military altogether because they were planning to marry? But this is somehow different.
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Can’t Blame Obama for I/P stalemate, he just had first Palestinian suicide mission on American soil.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Richard Silverstein wrote a fair exposition of the factors involved in Hasan’s violent outburst, and along with him, I don’t see an IP slant on this incident.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2009/11/09/understanding-the-ft-hood-massacre/
Why are you misrepresenting this relationship?
First, Awlaki was NOT Nidal Hasan’s “spiritual leader”. He was Imam at a mosque that Nidal Hasan attended OCCASIONALLY, i.e. not regularly. If Awlaki had been his “spiritual leader” he would not have been merely an “occasional” attendee, and he would have seen Awlaki regularly privately or in small groups of “followers”. There is no evidence that he did so, and the facts suggest he did not.
Second, according to your own source, the e-mail exchanges he had with Awlaki were related to professional research he was doing at Walter Reed. He was not seeking spiritual guidance, but data.
Why are you so desperate to have people believe that this case is based on religious and political motivation, and therefore different from all the cases of workplace violence committed by non-Arabs and non-Muslims? Why are you so desperate that you are lying about facts that are easily discovered?
It bothers me to watch two proponents of Middle East peace attacking each other, when Hasan’s status regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is likely irrelevant to the large forces directing it, like the White House and the present right wing Israeli government.
Just thought I’d intervene here on this point. Hasan is not going to make a hell of a difference in the peace process, which apparently is no longer viable.