Fort Hood Attack - Terrorism in America

[zenbudda]

from information i have gathered here, and on other sites, it seems that certain financial elements in the middle east (possibly other places) have partially taken control over certain aspects of our society (media, government, schools).

i did see that they are blocking subpoena requests which is completely ridiculous to me. but maybe rick or other ex mil members can attest to why they won't release those records.

[vector7]

Soldier says ordered to delete Fort Hood videos

By ANGELA K. BROWN and MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writers Angela K. Brown And Michael Graczyk, Associated Press Writers 31 mins ago

FORT HOOD, Texas – A soldier who recorded the terror of last year's deadly shooting rampage in Fort Hood using his cell phone was ordered by an officer to delete both videos, a military court heard Friday.

Under cross examination, Pfc. Lance Aviles told an Article 32 hearing that his noncommissioned officer ordered him to destroy the two videos on Nov. 5, the same day that a gunman unleashed a volley of bullets inside a processing center at the Texas Army post.

The footage could have been vital evidence at the military hearing to decide if Maj. Nidal Hasan should stand trial in the shootings. The 40-year-old American-born Muslim has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Prosecutors have not said whether they'll seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Aviles described how he was waiting for medical tests at the center with his battle buddy, Pfc. Kham Xiong, when he heard someone shout. Then the gunshots began.

He said he saw a tanned, balding man wearing an Army combat uniform and carrying a black pistol.

"I saw smoke coming from the pistol," Aviles told the court.

The pair threw themselves to the floor. Aviles turned to his left to check Xiong and discovered his friend had been shot.

"His head was facing the left and a shard of his skull was sticking up," Aviles said.

Xiong, a 23-year-old father of three from St. Paul, Minn., was among the 13 who died in the attack. Aviles, the 20th person to provide testimony at the hearing, was not hurt.

Addressing the court via video link from Afghanistan, Spc. Megan Martin said she had been waiting to take medical tests when saw a man to her left stand up and shout "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great!" in Arabic — then start firing a weapon.

He "started shooting to the left of me in a fan motion, left to right," Martin said.

She described the weapon as "a small handgun (with) ... a green light and a red laser."

Capt. Melissa Kale said the gun was black and had "a red laser and a green laser."

Only one witness has testified that he saw two weapons.

Kale, who is also serving in Afghanistan and spoke via satellite link, broke down in tears as she described how she tried to pull Sgt. Amy Krueger out of the line of fire. Twenty-nine-year-old Krueger was killed in the attack.

"I tried to pull Sgt. Krueger with me," she sobbed. "She didn't move. I had to leave her there."

Also talking from Afghanistan and with the sound of jets flying overhead, Maj. Eric Torina testified that he saw Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo just after he had been fatally shot, sitting in a chair as if he was still waiting for his medical exam.

The motionless 52-year-old sat "with his head down like he was almost sleeping, but with a bullet hole in his head, dripping blood," he said.

Martin described how she saw Capt. John Gaffaney attempting to charge at the gunman to prevent further bloodshed. Gaffaney, a 56-year-old psychiatric nurse preparing to deploy to Iraq, was shot at close range and died.

"I could not look away. I laid as still as I could. I couldn't stop watching. It was a nightmare that reoccurs." said Martin, who belongs to the 467th Medical Detachment — the unit that Hasan was supposed to deploy with.

Hasan had been trying to get out of his pending deployment because he opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had been saying goodbye to friends and neighbors, and had given away his Quran and other belongings.

A defense lawyer asked Martin if the tragedy could have prevented her from deploying to a combat zone.

"I did not want to be removed from deployment. I wanted to carry on with the mission, sir, as my fallen soldiers would want me to."

Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

[American Patriot]

Do you all realize that today is one full year since the shootings?

This clown is in jail and hasn't even started his real trial yet.

He's still going through a "hearing to determine if there should BE a trial".

