Hasan's Ties Spark Government Blame Game (cbsnews)

[chill_wind]

Smoke & Mirrors & Blame Games...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2009
Hasan's Ties Spark Government Blame Game
FBI, Pentagon Seek to Explain How Fort Hood Shooting Suspect's Alleged Extremist Contacts Didn't Raise Flags


(CBS/ AP) The mystery over whether the military knew Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan was communicating with a radical Muslim imam lapsed into finger-pointing ahead of congressional investigations looking into the Army psychiatrist's contacts with any extremists.

Even as President Barack Obama remembered those killed at the Texas Army post and condemned what he described as "the twisted logic that led to this tragedy," federal agencies reacted to conflicting claims about whether a Defense Department terrorism investigator looked into Hasan's contacts months ago with Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki, an imam who was released from a Yemeni jail last year, has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims across the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. A military official Tuesday denied knowing Hasan had such contacts.

Two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case on the record, said the Washington-based joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI was notified of communications between Hasan and the imam overseas, and the information was turned over to a Defense Criminal Investigative Service employee assigned to the task force. The communications were gathered by investigators beginning in December 2008 and continuing into early this year.


more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/11/national/main5612152.shtml

see this DU thread from today:

2008 FBI: Hassan Not A Terrorist (BBC)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6990915#top

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. CBS/AP

I'm in a froth!

[Zoeisright]

2. You know, sometimes people just snap.

It happens. Doesn't mean there's a conspiracy or a plot.

[chill_wind]

Agree.

It will be tremendously politicized as a unfortunate "gift" to the right ghouls, though, I think, and I don't think the dividends break our way.

[chill_wind]

5. dupe-delete

[dflprincess]

6. Remember last May? A soldier snapped and shot up a clinic in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/world/middleeast/17clinic.html?pagewanted=all

...And Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, was there because he had to be. After 15 years in the Army, he had fallen into debt and out of favor with his commanding officer, who took away his weapon and sent him for counseling.

It was in that clinic, a low-slung building at Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad, that Sergeant Russell used a weapon that he seized from an escort last Monday to shoot and kill Major Houseal, Private Yates and three other people, Army officials say. He has been charged with five counts of murder in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence involving the American military in the six-year Iraq war.

That the shootings, which remain under investigation, happened in a clinic intended to be a quiet oasis from combat has in no small way underscored how stressful the nation’s two wars have become for its stretched military forces.

Army studies and surveys show that multiple deployments and long deployments contribute to higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and marital problems. And soldiers on their third or fourth deployment are at significantly higher risk than soldiers on their first or second ones for mental health problems and work-related problems, according to the Army Mental Health Advisory Team Report released last year.

I tried, but I can't find any reference to Sgr. Russell's religion or politics in the article.

[bik0]

7. Hassan had a plan

I think because the guy acted alone it's coloring people's perception. If he had an accomplice the argument claiming stress, insanity or that he snapped would not be as prevalent. Regardless, the act was planned for some time. He bought the gun back in August, he gave away his possessions in the week leading up to the massacre. It was reported that one of Hasan's neighbors described how on the day of the massacre he gave her a Koran and said "I'm going to do good work for God" before leaving for the base.

This was no "snap" decision.

[cali]

9. It appears that Hasan's mental health was in seriously bad shape well

before he was sent to Fort Hood.

[leveymg]

3. Geez, did no one learn anything from 9/11?

Al-Alawki was part of the same international intelligence group that handled 9/11 hijackers al-Hazmi and al-Midhar right after they arrived in the US in January 2000, and he settled them in an apartment in San Diego with money provided by an air attache at the Saudi Consulate in LA. The same cleric even moved with them to Northern Virginia.

Gawd, the enforced stupidity of the corporate media on this subject drives me to distraction . . .

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[chill_wind]

8. You first.

My call won't matter. Neither will yours. FWIW, though, I think the man snapped.
It's the post-processing by the media/pentagon punditry that gets very interesting and familiar feeling.