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Fort Hood shooter exchanged messages with Anti-American cleric

by smkovalinsky | November 9, 2009 at 03:25 pm

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Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been found to have had communications with a radical cleric, Intelligence authorities have said. The cleric has been a mosque leader in Virginia, where Hasan had worshiped when a student at Virginia Tech.

It is not known why officials did nothing when they found he was ascribing to anti-American teachings with the mosque cleric.

Intelligence agencies intercepted communications last year and this year between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of shooting to death 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings. But federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding that the messages warranted no further action, government officials said on Monday.

Major Hasan’s exchanges with the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia where Major Hasan worshipped, indicate that the authorities were aware of Major Hasan before last Thursday’s deadly rampage, but did nothing. It is not clear what was said in the exchanges, believed to be e-mail messages, and whether they would have offered a hint at the major’s outspoken views or his increasingly troubled emotional state.

Also, an attorney for Major Hasan are asking that he not be questioned:

A lawyer for the Army psychiatrist accused in a deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood said Monday he asked investigators not to question his client and expressed doubt that the suspect would be able to get a fair trial, given the widespread attention to the case.

Retired Col. John P. Galligan said he was contacted Monday by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's family and was headed to an Army hospital in San Antonio to meet Hasan.

"Until I meet with him, it's best to say we're just going to protect all of his rights," Galligan said.

Hasan, 39, is accused of opening fire on the Army post on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding 29 before civilian police shot him in the torso. He was taken into custody and eventually moved to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he was in stable condition Monday and able to talk, hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said.

Galligan said he didn't know if Hasan had been medically cleared to talk.

"There's a lot of facts that still need to be developed, and the time for that will come in due course," he said.

Authorities won't say when charges would be filed or if Hasan would face military justice.

Source: google.com

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