[American Patriot]

Allah Akbar = “Return Fire” in English

I need to make it a bumper sticker.

Mal,

Have you got those up for sale yet?

[American Patriot]

Word just got out that the WHITE HOUSE has BLOCKED intelligence information on the Fort Hood shootings.

[American Patriot]

Nidal Hasan's defense offers no evidence, witnesses in Fort Hood killings case

12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, November 16, 2010

By LEE HANCOCK / The Dallas Morning News
lhancock@dallasnews.com

FORT HOOD, Texas – With two words, "yes" and "no," Army Maj. Nidal Hasan declined to offer any statement Monday in a pretrial hearing on his role in last year's massacre at a post soldier readiness center.


The Army psychiatrist's defense lawyers took less than a minute to inform the hearing's presiding officer that they would offer no evidence or witnesses. In a soft, clear voice, Hasan said he understood that he had the right to speak.


His terse answers to the hearing officer, Col. James L. Pohl, followed eight days of prosecution testimony linking Hasan to the massacre on Nov. 5, 2009. More than a dozen witnesses identified Hasan as the uniformed man who stood near a crowded waiting area and opened fire. Just before the shooting began, many witnesses heard the gunman yell, "Allahu akbar," the Arabic-language Muslim exhortation meaning "God is great."


Within 10 minutes, 13 people were dead and 32 were wounded. A civilian police officer stopped the rampage by wounding Hasan, leaving him paralyzed.


Hasan faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of premeditated attempted murder. The pretrial proceeding, known as an Article 32 hearing, will help Army commanders determine whether Hasan should face a full court-martial.


Pohl now will write a detailed report recommending how the case should go forward, a process likely to take months.


Most legal experts predict that prosecutors ultimately will seek the death penalty.
The defense team's best hope of persuading a jury of 12 officers to spare Hasan may lie in making a case that the Army ignored Hasan's instability. Hasan's colleagues reportedly raised concerns that he seemed obsessed with the idea that U.S. military actions amounted to a war on Islam.


After Monday's proceeding, Hasan's chief defense lawyer, retired Col. John Galligan of Belton, hinted at groundwork for such a defense. He said the defense's decision not to present evidence was partially based on the government's refusal to hand over full results of three investigations.


Those include a continuing inquiry into some of Hasan's supervisors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a White House-ordered review of U.S. intelligence monitoring of Hasan's contacts with Islamic militants and a portion of a Defense Department investigation that hasn't been made public.


When prosecutors concluded their pretrial case last month, they told Pohl that senior intelligence officials had decided not to release the White House report to Hasan's lawyers because it was classified.


Galligan noted Monday that he asked nearly a year ago to have his security clearance reinstated.



"If you don't get a proper pretrial process, regardless of what the evidence is, you can't have a fair trial," Galligan said.

[vector7]

Obama Administration Calling Fort Hood Massacre 'Workplace Violence'


Published December 07, 2011

| FoxNews.com



AP/Bell Couty Sheriffs Department

April 9, 2010: FILE - This file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department shows U.S. Major Nidal Hasan at the Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas. Hasan was charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage.

Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation's Armed Forces at home.

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.

Thirteen people were killed and dozens more wounded at Fort Hood in 2009, and the number of alleged plots targeting the military has grown significantly since then. Lawmakers said there have been 33 plots against the U.S. military since Sept. 11, 2001, and 70 percent of those threats have been since mid-2009.

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the military has become a "direct target of violent Islamist extremism" within the United States.

"The stark reality is that the American service member is increasingly in the terrorists' scope and not just overseas in a traditional war setting," Lieberman told Fox News before the start of Wednesday's hearing.

In June, two men allegedly plotted to attack a Seattle, Wash., military installation using guns and grenades. In July, Army Pvt. Naser Abdo was accused of planning a second attack on Fort Hood. And in November, New York police arrested Jose Pimentel, who alleged sought to kill service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Both Pimentel and Abdo allegedly drew inspiration from the American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and the online jihadist magazine Inspire, which includes a spread on how to "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."

