Ft. Hood
by digby
I have no idea what happened at Ft Hood. They’ve confirmed that the perpetrators were military. They don’t know the reason for the killings. CNN’s military correspondent Barbara Starr says there an incredible amount of stress and PTSD at the post, the biggest in the Army, although she has no particular information.(And since most soldiers have some level of PTSD after multiple deployments, it’s far too broad of a category to mean anything in this context.)
Regardless of motivation one would certainly hope, above all, that this had nothing to do with it. It’s pretty awful that one’s thoughts would immediately turn in that direction when something like this happens. But after Tim McVeigh, you have to consider it. (If the shooters were civilians, my thoughts would go in a different direction.)
Update: Barbara Starr reports that The Pentagon is begging people not to speculate, that they have no information about motive. That’s correct, and as of now there’s no reason to assume anything one way or the other. Who knows what this is really about?
Update II (2:35pst): Apparently NBC is reporting that the shooter was a Major with an arabic sounding name. Cliff Van Zandt, the professional “profiler” pretty much called this an al Qaeda plot on MSNBC, although he said nothing about the name. I suppose that would explain the intense involvement that’s being reported by the White House and the Pentagon.
The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.
The shooter was killed and two other suspects, who are also soldiers, have been apprehended, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.
But again …. this is all rumor and gossip. We really know nothing at this point.
Update III (3:00 pst):
Here’s Atlas Shrugged:
MUSLIM TERROR ATTACK: ‘NINE shot dead’ 12 30 Wounded at Mass Shooting at Fort Hood, US Army Base
UPDATE: Shepard Smith, that silly woman, keeps calling it a tragedy. It is an act of war.
MUSLIM KILLER: The suspected gunman was identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. UPDATE: The coverage is beyond stupid. Three men — is a conspiracy. Three men is a terror cell. For the FBI to rule out terrorism in an obvious act of terrorism (by whom, we know not yet) indicates were are worse off tha the UK. Three men, synchronized shoting, M16s, maximum kill ………… you won’t get the real story from the media..Keep in mind what Atlas said just two days ago about the sentencing of the DC sniper:
Muslim John Allen Muhammad is scheduled to be executed next Tuesday, November 10, 2009. We can only hope that he is promptly dispatched to meet his 72 virgins. If this attempt to stay the execution of this bloodthirsty jihadi gets traction, we must march on Washington. He must die. Thirteen people were shot, 10 fatally, when Muhammad and accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, went on a random shooting rampage around the Washington region in 2002. Muhammad’s lawyers said in a statement they asked Kaine on Thursday to commute Muhammad’s sentence to life in prison. They said Muhammad’s illness is “illustrated by brain damage, brain dysfunction, neurological deficits as well as his psychotic and delusional behavior.” Read Full Article.He is a Muslim. This was jihad. Is Islam a mental illness? Is that the position of the defense? This was jihad. Kill this depraved jihadi. Meanwhile, our government continues to be completely disingenuous as to the root cause for his actions. Our “government” continues to assert that the murders were related to an “individual’s” (Mohammad’s) aberrant criminal, abnormal behavior… not what it truly is…the fact that he (John AllenMuhammad) is representative of millions who are followers of the tenets of Islam.
I think she’s pretty clear about her feelings on this subject.
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