11/20/2009 6:57 PM
http://www.sphere.com/...ces-maj-nidal-hasan/
(Nov. 20) -- As investigators dig for clues about what led to the Fort Hood massacre, bits and pieces of the suspect's life are available online for all to see. Taken together, they present a strange and chilling portrait of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card
AP
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card.
The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 colleagues had business cards with "SoA(SWT)" printed below his name. SoA stands for "Soldier of Allah" and is an acronym commonly used among jihadists, according to terrorism experts. SWT is shorthand for "Subhanahu Wa Ta'all," an Islamic Arabic phrase glorifying and exalting Allah.
The business cards were among the few items left in Hasan's Killeen, Texas, home. Neighbors said he gave away most of his possessions in the days before the Nov. 5 rampage. The Dallas Morning News has a photo gallery of what was inside the small apartment last week. (Click to see pictures.)
Unit No. 9 of the Casa del Norte Apartments cost Hasan $300 a month. As an Army major, he made more than $90,000 a year, including housing and food allowances. He donated $20,000 to $30,000 a year to Islamic charities overseas, ABC News reported. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week he had confirmation that Hasan wired money to Pakistan, where many Islamic extremist groups operate.
"My strength is my financial capabilities," Hasan wrote to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, an American official with access to the suspect's e-mails told ABC News. In another e-mail, Hasan told Awlaki, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, ABC's source said.
On his Web site, which is popular among jihadists, Awlaki praised Hasan as a hero and said he "did the right thing" by shooting soldiers being sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only post on Awlaki's blog now is dated Nov. 11 and reads: "The Web site will be back to normal with a few days time."
The first video of Hasan to surface after the Fort Hood attack showed him buying coffee at a convenience store just hours before the shooting.
Embedded video from CNN Video
What he was wearing is significant, according to author Tarek Fatah. It's called the "shalwar kameez" and is traditional garb for Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Fatah wrote in the Ottawa Citizen. But Hasan is not Pashtun. He was born in Virginia to Palestinian parents. The only Arabs who wear the shalwar kameez, according to Fatah, are those who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad. Fatah said Hasan's choice of attire could have been a symbol of solidarity with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
NPR obtained a memo this week written by the director of the psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The document dated May 17, 2007, expressed "serious concerns" about Hasan's "poor judgment and lack of professionalism" and noted that he had been told to stop preaching to patients about his religion. (Click here to see PDF.)
The next month, at the end of his residency, Hasan was supposed to give a presentation to his supervisors and colleagues about a medical topic. Instead, he lectured them about Islam, Muslims in the military and suicide bombings. The Washington Post obtained his 50-slide PowerPoint presentation. (See it here,)
Some other online traces of Hasan are intriguing but impossible to verify. There's speculation that he is the Nidal Hasan who signed an anti-war petition six years ago. (See PDF.)
One of the first Web postings to raise eyebrows in the wake of the Fort Hood attack was a message apparently written in May on Scribd.com under the name NidalHasan. It was a response to an essay titled "Martyrdom in Islam Versus Suicide Bombing." The message, riddled with spelling errors, included this statement:
"Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory."
The post ends with these words:
"Allah (SWT) knows best."
(Nov. 20) -- As investigators dig for clues about what led to the Fort Hood massacre, bits and pieces of the suspect's life are available online for all to see. Taken together, they present a strange and chilling portrait of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card
AP
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card.
The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 colleagues had business cards with "SoA(SWT)" printed below his name. SoA stands for "Soldier of Allah" and is an acronym commonly used among jihadists, according to terrorism experts. SWT is shorthand for "Subhanahu Wa Ta'all," an Islamic Arabic phrase glorifying and exalting Allah.
The business cards were among the few items left in Hasan's Killeen, Texas, home. Neighbors said he gave away most of his possessions in the days before the Nov. 5 rampage. The Dallas Morning News has a photo gallery of what was inside the small apartment last week. (Click to see pictures.)
Unit No. 9 of the Casa del Norte Apartments cost Hasan $300 a month. As an Army major, he made more than $90,000 a year, including housing and food allowances. He donated $20,000 to $30,000 a year to Islamic charities overseas, ABC News reported. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week he had confirmation that Hasan wired money to Pakistan, where many Islamic extremist groups operate.
"My strength is my financial capabilities," Hasan wrote to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, an American official with access to the suspect's e-mails told ABC News. In another e-mail, Hasan told Awlaki, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, ABC's source said.
On his Web site, which is popular among jihadists, Awlaki praised Hasan as a hero and said he "did the right thing" by shooting soldiers being sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only post on Awlaki's blog now is dated Nov. 11 and reads: "The Web site will be back to normal with a few days time."
