The Fort Hood shooter

[OneCentStamp]

(I'm putting this in the Pit even though I'm not feeling especially pitty myself, just so that anyone responding can feel free to flame me, the shooter, the military or whomever.)

So...it looks as though Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings, is not only going to live, but he's awake and talking. After the initial news of the shootings, I had just kind of assumed the guy was going to die, since that seems to be the way with spree murderers: I'm thinking of the Columbine shooters, the Virginia Tech shooter, etc. Either they get gunned down by the cops, or more often, kill themselves first. I wonder if this guy had intended to do the same, but was foiled when he was incapacitated by the responders' fire. Probably.

But this guy is going to live and presumably have to answer for what he did, in the public forum and/or in the justice system.

And I'm actually interested to hear what this asshole has to say for himself. My idle fantasies of grabbing Seo-Chung Hui by the neck and asking him WTF he thought gave him the right will find some small fulfillment now, apparently. I'm morbidly interested to know what made him do it.

Any thoughts?

[What Exit?]

Sad: Thanks to the name and some weak connections many are knee jerking to think this is terrorism. Doesn't make sense to me though, he made it to Major, he should have had the ability to plan and do far more harm if he was a terrorist. I tend to think he was just another crazed berserker.

Pissed: I am pissed this asshole did this. I hope we get some real answers or insights but I do not expect any. We would probably have been better off if he had died.

Confused: What could he possible say for himself? Unless he is a terrorist willing to die for the cause in a fairly pathetic gesture, he is just a dangerously insane person that happen to be a Major.

Memory: My first thoughts was the sniper in tower on the college campus all those years ago and the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre. I ended up living about a mile from that McDonald's, it had been taken down and turned into a park and the replacement McDonald's was only ¼ mile away. We also had the Amish school shootings a few years ago and the one in Scotland. This stuff gets old.

[Zuul]

When was the last time we had one of these spree killers actually survive to stand trial for what he did? If it's happened in the past ten years I must not have been paying attention.

Jim, I thought about the name, too. It's really unfortunate because Hasan is relatively common. A lot of people will be associated with this man in the minds of the ignorant.

[Rube E. Tewesday]

When was the last time we had one of these spree killers actually survive to stand trial for what he did? If it's happened in the past ten years I must not have been paying attention.

.

Well, different kind of spree, but by coincidence...

[Zuul]

Well, different kind of spree, but by coincidence...

Okay, so it has been less than ten years. That one was the first to come to mind, though that was closer to the "serial killer" category than this.

[What Exit?]

I think very few have surrendered, the wiki article on Spree Killers list most of the ones I thought of but not Columbine or the Amish one.

Only Howard Unruh seems to have surrendered and that was back in 1949.

I did not realize that the College shooting was so long ago, people were still talking about it years later. I guess spree killing was thankfully rarer back then.

University of Texas at Austin massacre (United States, 1966): Charles Whitman, a student at the University of Texas at Austin killed 14 people and wounded 31 others as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building. He did this shortly after murdering his wife and mother. He was eventually shot and killed by an Austin police officer.

Here is a longer and sadder set of lists.
For the US, a few survived, a few more commited suicide waiting for trial but several were sentenced.

US School Shootings

Perpetrator, Age,Year,Location, Additional Notes
Cho, Seung-Hui, 23 2007 Blacksburg, VA Committed suicide
Whitman, Charles Joseph, 25 1966 Austin, TX Shot by police
Killed an unborn child
Klebold, Dylan Bennet, 17 1999 Littleton, CO Both committed suicide
Weise, Jeffrey James, 16 2005 Red Lake, MN Committed suicide
Purdy, Patrick Edward, 24 1989 Stockton, CA Committed suicide
Kazmierczak, Steven Phillip, 27 2008 DeKalb, IL Committed suicide
Golden, Andrew, 11 &
Johnson, Mitchell, 13 1998 Jonesboro, AR Both were imprisoned until their 21st birthday
Roberts, Charles Carl, 32 2006 Nickel Mines, PA Committed suicide
Kinkel, Kipland Philip, 15 1998 Springfield, OR Sentenced to 111 years in prison
Houston, Eric Christopher, 20 1992 Olivehurst, CA Sentenced to death
Barbaro, Anthony F., 17 1974 Olean, NY Committed suicide while awaiting trial
Williams, Charles Andrew, 15 2001 Santee, CA Sentenced to 50 years to life imprisonment
Mitchell, Tyrone, 28 1984 Los Angeles, CA Committed suicide
Stankewicz, William Michael, 55 2001 Red Lion, PA Sentenced to 132 to 264 years in prison

[Cluricaun]

Jim, I thought about the name, too. It's really unfortunate because Hasan is relatively common. A lot of people will be associated with this man in the minds of the ignorant.

