The following is from the Wall Street Journal:
A senior U.S. senator on Sunday said the shootings at Fort Hood could have been a terrorist attack, and that he would launch a congressional investigation into whether the U.S. military could have prevented it.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who heads the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, said initial evidence suggested that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, was a “self-radicalized, home-grown terrorist” who had turned to Islamic extremism while under personal stress.
Mr. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had opened fire Thursday at a soldier processing center at Fort Hood, Tex., killing 13 and wounding 29 in the worst mass shooting on a military facility in the U.S.
Mr. Lieberman, appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” cautioned that it remained too early to draw any definitive conclusions. He said his comments were based on “reports that we are receiving” about Mr. Hasan’s actions and comments.
The Army’s top officer, Gen. George Casey, wouldn’t rule out that the shooting was an act of terrorism, but cautioned against speculation at this point. “We all want to know what happened and what motivated the suspect, but we need to … let the investigation take its course,” he told ABC News’s “This Week.”
Mr. Lieberman said that if news reports were true that Mr. Hasan had turned to Islamic extremism, “the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most-destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11.”
“We don’t know enough to say now, but there are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act,” Mr. Lieberman added.
The lawmaker said he would begin a Senate investigation aimed at uncovering Mr. Hasan’s motives and asking “whether the Army missed warning signs.” He also called on the Pentagon to begin an independent investigation to determine whether “warning signs were missed.”
Mr. Lieberman said preliminary evidence suggested that Mr. Hasan had denounced the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “In the U.S. Army, this is not a matter of constitutional freedom of speech,” the senator said. “If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have zero tolerance. He should have been gone.”
Gen. Casey said the Army was conducting an investigation to try to determine the motivation behind the shootings. “We in the Army will take a very hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves some very hard questions,” he said.
He expressed concern that speculation about the shooting could result in a “backlash” against Muslim soldiers. “What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even-greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here,” he said. “We have a very diverse army. We have a very diverse society. And that gives us all strength.”
Gen. Casey said the Army has taken steps to help identify and help soldiers with mental health issues in an effort to prevent repeats of the shooting at Fort Hood. He said the Army encouraged members of the military to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress.
The Army has also partnered with the National Institute for Health on a $50 million study of suicide, and has a $125 million program aimed at giving soldiers and their family members the “resilient skills they need to make it through these tough times,” the general said.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
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13 Responses
No BO visit to the Terrorism Victims at Ft. Hood..waiting for his Brother Hasan to come out of the coma?
Bush was at Ground Zero on 9/14/01.
Rahm and Axlerod are trying to spin it as the Army’s fault. BO will read whatever they put on the teleprompter
Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others at Fort Hood, worshipped at the same mosque as two of the 9/11 terrorists.
According to the London Sunday Telegraph, Hasan attended services at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Va., in 2001 at the same time as Sept. 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour. Funeral services for Hasan’s mother also was held at that mosque.
Sen. Lieberman is only one of a hand full of Senators with any sense, honesty and who puts America’s security above partisan interests, no wonder if left the democratic party
They don’t want to admit that they allowed a radical Islamic to become a Major in the military , even though he did nothing to hide his radicalism because they are scared of what the left wing loons and the PC police will say about the military
White supremacists are pretty common in the Army. They’ve gone on shooting sprees at Fort Bragg. Timothy McVeigh was among their number while he was in the service.
From all the anecdotal evidence so far this guy was very actively anti America and pro muslim both vocally and interactively. However because these gov guys are so scared that they would be branded some kind of religious bigot they ignored his behavior but this is the ARMY not IBM.
It shows how much pressure the gov is exerting to make group think the way of the country.
There are something like 4000 muslims in the active Armed Forces and that religion is the source of this terror. This required active surveillance by authorities for such signs of radical behavior and if proven they should be taken out of the force immediately; its as simple as that but I bet they will try to white wash it as a personal thing not a group thing to not provoke more of it.
The old USSR had nothing on the modern USA gov…………………..
Of course he was a terrorist. This is just the latest ( and worst) example of Muslims in the military attacking their fellow service men and women because of the wars in the middle east. The motivations that are now being revealed about why Hasan did this come as no surprise to me. The politicians in this country have a day of reckoning facing them. Forget about gays in the military. That’s insignificant stuff. The fact that we’re letting in Muslims who carry this hatred of the West inside them are time bombs and when these time bombs go off, we are surprised !! The 9/11 conspirators were in this country for a long time before they carried out their attacks. Wake up people !!
Of the 4,000 Muslims in the military, how many are in positions of responsibility for things such as nuclear weapons, for example, pilots of military aircraft and other areas where sabotage and terrorist activity can prevail? The military needs to take an immediate review of all positions held by those practicing this political ideology.
It’s about time someone takes a serious look at who we are training to carry guns. I am tired of political correctness; let’s call a terrorist a terrorist… We know that no other person in the administration would have the courage to get the ball rolling. Bravo, Senator Lieberman.
Lieberman is right on the mark. The thoughts of why this man was making these kinds of remarks in the military is perplexing. Zero tolerance is the norm inside the military as anyone who has served his or hers country knows and accepts. Liberals can’t seem to recognize the difference between military and civilian rules. There is this stupid outcry from the liberal media that this major was picked on because he is a Muslim. What a crock. Who was picking on him? It would have taken a LT.Col or above to even be able to do that without repercussions due to the Major’s rank. This was an outright terrorist attack. No doubt about it.
No wonder the US criticizes Israel for taking swift action post a terrorist attack chas v’sholom. Its because the Isrealis don’t first have a congressional investigation to determine what caused the individual (can’t call him a terrorist) to blow himself up. At the very least they should form a committee to study why he want to blow himself up at 2PM in an Israeli pizza shop yelling Allah Akbar, before sending soldiers after his handlers & family. These Israelis show no concern for the poor martyr and right away call him a terrorist without any proof. No wonder Israel has no respect in the world!!!!! The craziest thing is Reb Joe thinks like an Israeli HOW DARE HE!!!!
#1 maybe its time Rahm’s father open his mouth again. Its time he teach his son a lesson.
I’ve read reports he was screaming A- Akhbar. If this is true what doubt can there be?
Gen Casey says we will seek to help those with stress etc…
What typical big brother 1984.
Don’t insinuate only a crazy could do this.
face reality!