Rep. Peter King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said military service members are "symbols of America's power, symbols of America's might."

"And if they (military personnel) can be killed, then that is a great propaganda victory for al Qaeda," King told Fox News.

King said there is also evidence that extremists have joined the services.

"There is a serious threat within the military from people who have enlisted who are radical jihadists," King said. "The Defense Department is very concerned about them. They feel they're a threat to the military both for what they can do within the military itself and also because of the weapons skills they acquire while they're in the military."

The witnesses testifying before the joint session include Paul N. Stockton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense; Jim Stuteville, U.S. Army senior adviser for counterintelligence operations and liaison to the FBI; Lt. Col. Reid L. Sawyer, director of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and Darius Long, whose son, Army Pvt. William Andrew Long, was shot and killed at an Arkansas military recruitment center in 2009.

A second private was also injured in the Arkansas attack. Both victims had just finished basic training and had not been deployed. They were outside the Arkansas recruitment center when the shooter opened fire from a passing truck. The shooter, Carlos Bledsoe, pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this year.

In a letter to the court, Bledsoe said he carried out the attack on behalf of al Qaeda in Yemen -- the group that was behind the last two major plots targeting the U.S. airline industry.

"My faith in government is diminished. It invents euphemisms ... Little Rock is a drive by and Fort Hood is just workplace violence. The truth is denied," Long testified.

King said the web is the driver of the new digital jihad.

"It enables people -- rather than having to travel to Afghanistan to learn about jihad or to be trained, they can do it right over the Internet," he said. "And this is a growing role."

And while al-Awlaki and his colleague Samir Khan, who was behind the magazine Inspire, were killed in a CIA-led operation in September, King warned against overconfidence that al Qaeda in Yemen was done.

"This is a definite short-term victory for us. There's no doubt they are going to regroup, that there will be others who will be providing Internet data, inspiration to jihadists in this country, instructions on how to make bombs," he said.

While King was heavily criticized, in some quarters, for launching his hearings 10 months ago on homegrown terrorism, the congressman said the joint session shows the threat is legitimate, and recognized as such by other members of Congress.

"To me it's a validation of what I've been trying to do all year," King emphasized. "There's a definite threat from Islamic radicalization in various parts of our society, including within the military, and we can't allow political correctness to keep us from exposing this threat for what it is."

[American Patriot]

Work place violence.....

Ok then....

Now I've heard everything.

[Phil Fiord]

The label is true, but way too broad a label. This fits nicely with O trying to pacify radicals.

[vector7]

Rules for Radicals

[Ryan Ruck]

Fort Hood Shooter Trial Delayed Indefinitely Over Beard

August 18, 2012

A military appeals court placed the trial for accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan on hold indefinitely Friday amid continuing issues surrounding Hasan’s refusal to shave his beard, CNN reported.

The court martial was first halted Wednesday so the appeals court could consider the Army psychiatrist’s objections to being forcibly shaved. He has been fined and held in contempt repeatedly for remaining bearded, which is a violation of Army regulations, but says the facial hair is an expression of his faith. Hasan, 41, is an American-born Muslim.

Hasan’s court martial had been scheduled to start Monday for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, for which he faces 13 charges of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted meditated murder.

Hasan first grew the beard in June, prompting a pre-trial hearing to be postponed. The judge in the case, Col. Gregory Gross, threatened in July to have Hasan forcibly shaved if he did not comply with orders to remove the beard on his own.

According to CNN, it was unclear how long the case would be on hold.

[American Patriot]

I think they need to forcibly shave him. At the neck.

[Ryan Ruck]

Baseball bats work for removing facial hair don't they?

Oh well, we could always try and see if they do.

[MinutemanCO]

I wouldn't be surprised if some little puke of a leftist NYU lawyer from the ACLU counseled Hasan to give up shaving for Ramadan.