Looks like the dude was a terrorist to me. According to Wiki:

Hasan is an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent. He had come to the attention of federal authorities at least six months before the attacks because of internet postings he appeared to have made discussing suicide bombings and other threats, though authorities at the time had not definitively attributed the postings.[6][7] He was allegedly strongly opposed to U.S. military activity "against Muslims," and had allegedly spoken in support of actions such as suicide bombing and armed resistance to US forces. On November 9th, U.S. intelligence agencies informed the Army that Hasan had previously attempted to contact al-Qaeda directly,[8] although the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated at that time that there was no evidence to indicate co-conspirators or a broader terrorist plot."[9]

Investigations continued to determine if others were involved. It has been speculated that he may have "broken down because of emotional, ideological and religious pressures,"[10] or acted as a lone-wolf offender.[11]

Hasan had attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, in 2001, at the same time as Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour, two of the September 11 hijackers.[12][13] After the attack, Anwar al-Awlaki (who was the imam at the mosque at the time) praised Hasan for the shooting and encouraged other Muslims serving in the military to "follow in the footsteps of men like Nidal."[14] Hasan had communicated with al-Awlaki before the shooting.[9]

All things point to the dude was a terrorist and IMHO he should be fed alive to pigs, feet first.

[OneCentStamp]

All things point to the dude was a terrorist and IMHO he should be fed alive to pigs, feet first.

If the stuff about his imam turns out to be true, the guy needs a visit from his friendly neighborhood FBI agents.

[ivan astikov]

I'd happily support a law that allowed anyone found guilty of seditious public comments, to be given a one-way ticket to the biggest shit-hole area of their country of descent.

[Cluricaun]

If the stuff about his imam turns out to be true, the guy needs a visit from his friendly neighborhood FBI agents.

It looks as if the FBI had already had their shot at this guy and decided against any action. :Shake:

If you're committing acts of terror because you've been promised a heaven indescribable, it needs in turn to be assured that the consequence of being caught is an assurance of a hell unimaginable.

Not my finest moment as a human being I'll admit, but a member of the US military attacking his own fellow service men and women out of ideological hatred is such a reprehensible crime in my eyes that nobody guilty of doing such thing deserves any quarter whatsoever.

[Zuul]

Jesus. Let's hope they reconsider the situation now, because come on. A religious leader is making seditious statements directed towards the military and the FBI doesn't think this is a cause for concern. This is a religious leader who is connected to a member of the military who went ape shit and started shooting people. This is a religious leader who praised the actions of that member of the military.

There's free speech and then there's inciting mutiny.

[Baldwin]

I'd happily support a law that allowed anyone found guilty of seditious public comments, to be given a one-way ticket to the biggest shit-hole area of their country of descent.

"Country of descent"? Are you serious? Also, define "seditious".

Even though a lot of shrinks have their own issues, I can't remember another psychiatrist doing anything this violent. (In the real world; not including Dr. Lecter.)

[OneCentStamp]

Even though a lot of shrinks have their own issues, I can't remember another psychiatrist doing anything this violent. (In the real world; not including Dr. Lecter.)

But if any psychiatrist was going to, you'd think it might be one who has dealt exclusively with soldiers and their problems for years.

[What Exit?]

Well if terrorism, this Nidal Malik Hasan was one stupid and uncreative terrorist. I think I could have down a far greater job of terrorism as a lowly Electricians Mate on an Air Craft Carrier. This crazy ass was a Major.

[Cluricaun]

Well if terrorism, this Nidal Malik Hasan was one stupid and uncreative terrorist. I think I could have down a far greater job of terrorism as a lowly Electricians Mate on an Air Craft Carrier. This crazy ass was a Major.

Well to be completely objective with the numbers of people wounded by a guy with two handguns that's some pretty fair shooting from a desk jockey officer.

[ivan astikov]

"Country of descent"? Are you serious?

Well, that's obviously only if they come from a recently immigrant background. For anyone else, you'd be able to put them in one of your shithole prisons.

Also, define "seditious".

Sedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority

Clear enough?

[ivan astikov]

Well to be completely objective with the numbers of people wounded by a guy with two handguns that's some pretty fair shooting from a desk jockey officer.

He didn't shout "Draw!" though, which was very unfair.

[ivan astikov]

Well if terrorism, this Nidal Malik Hasan was one stupid and uncreative terrorist. I think I could have down a far greater job of terrorism as a lowly Electricians Mate on an Air Craft Carrier. This crazy ass was a Major.

The only way this can benefit extremists from a Muslim background, is if US citizens allow this incident to widen their divisions even more.

[Jaglavak]

OK, I fully support our military and am definitely not in favor of deadly rampages. However, it looks like this guy just crumbled.

The dude was a muslim with serious reservations about what we are doing over there. He tried to resign from the military but it was not accepted due to the education bennies he got. He tried to pay back the education bennies in cash but that was not accepted either.

Yes, he should have deserted and/or just refused and gone to jail. No, he shouldn't have done what he did. I'm just saying that he was squeezed very hard and it looks like he broke. I suspect if he had stayed a civilian, he would have had a long and uneventful career.

Perhaps we should give some thought to the type and amount of pressure to which we subject our troops.