Fort Hood update

As recently as July of this year I blogged that:

' The BBC reported
that

'The US Army psychiatrist accused in a deadly shooting rampage at a Texas base will face a court martial and possible death penalty, a general has ruled.

Maj Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 more in November 2009 at Fort Hood.'

You will not be surprised to learn that the BBC manage not to report Major Hasan's blood-curdling cries as he attacked the soldiers but prefers to say this:

'He has been described as a devout Muslim and a poor-performing military officer who alarmed his superiors with his eccentric behaviour.''

So I was interested to read this on the BBC that:

'It also emerged after the Fort Hood incident that Awlaki had given the US Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people, Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, religious advice by email. He had also seen Awlaki preach in Virginia in 2001.

In July 2009, the cleric posted a blog saying a Muslim soldier who fought other Muslims was a "heartless beast, bent on evil, who sells his religion for a few dollars". Following the shootings, Awlaki called Maj Hasan a hero.

"My support to the operation was because the operation brother Nidal carried out was a courageous one," he told al-Jazeera.

"And I endeavoured to explain my position regarding what happened because many Islamic organisations and preachers in the West condemned the operation."'

 So Major Nidal Hasan was 'a devout Muslim' and went to see Anwar al-Awlaki preach. You wouldn't have thought so from the BBC's previous coverage of the murdering major's activities.

For more about Major Hasan you could do much worse than read this as well as what I wrote here, here, here, here, here and here.

I also read at Investigative Project that:

'Fort Hood attack: The Nov. 5, 2009, shootings in Fort Hood, Texas, killed 13 people and wounded at least 30 others. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused killer, communicated with Awlaki by email about 18 times in 2008, records show. After the shootings, Awlaki posted a message on his website calling Hasan a hero.'

Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/2323/the-awlaki-effect