http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html

MSNBC said that the primary shooter was a Major (!) named Malik Hasan. Eleven dead, plus one shooter. Two suspects detained. More than 40 people actually shot.

MSNBC felt it necessary to point out that "Malik Hasan is an Arabic-sounding name." Lotta class on that station.

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 5:39 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2009 5:33:02 PM

31 wounded, one of those killed was a civilian contractor, 10 were servicemen and women.


.

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 5:41 PM. Reason : /]

11/5/2009 5:41:06 PM

Incredibly horrible. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

11/5/2009 5:47:47 PM

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 6:08 PM. Reason : Train men to kill then act surprised when they do so.]

11/5/2009 6:04:41 PM

i didn't know whether or not to post a thread here, so I put it in ChitChat. so, let me be the first to say...

*OLD*

^ way to be a dick, dude

11/5/2009 6:10:36 PM

CNN's saying he was a Major, too.

That makes no sense.

11/5/2009 6:13:53 PM

Army Psychiatrist. Damn.

11/5/2009 6:44:10 PM

If only those soldiers were allowed to carry guns, this tragedy could have been prevented.

Seriously though, I would have thought on a military base, with military people all over, there would be a closer gun that the local police.

11/5/2009 6:55:36 PM

too bad not all military people have guns on them at all times

but, the death toll was probably lower due to the amount of guns around chasing the asshole off

11/5/2009 7:08:54 PM

what exactly is done at fort hood?

i work at a military base that does research mostly. and i'm probably a good half mile from the closest gun when i'm sitting at my desk (my guess. maybe some scientists are packing, but i don't know how the military looks upon that sort of thing)

11/5/2009 7:09:43 PM

Quote :

"too bad not all military people have guns on them at all times"

They don't. Concealed carry is prohibited on military posts. While most units have arms rooms the ammunition is stored at a separate facility and requires a formal requisition process in order to draw it.

Really, other than MPs or police contractors, 99% of people on a military post don't have access to weapons on a daily basis.

11/5/2009 7:32:59 PM

^ Don't think he was being sarcastic, he was just responding to moron accurately

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 8:13 PM. Reason : And if you were just agreeing with him, I'm going to blame the internet not showing intent]

11/5/2009 8:12:43 PM

12 dead victims, one of the wounded died at the hospital.

11/5/2009 8:19:42 PM

weapons are prohibited in all DoD controlled facilities.

11/5/2009 8:24:09 PM

apparently the gunman is dead, too

11/5/2009 8:30:03 PM

Quote :

" Train men to kill then act surprised when they do so "

Psychiatrists are hardly trained killers. By the way, go fuck yourself. Far more people are murdered by the 'untrained' than will ever be murdered by one of ours gone wrong.

Quote :

" what exactly is done at fort hood? "

Fort Hood is where III Corps is stationed. The main maneuver units stationed there are 4th ID, 1st Cav, and 3rd ACR (Ai-yee-ah! Brave Rifles!). Aside from housing the units, Fort Hood also does a lot of refresher training for National Guard units. You are not allowed to carry a personal firearm on base, concealed or otherwise. With the exception of when you go to the range, the field, or doing maintenance/training, weapons are always locked up. Depending on your armory, you may or may not have ammo stored there as well. BLUF - except for MPs, nobody is going to have ready access to a firearm.

11/5/2009 8:31:55 PM

According to the press conference going on right now, the shooter was not killed, nor was one of the first responders that was reported to be killed. They are both hospitalized though.

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 9:23 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2009 9:23:06 PM

Quote :

"graduate of Virginia Tech"

first thing that caught my eye out of the article

11/5/2009 9:25:47 PM

Right up the road from Killeen too.

11/5/2009 9:55:38 PM

what struck me first was that he had poor performance reports at Walter Reed, so they sent him to another US Army base.

11/5/2009 9:56:21 PM

Quote :

"Seriously though, I would have thought on a military base, with military people all over, there would be a closer gun that the local police."

Oh hell no. You can't have your own personal weapon on base (I have Marines who live in the barracks who got together to rent a storage unit off base to keep their guns).

This is the only reason that I don't have a concealed carry permit--since I can't bring a firearm on base, it would do me almost no good to have a CCP.

All the weapons on base are kept locked--like, I have an M4 and an M9 issued to me, but I'd have to drive over to the armory and check them out--it would take 10-15 minutes (and even then, they don't keep ammunition there as far as I know).