[American Patriot]

Still think they need to just use a sword... and trim him from the shoulders up.....

September 6, 2012 1:35 PM


Judge to Fort Hood suspect: Shave or be shaved


Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, is seen in this undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram)
Tragedy at Fort Hood

• Judge to Fort Hood suspect: Shave or be shaved
• Fort Hood suspect explains controversial beard
• Judge: Fort Hood suspect can be forcibly shaved

• Profiles of Ft. Hood Shooter's Victims
• Fort Hood suspect's trial on hold over beard
• Complete Coverage »

Updated at 2:29 p.m. ET
(AP) FORT HOOD, Texas - The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage must be clean-shaven or will be forcibly shaved before his murder trial, a military judge ordered Thursday.


Col. Gregory Gross issued the official order after a hearing to determine whether a federal religious freedom law applied to Hasan's case, and triggered another delay in all proceedings related to Hasan's trial because his attorneys plan to appeal.
Beards are a violation of Army regulations, and soldiers who disobey orders to get rid of facial hair can be shaved against their will. Gross repeatedly has said Hasan's beard, which he started growing in jail this summer, is a disruption to the court proceedings.


Hasan told the judge last week that he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it, not as a show of disrespect. Gross ruled Thursday that the defense didn't prove Hasan is growing a beard for sincere religious reasons.


Gross had found Hasan in contempt of court at six previous pretrial hearings because he was not clean-shaven, then sent him to a nearby trailer to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television. But the judge allowed Hasan to remain in the courtroom for Thursday's hearing.


Hasan, 41, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 attack on the Texas Army post.


Hasan previously appealed after Gross said he would order him to be shaved if he did not get rid of the beard himself before the trial. Gross said he wants Hasan in the courtroom during the court-martial to prevent a possible appeal on the issue if he is convicted.


The Army has specific guidelines on forced shaving. A team of five military police officers restrains the inmate "with the reasonable force necessary," and a medical professional is on hand in case of injuries. The shaving must be done with electric clippers and must be videotaped, according to Army rules.


Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled Hasan's earlier appeal was premature because Gross has not issued a definitive order. But the court said that when Gross issued the official order, Hasan would be able to take his case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

[American Patriot]

More DAMNED BULLSHIT -- this slime should be tried for TERRORISM and EXECUTED. Force him to shave, NOW so witnesses can ID him in court. Then try him for terrorism as a terrorist. This is CRAP



Fort Hood shooting judge removed for showing bias

| December 4, 2012 | Updated: December 4, 2012 11:31am

• 

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram shows Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage. A military appeals court has thrown out a judge's order to forcibly shave the Fort Hood shooting suspect and removed the judge from the case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 that Col. Gregory Gross didn't appear impartial while presiding over the case of Maj. Nidal Hasan. Photo: Bell County Sheriff's Department Via The Temple Daily Telegram / AP





FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The court martial against the Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage will move forward with a replacement to the military judge who insisted that the suspect be forcibly shaved — the biggest hurdle to a long-delayed trial.


The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled Monday that Col. Gregory Gross should no longer preside over the military trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan due in part to what it called a "duel of wills" between judge and defendant. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of murder in the November 2009 shooting rampage.


While in custody, Hasan has grown a beard that he says is an expression of his Islamic faith. Gross had sided with prosecutors who say the beard violates Army grooming standards and could confuse witnesses.


The court of appeals declined to rule on whether Hasan could keep the beard, but it also indicated that the next judge may not be the right authority to decide that issue, suggesting that the case will move forward.


Fort Hood officials said late Monday that proceedings in the case will resume after a new judge is appointed by the Army's highest legal branch. This indicates Army prosecutors will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.


Gross had repeatedly said Hasan's beard was a disruption to the court proceedings, but the military appeals court ruled there was insufficient evidence to show that was true.


