Why, then, a loonatic like Nidal Malik Hasan was hire abd educated by the US Military costing big money to the tax-payer and kept there. When will the US learn its lessons?

[rick murphy]

Why, then, a loonatic like Nidal Malik Hasan was hire abd educated by
the US Military costing big money to the tax-payer and kept there.
When will the US learn its lessons?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting_suspect

Details emerge about Fort Hood suspect background

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press Writer Brett J. Blackledge,
Associated Press Writer –

November 6, 2009

(picture)
Reuters – Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army doctor identified by
authorities as the suspect in the shooting …

WASHINGTON – His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow
officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers
who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student
because of problems with patients.

There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities
say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base.
Most of all, his motive.

For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in July,
the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical
Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident
and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He
received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that
required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger,
who was the training director at the time.

Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but
noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with
patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never
spoke ill of the military or his country.

"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said. "I didn't
hear anything contrary to those oaths."

But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.

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.

Federal authorities seized Hasan's computer Friday during a search of
his apartment in Killeen, Texas, said a U.S. military official who
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of
Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in
the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and he wanted out
of the Army.

"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had
listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."

She said he had sought a discharge from the military for several
years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.

A military official told The Associated Press that Hasan was in the
preparation stage of deployment, which can take months. The official
said Hasan had indicated he didn't want to go to Iraq but was willing
to serve in Afghanistan. The official did not have authorization to
discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second military official said Hasan's family has Palestinian roots.
There have been reports that he was harassed for his Muslim religion,
but the official says there is no indication Hasan filed a complaint
within the military about that.

Terrorism task force agents plan to interview several of Hasan's
relatives Friday, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to
discuss the case.

Noel Hasan said her nephew "did not make many friends" and would say
"they military was his life."

A cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that after counseling
soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic
stress disorder, Hasan knew war firsthand.

"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan said.
"He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over
there."

Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the apartment
complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, Thursday night and
conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of public
information for the city. She didn't say what was found during the
search.

Officials said earlier that federal search warrants were being drawn
up to authorize the seizure of his computer.

Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox
News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out
of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments
with others in the military who supported the wars, and had tried hard
to prevent his pending deployment.

Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at
Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, said she had known Hasan.

"You wouldn't think that someone who works in your facility and
provided excellent care for his patients, which he did, could do
something like this," Kesling said. She praised his work ethic,
saying, "In my personal interactions, there was never any indication
he would do something like this." Kesling described him as "a quiet
man who wouldn't seek the limelight" and said she was 'shocked' when
she heard that he was the man suspected of carrying out the
shootings.

Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington,
often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque
Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a lifelong
Muslim.

"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. He
spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the
mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his
nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born
in Palestine."

Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.

"We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we
were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing
like an extremist."

Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008
Army Times article.

He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. Military records show he
also served in the ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in
Blacksburg and received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry there in
1997.

But college officials said Friday that Hasan graduated with honors in
biochemistry in 1995 and there was no record of him serving in any
ROTC program.

He previously had attended Barstow Community College in Barstow,
Calif., and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, Va.,
according to Virginia Tech records.

___

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes, Pam Hess, Lolita C. Baldor and
Brett Zongker in Washington; Alicia Chang in Los Angeles; and Sue
Lindsey in Roanoke, Va., contributed to this report.