The first video of Hasan to surface after the Fort Hood attack showed him buying coffee at a convenience store just hours before the shooting.
Embedded video from CNN Video
What he was wearing is significant, according to author Tarek Fatah. It's called the "shalwar kameez" and is traditional garb for Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Fatah wrote in the Ottawa Citizen. But Hasan is not Pashtun. He was born in Virginia to Palestinian parents. The only Arabs who wear the shalwar kameez, according to Fatah, are those who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad. Fatah said Hasan's choice of attire could have been a symbol of solidarity with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
NPR obtained a memo this week written by the director of the psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The document dated May 17, 2007, expressed "serious concerns" about Hasan's "poor judgment and lack of professionalism" and noted that he had been told to stop preaching to patients about his religion. (Click here to see PDF.)
The next month, at the end of his residency, Hasan was supposed to give a presentation to his supervisors and colleagues about a medical topic. Instead, he lectured them about Islam, Muslims in the military and suicide bombings. The Washington Post obtained his 50-slide PowerPoint presentation. (See it here,)
Some other online traces of Hasan are intriguing but impossible to verify. There's speculation that he is the Nidal Hasan who signed an anti-war petition six years ago. (See PDF.)
One of the first Web postings to raise eyebrows in the wake of the Fort Hood attack was a message apparently written in May on Scribd.com under the name NidalHasan. It was a response to an essay titled "Martyrdom in Islam Versus Suicide Bombing." The message, riddled with spelling errors, included this statement:
"Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory."
The post ends with these words:
"Allah (SWT) knows best."
SteveS wrote: http://www.sphere.com/...ces-maj-nidal-hasan/
(Nov. 20) -- As investigators dig for clues about what led to the Fort Hood massacre, bits and pieces of the suspect's life are available online for all to see. Taken together, they present a strange and chilling portrait of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card
AP
Maj. Nidal Hasan's business card.
The Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 colleagues had business cards with "SoA(SWT)" printed below his name. SoA stands for "Soldier of Allah" and is an acronym commonly used among jihadists, according to terrorism experts. SWT is shorthand for "Subhanahu Wa Ta'all," an Islamic Arabic phrase glorifying and exalting Allah.
The business cards were among the few items left in Hasan's Killeen, Texas, home. Neighbors said he gave away most of his possessions in the days before the Nov. 5 rampage. The Dallas Morning News has a photo gallery of what was inside the small apartment last week. (Click to see pictures.)
Unit No. 9 of the Casa del Norte Apartments cost Hasan $300 a month. As an Army major, he made more than $90,000 a year, including housing and food allowances. He donated $20,000 to $30,000 a year to Islamic charities overseas, ABC News reported. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said last week he had confirmation that Hasan wired money to Pakistan, where many Islamic extremist groups operate.
"My strength is my financial capabilities," Hasan wrote to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, an American official with access to the suspect's e-mails told ABC News. In another e-mail, Hasan told Awlaki, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, ABC's source said.
On his Web site, which is popular among jihadists, Awlaki praised Hasan as a hero and said he "did the right thing" by shooting soldiers being sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. The only post on Awlaki's blog now is dated Nov. 11 and reads: "The Web site will be back to normal with a few days time."
The first video of Hasan to surface after the Fort Hood attack showed him buying coffee at a convenience store just hours before the shooting.
Embedded video from CNN Video
What he was wearing is significant, according to author Tarek Fatah. It's called the "shalwar kameez" and is traditional garb for Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Fatah wrote in the Ottawa Citizen. But Hasan is not Pashtun. He was born in Virginia to Palestinian parents. The only Arabs who wear the shalwar kameez, according to Fatah, are those who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad. Fatah said Hasan's choice of attire could have been a symbol of solidarity with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
NPR obtained a memo this week written by the director of the psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The document dated May 17, 2007, expressed "serious concerns" about Hasan's "poor judgment and lack of professionalism" and noted that he had been told to stop preaching to patients about his religion. (Click here to see PDF.)
The next month, at the end of his residency, Hasan was supposed to give a presentation to his supervisors and colleagues about a medical topic. Instead, he lectured them about Islam, Muslims in the military and suicide bombings. The Washington Post obtained his 50-slide PowerPoint presentation. (See it here,)
Some other online traces of Hasan are intriguing but impossible to verify. There's speculation that he is the Nidal Hasan who signed an anti-war petition six years ago. (See PDF.)
One of the first Web postings to raise eyebrows in the wake of the Fort Hood attack was a message apparently written in May on Scribd.com under the name NidalHasan. It was a response to an essay titled "Martyrdom in Islam Versus Suicide Bombing." The message, riddled with spelling errors, included this statement:
"Scholars have paralled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory."
The post ends with these words:
"Allah (SWT) knows best."