"Should the next military judge find it necessary to address (Hasan's) beard, such issues should be addressed and litigated anew," judges wrote in the ruling. But they suggested that the next judge maybe should not rule on the beard matter at all.


"As an initial matter, the command, and not the military judge, has the primary responsibility for the enforcement of grooming standards," the court said.


An August trial date was put on hold over the beard. Gross had said that Hasan would be forcibly shaved before trial if he didn't remove the beard himself. Hasan appealed, and the appeals court stayed all court proceedings.


Gross found Hasan in contempt of court at six pretrial hearings due to his beard and sent him to a trailer to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit television. The appeals court's ruling also vacated the contempt of court convictions.


"The maintenance of discipline, unit cohesion and unit morale are command responsibilities and functions," it said. "A military judge's contempt authority is directed toward control of the courtroom."


The court said it was not ruling on whether the judge's order violated Hasan's religious rights.


Lead defense attorney Lt. Col. Kris Poppe said the judge showed a bias against Hasan when he asked defense attorneys to clean up a court restroom after Gross found a medical waste bag, adult diaper and what appeared to be feces on the floor after a June hearing. Hasan, who is paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police on the day of the shootings, has to wear adult diapers — but the mess in the restroom that day was mud from a guard's boots, Poppe said.


"In light of these rulings, and the military judge's accusations regarding the latrine, it could reasonably appear to an objective observer that the military judge had allowed the proceedings to become a duel of wills between himself and (Hasan) rather than an adjudication of the serious offenses with which (Hasan) is charged," judges wrote in the ruling.


Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted in the shootings on the Texas Army post that killed 13 people and wounded more than two dozen others.

[American Patriot]

Just for CLARITY



Before being charged with murder



After being charged with murder.

Now... it appears to me this freaking beard BS didn't mean a DAMNED thing before... while he was in a US military Uniform.

He is still getting PAID by the way as a MAJOR in the US ARMY.

This is CRAP.

[vector7]

DoD: Don’t Call Ft. Hood Casualties Victims of Terrorism

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Dan Zimmerman



“Legislation that would award the injured from the 2009 Fort Hood shooting the Purple Heart would adversely affect the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan by labeling the attack terrorism, according to a Defense Department document obtained by Fox News.” Because we can’t say a terrorist shouting “Allahu Akbar!” as he shot US soldiers during the War or Terror constitutes terrorism. And here’s their, um, thinking . . .

“Passage of this legislation could directly and indirectly influence potential court-martial panel members, witnesses, or the chain of command, all of whom exercise a critical role under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Defense counsel will argue that Major Hasan cannot receive a fair trial because a branch of government has indirectly declared that Major Hasan is a terrorist — that he is criminally culpable.”

As you’d expect, this isn’t sitting particularly well with the families of the victims.

“This is a cynical travesty. What the government has done by making this statement is guarantee that anything done to help the victims will effectively prevent or impair Hasan’s prosecution. There was no reason for the government to put this kind of a statement in writing, even if it were true (which it is not),” (counsel for the Fort Hood families, Neal) Sher said via email.

The DoD’s still taking the position that, rather than moving the battlefield to a US Army base, Hassan’s murders were and act of “workplace violence.” Just another whack-o coming unhinged and going postal as if he’d been just been fired. Which is of a piece with the administration’s continual efforts, since coming to power in 2008, to try other, even more unambiguous terrorists in civilian courts.

By doing so, the army, the DoD and the Obama administration dishonor the Ft. Hood victims and treat the American public like fools.



Fort Hood hero claims White House has ‘betrayed’ shooting victims as dramatic video is released of massacre’s aftermath

Sgt. Kimberly Munley told ABC News the survivors have been ‘neglected’ by President Obama and the government since the 2009 attack. A lawsuit claims the government is wrongly categorizing the attack as ‘workplace violence’ instead of terrorism. Maj. Nidal Hasan is accused of targeting his fellow soldiers and awaits a military trial.

