WASHINGTON (AP) _ His name appears on radical Internet postings. A
fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with
soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical
student because of problems with patients.
There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities
say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military
base. Most of all, his motive. But details of his life and mindset,
emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are
troubling.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, Texas, in
July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army
Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a
resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive
psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda,
Md., in 2001.
While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties'' that
required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger,
who was the training director at the time.
Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but
noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with
patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet'' person who
never spoke ill of the military or his country.
"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military,'' Grieger said. "I
didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths.''
But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious.
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.
They had not determined for certain whether Hasan is the author of
the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before
the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition
of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan
of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim
in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and he wanted
out of the Army.
"Some people can take it and some people cannot,'' she said. "He had
listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military.''
She said he had sought a discharge from the military for several
years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training.
A spokesman for the Army, Lt. Col. George Wright, told the Post he
could not confirm that Hasan had sought a discharge.
Noel Hasan said her nephew "did not make many friends'' and would
say "they military was his life.''
A cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that after counseling
soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic
stress disorder, Hasan knew war firsthand.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,'' Nader Hasan
said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they
saw over there.''
Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the
apartment complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, Thursday night
and conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of
public information for the city. She didn't say what was found during
the search.
Officials said earlier that federal search warrants were being drawn
up to authorize the seizure of his computer.
Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox
News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops
out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent
arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, and had
tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington,
often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a
mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md. He said Hasan was a
lifelong Muslim.
"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier,'' Khan said.
He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.
On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at
the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his
nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.
"I don't know why he listed Palestinian,'' Khan said, "He was not
born in Palestine.''
Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.
"We hardly ever got to discussing politics,'' Khan said. "Mostly we
were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing
like an extremist.''
Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July
2008 Army Times article.
He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. He also served in the
ROTC as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He received
a bachelor's degree in biochemistry there in 1997.