Pretty much the only armed people on base are the MPs, and most of them are at the gate checking for IDs and base registration stickers. It's a perfect place to go on a shooting spree, other than the fact that you'd likely get trapped on the base and caught (but most of these crazy bastards aren't looking to get away--they're just looking to kill as many people as they can before shooting themselves or before finally getting shot by someone else).

11/5/2009 11:22:05 PM

Quote :

"Oh hell no. You can't have your own personal weapon on base (I have Marines who live in the barracks who got together to rent a storage unit off base to keep their guns)."

Duke's absolutely right. The perceptions that some people have of military bases as fortresses is amazing to me sometimes.

When I was in the Army, even though I was the armorer, I had to use my keys to get to a lock box with another set of keys to the arms room. The arms room was monitored by an alarm system that was connected to the UP ("unit police"--MPs at the unit level) station. Even then, a very limited amount of ammo was kept in the arms room and was inventoried by lot number.

To be honest, I'd rather be in my private home or my neighborhood than on a military base during an attack of this nature. The chances of survival would rise dramatically.

In any event, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured. And I am saddened by the loss of US soldiers and others in such a senseless manner.

Bad day.

11/5/2009 11:33:18 PM

The army doesn't trust its own personnel enough to let them have weapons.

11/6/2009 12:21:39 AM

Oh man. Looks like the local cops showed up and just started shooting anyone in a uniform. Wouldn't be surprised if a great deal of those claimed killed by him were in fact killed by the local yahoo

11/6/2009 3:07:56 AM

More's coming out now. Early reports have it looking like he was a Muslim, but he hasn't been to Iraq or Afghanistan. He wasn't an extremist or a jihadist either. Mostly he's a disgruntled federal employee. He was verbally abused for being a Muslim, and had his car vandalized.

First hand accounts, however, do describe him yelling "Allah Akbar" during the shooting, whether or not that gets verified remains to be seen. Authorities are not ruling out that he might have been acting on behalf of a radical group. They're also not ruling out that some of the casualties might have been the result of friendly fire.

His weapons were, allegedly, not military issue.

His status has been upgraded from dead to alive, so I'm sure we'll hear a lot about this and his motives in the coming days.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33712858/ns/us_news-tragedy_at_fort_hood/
http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/breaking-fort-hood-alleged-shooter-now-confirmed-alive/

Also from MSNBC, he was apparently scared of deployment. No doubt we're going to find out a lot about this guy in the coming days as he revives. This is going to get very very ugly. I just hope that the military hierarchy can reign in any individual anti-Muslim-personnel sentiment that's going to spring up. They've been fighting that (and, it seems, doing a pretty good job on the whole) since 2001 and I'd hate to see the efforts go to crap now.

11/6/2009 8:03:56 AM

Let's be honest here - if this was part of a bigger plan - there wouldve been a lot more of these at the same time, and he probably wouldve killed himself rather than get caught.

11/6/2009 8:14:55 AM

Quote :

"MSNBC felt it necessary to point out that "Malik Hasan is an Arabic-sounding name." Lotta class on that station."

...well I hate to say it, but....

Quote :

"Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment, which is Arabic for "God is great!" before the rampage Thursday"

Quote :

"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."

11/6/2009 9:04:57 AM

How exactly did they "point it out"? What is the context? There's nothing inherently wrong with pointing that out.

11/6/2009 9:19:53 AM

Quote :

"He wasn't an extremist or a jihadist either"

Doesn't mean the statement was wrong, or make him an Allahu Akbar perfumed disciple of blow-em-upistan, but its strong damn evidence

11/6/2009 9:29:21 AM

In the context of a philosophical discussion about "Martyrdom in Islam vs Suicide Bombing" within "Research, Humanities", this is a perfectly acceptable and neccesary argument to make.

If he were some dbag on 4chan, youtube, etc glorifying terroism, it would be different.

11/6/2009 9:51:32 AM

I am glad he lived so that he can answer for his actions.

What are the rules regarding attorneys and internal military investigations? I know the military provides trial attorneys but what about investigating wrong doing of a soldier? Can they force him to be interrogated?

11/6/2009 9:56:39 AM

^ http://www.army.mil/references/UCMJ/

11/6/2009 10:54:03 AM

Quote :

"The shooting rampage Thursday was halted by a female civilian police officer who shot him, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the top military commander on the base. Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of reported gunfire. She was in stable condition Friday and is expected to recover from wounds sustained in the gun battle."