By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 2:29 PM


ABC News

A soldier tries to revive a fallen comrade in dramatic video broadcast Tuesday by ABC News taken just after the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.

Rescue workers scrambled to save soldiers' lives amid a gunman’s bloody rampage at Fort Hood in 2009.
Dramatic video of the aftermath obtained by ABC News shows a glimpse of the havoc that rocked the Texas military base. The chaotic footage — including soldiers collapsed on the floor in pools of blood — will be broadcast Tuesday night on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”

Its release comes as heroes and survivors say the U.S. government has failed them.

A lawsuit filed Nov. 5 — on the third anniversary of the attack — alleges negligence and disputes the Department of Defense calling the shooting “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

RELATED: FORT HOOD SHOOTING SUSPECT APPEALS FORCIBLE BEARD-SHAVING RULING


ABC News

Footage broadcasted by ABC News shows a chaotic scene after the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, where a gunman killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.

Such a designation puts victims at a lower priority from veterans receiving medical care and affects their financial benefits because their injuries aren’t considered “combat related,” according to ABC News.

Neal Sher, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Daily News that "political correctness" may be keeping the government from labeling the shooting a terrorist act.

Witnesses said the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he fatally gunned down 12 soldiers and one civilian, as well as wounded 32 others. Some of the soldiers were bound for Afghanistan.

Virginia-born Hasan, 42, is awaiting a military trial and could be executed if convicted in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation. His attorneys have said he wants to plead guilty.


Uncredited/AP

Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, awaits a military trial.

Evidence suggests Hasan had been in email communication with Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a CIA-led drone strike in 2011.

The suit against the Department of Defense, the Justice Department and other government agencies is seeking unspecified damages.

Among the claimants is civilian police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who shot Hasan during the Fort Hood attack and was struck by gunfire.

She told ABC News that President Obama has “betrayed” the survivors.

TWO POLICE OFFICERS WHO TOOK DOWN FORT HOOD SHOOTER MAJOR NIDAL HASAN, LOSE THEIR JOBS AT ARMY BASE


Alex Wong/Getty Images

Police Officers Mark Todd (l.) and Kimberly Munley, who helped take down the Fort Hood gunman, look on before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in 2010.

“Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of,” she said. “In fact, they’ve been neglected.”
Munley added that the White House used her as a political prop when she sat next to Michelle Obama during the 2010 State of the Union address.

The Army declined to comment about pending litigation but disputed that victims have been neglected.
Sher said the U.S. military knew years earlier that Hasan was a ticking time bomb who supported Islamic extremism and violence — and the horrific attack could have been prevented.

“This was a tragedy that was completely avoidable,” Sher said. “To treat (victims) as callously as they’ve been treated is putting a mountain of salt on very deep wounds.”

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[American Patriot]

Could have SWORN I heard they were giving them a Purple Heart.

[American Patriot]

Accused Fort Hood Shooter Paid $278,000 While Awaiting Trial

Injured soldier outraged suspected shooter receives salary while his family financially struggles in recovery

By Scott Friedman

| Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | Updated 8:14 AM CDT

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[IMG]http://media.nbcdfw.com/images/654*368/hasan_520.jpg[/IMG]

Scott Friedman, NBC 5 Investigates

The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured.

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The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has now been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured. The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty.
If Hasan had been a civilian defense department employee, NBC 5 Investigates has learned, the Army could have suspended his pay after just seven days.
Personnel rules for most civilian government workers allow for "indefinite suspensions" in cases "when the agency has reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed."
Meanwhile, more than three years later soldiers wounded in the mass shooting are fighting to receive the same pay and medical benefits given to those wounded in combat.
Retired Army Spc. Logan Burnett, a reservist who, in 2009, was soon to be deployed to Iraq, was shot three times when a gunman opened fire inside the Army Deployment Center.
“I honestly thought I was going to die in that building,” said Burnett. “Just blood everywhere and then the thought of -- that's my blood everywhere.”
Burnett nearly died. He's had more than a dozen surgeries since the shooting, and says post-traumatic stress still keeps him up at night.
Burnett is now fighting a new battle; only this one is against the U.S. Army.
The Army has not classified the wounds of the Ft. Hood victims as “combat related” and declines to label the shooting a “terrorist attack”,
The “combat related” designation is an important one, for without it Burnett and other shooting victims are not given combat-related pay, they are not eligible for Purple Heart retirement or medical benefits given to other soldiers wounded either at war or during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.
As a result, Burnett, his wife Torey, and the families of other Fort Hood victims miss out on thousands of dollars of potential benefits and pay every year.
To Burnett the shooting felt like combat.
“You take three rounds and lose five good friends and watch seven other people get killed in front of you. Do you have another term that we can classify that as?” asked Burnett.
The Army has categorized the shooting as a case of “workplace violence.”
“Sickens me. Absolutely sickens me. Workplace violence? I don't even know if I have the words to say,” said Burnett.
"They don't need to be treated like this. They don't need to sit and fight every day for this benefit or that,” said Torey Burnett.
As that fight continues, Burnett was stunned to see a letter detailing the more $278,000 Hasan has been paid since his arrest. NBC 5 Investigates received the letter from the Department of Defense in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
"There have been times when my wife and I cannot afford groceries. We cannot afford gas in our car,” Burnett said. “Literally, times where we ate Ramen noodles for weeks on end. This [that Hasan is still earning a paycheck] makes me sick to my stomach,” said Burnett.
Burnett isn’t alone in his outrage.
“We're giving the defendant in this case every benefit of the doubt. But yet we're not giving the benefits to the victims,” said Rep. Thomas Rooney (R) Florida
Rooney, a former prosecutor at Fort Hood, recently signed a bi-partisan letter urging defense secretary Chuck Hagel to "...reclassify the victims' deaths and injuries as 'combat related'..."
The letter said the current situation has "...resulted in an embarrassing lack of care and treatment for the victims and their families."
“What happened here is not a case of workplace violence. What happened here was an attack on our military by a terrorist element specifically targeting our military, which just so happened to be in the United States of America,” said Rooney.
Reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed Hasan was communicating with a member of Al Qaida prior to the shooting. Additionally, the government’s National Counterterrorism Center lists the shooting at Fort Hood as a “high fatality terrorist attack.”
Rooney said he's also willing to consider whether Congress should change the rules, so the Army could suspend the pay of soldiers arrested for crimes against fellow soldiers.
NBC 5 Investigates wanted to ask Pentagon officials about Hasan's pay and the decision to classify the shooting as workplace violence, but the Army turned down requests for an interview. However, the Army's Chief of Media Relations told NBC 5 Investigates: "The Department of Defense is committed to the integrity of the ongoing court martial proceedings of Major Nidal Hasan and for that reason will not further characterize, at this time, the incident that occurred at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009.”
Burnett, who recently retired from the Army and moved to Arkansas to live with family and save some money, has joined dozens of other Fort Hood victims in a lawsuit against the Army demanding the benefits they believe they've been unfairly denied.
“I refuse to continue letting Nidal Hasan win. And I leave the "Major" part out, because even though, unfortunately, he's still being paid better than I am, he doesn't deserve that rank,” said Burnett.
A lawyer who once represented Hasan previously claimed his client couldn’t find a bank that would deposit his Army paychecks, but a spokesman at Fort Hood told NBC 5 Investigates that that issue has since been resolved; meaning Hasan or his family can access the money.
The Army could get some money back from Hasan by demanding re-payment for the cost of treating the wounds he sustained when a police officer shot him during the incident. However, military officials would not tell NBC 5 Investigates if they plan to do that.
With the trial expected to begin this summer, Hasan’s lawyer declined to comment on this story.