11/6/2009 11:21:37 AM

hahah the ultimate insult. taken out by a damn broad


(and pertaining to my previous post: Turns out he actually started the rampage with "Allahu Ackbar!!".
After seeing the footage of him taken earlier in the day, he looked calm and cheerful, smiling and chatting with people, so this was no "basket case" incident
So: Second deadliest terrorist attack on US soil confirmed)



[Edited on November 6, 2009 at 11:48 AM. Reason : asdf]

11/6/2009 11:46:01 AM

11/6/2009 12:02:35 PM

AND IT HAPPENED ON OBAMA'S WATCH!!! I TOLD YOU WE ARE MUCH LESS SAFE NOW THAT OBAMA IS RUNNING THE NATION [/beck]

11/6/2009 12:29:38 PM

Quote :

"So: Second deadliest terrorist attack on US soil confirmed)"

wat?

11/6/2009 1:27:57 PM

Yeah, it's only terrorism if brown people do it. So OKC doesn't count.

11/6/2009 1:40:48 PM

Quote :

"How exactly did they "point it out"? What is the context?"

There really wasn't any. He said something very close to, "The suspect's name is Malik Nidal Hasan (which isn't the correct order, but it's how they said it at the time), and, uh, we'd just like to point out that it's an, ah, Arabic-sounding name."

Basically, anyone who is so stupid that they couldn't tell for themselves what kind of name it was is also so stupid that they're no certain that all Muslims are terrorists.

Quote :

"Doesn't mean the statement was wrong, or make him an Allahu Akbar perfumed disciple of blow-em-upistan, but its strong damn evidence"

I don't see anything wrong with that particular post. Plenty of people on this board have made similar arguments, and I don't think they're going to go blow anybody up. It isn't as though he gave suicide bombing the thumbs up, he just explained how it was different from regular suicide.

11/6/2009 4:42:02 PM

I wonder how many Muslim lives he saved.

11/6/2009 6:22:49 PM

Quote :

"More's coming out now. Early reports have it looking like he was a Muslim, but he hasn't been to Iraq or Afghanistan. He wasn't an extremist or a jihadist either. Mostly he's a disgruntled federal employee. He was verbally abused for being a Muslim, and had his car vandalized. "

Sounds like he wasn’t thick-skinned enough to be a muslim in the military.

11/6/2009 6:34:45 PM

I'm throwing the bullshit flag on this whole alleged verbal abuse thing. I know that some of you don't have any experience with this, but an Army major is a field grade officer--in other words, a major has some juice.

It certainly shouldn't have been a subordinate that "verbally abused" the major in question--this could have been stopped immediately with a simple direct order. And if the alleged abusers were of the same rank or a higher rank, there is always the option of going up the chain of command. And a soldier can get royally fucked in the Army for insubordination or cruelty and maltreatment:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm91.htm

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/mcm/bl93.htm

Even if Hasan used his Muslim faith as an excuse to go on this rampage, I think we're dealing with a nutball. This attack may have been premeditated, but I would be extremely surprised to learn that it was part of any coordinated Islamist attack.

11/7/2009 4:29:42 AM

I mean, one could make the argument that the Koran coordinates an entire culture of violence, but that would probably offend some people who would rather invest their energies criticizing peaceful christians that disagree with them over abortion and gay marriage.

11/7/2009 7:39:43 AM

Quote :

"I mean, one could make the argument that the Koran coordinates an entire culture of violence, but that would probably offend some people who would rather invest their energies criticizing peaceful christians that disagree with them over abortion and gay marriage."

Definitely is a culture of violence in the west when you consider the fact that these "peaceful" Christians are at the helm of one of the most aggressive, interventionist world powers ever.

11/7/2009 9:45:41 AM

riiight. back on the america hating bandwagon i see. how chic

11/7/2009 10:57:45 AM

11/7/2009 11:12:38 AM

Quote :

"Definitely is a culture of violence in the west human race"

We're just more efficient. The largest number of dead due to state violence in the 20th century reside in the Eastern Hemisphere, not the West.

11/7/2009 11:47:16 AM

Quote :

"Even if Hasan used his Muslim faith as an excuse to go on this rampage, I think we're dealing with a nutball. This attack may have been premeditated, but I would be extremely surprised to learn that it was part of any coordinated Islamist attack. "

Obviously he was a nutball, but if you take a nutball and prod them with prejudice, you stimulate their craziness. Of all people here, I’d think you would understand this.

[Edited on November 7, 2009 at 12:54 PM. Reason : ]

11/7/2009 12:54:12 PM

You missed the point of his post...

He's saying that it's not very likely that he got prodded much, if at all.

11/7/2009 6:23:00 PM

^ Yeah, I think missing my points is moron's hobby. I wish he would take up knitting or something--it would be more productive.

11/7/2009 8:03:15 PM