Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact Al Qaeda

[BennyD]

Source: ABC News

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

One senior lawmaker said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts.

CIA director Leon Panetta and the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, have been asked by Congress "to preserve" all documents and intelligence files that relate to Hasan, according to the lawmaker.

Investigators want to know if Hasan maintained contact with a radical mosque leader from Virginia, Anwar al Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen and runs a web site that promotes jihad around the world against the U.S.

In a blog posting early Monday titled "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing," Awlaki calls Hassan a "hero" and a "man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people."

According to his site, Awlaki served as an imam in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Major Hasan attended the Falls Church mosque when Awlaki was there.

The Telegraph of London reported that Awlaki had made contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers when he was in San Diego.

<snip>

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873

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I can't imagine being a family member who lost their loved one in this massacre and now learning that the U.S. govt. knew of this man's attempts to contact Al Qaeda. Unbelievable!

[geek tragedy]

1. Wow, if this is true, some heads should roll. nt

[Newsjock]

2. More anonymous sources from "Path to 9/11" ABC News

"Senior lawmaker" probably equals Joe Lieberman.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Is it terrorism yet? Or still just a sad postal case?

[EFerrari]

17. Do you need it to be terrorism? The more important thing here

is that there were people in a position to park this man before he went off and they didn't. If you need to be afraid, I'd be afraid of that.

[zonkers]

4. Maybe he just wanted some hats and t shirts.

[FARAFIELD]

5. hey BENNY D you have a major FACT wrong in the article

The associated press did NOT report that he "ATTENDED" the mosque IN falls church when AWLAKI was there, (IN fact he was a member of another mosque) what he DID was attend the funeral of his MOTHER, when she died in 2000 or 2001, at that mosque as his parents were members. If you are going to write something at least make it right. The parents of that guy who killed that family in COeur D'alene and kidnapped the little girl (she was found later) attended my parents church (where my daughter had her first communion as well. Are my PARENTS LINKED to the Killings. Its these type of crappy posts that make me sick.

[BennyD]

8. Hey, FARAFIELD, I didn't write the article. I only posted it. n/t

[Sancho]

6. If you try to carry a bottle of water on a plane, you're in big trouble...

but supposedly this guy's supervisors and coworkers reported him, he seems to have been picked up on the internet traffic by the FBI, and he may or may not have met the Awlaki character. It just goes to show that the real breakdown is not usually having information, but failure to act.

[KittyWampus]

7. extrapolating that Hasan knew Al Awalaki = he was "in contact w/ Al Qaeda" is disingenuous at best

and purposefully dishonest at worst.

[Crowman1979]

9. So the CIA witheld information in order to let this shooting rampage occur?!?!

Guess the Military Industrial Complex needed to keep that Global Farce on Terrorism rolling along. :mad:

[AntiFascist]

11. How convenient it is to stir up all this anger....

just in the nick of time when we are deciding to send more troops to Afghanistan. PNAC may have a chance after all.

[24601]

20. The Obama-Pannetta CIA? Slanderous! n/t

[question everything]

10. Hard to believe

I watched this on ABC News. Someone will have to provide answers.

[FastHorizon]

12. U.S. Knew of Suspect’s Tie to Radical Cleric

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — Intelligence agencies intercepted communications last year and this year between the military psychiatrist 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 the federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding that the messages from the psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, did not suggest any threat of violence and concluding that no further action was warranted, government officials said Monday.

Major Hasan’s 10 to 20 messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in suburban Virginia where Major Hasan worshiped, indicate that the troubled military psychiatrist came to the attention of the authorities long before last Thursday’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, but that the authorities left him in his post.

...

The imam whom Major Hasan made contact with is an American citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents. He wrote on Monday on his English-language Web site that Major Hasan was “a hero.” The cleric said, “He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10inquire.html

[sinkingfeeling]

13. This is beginning to appear as another epic failure of the US military complex. I still want to know

where they were on 9/11. We spend more money on our military than all the rest of the world combined, and it has become so huge that it's no longer competent.

This is not a put down of the members of the military.

[WriteDown]

14. What would you have them do?

"But the federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding that the messages from the psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, did not suggest any threat of violence and concluding that no further action was warranted, government officials said Monday."

[EFerrari]

15. Yep. And the mixed signals about him are what CYA looks like.

Shame on these @ssholes for not looking at him more closely.

It becomes more obvious all the time that "national security" has nothing to do with keeping the nation safe.

[Newsjock]

16. Why is it always called a Muslim 'cleric' but never a Christian 'cleric'?

Just sayin'.

[EFerrari]

18. No kidding. n/t

[scrinmaster]

22. They'd say reverend, pastor, priest, etc.

[Sultana]

23. LOL

[24601]

19. Ya gotta decide if religious-based violence is a law enforcement

problem to be investigated after the fact, or a threat to be detected and prevented. God-forbid law enforcement and intelligence collaborate on this stuff. Maybe if we had an effective surveillance program that detected potential threats and provided the basis for follow-on warrants authorizing detailed wiretap reconnaissance. Oops, been there, done that, got the t-shirt...bad karma.

[boppers]

21. What's his Bacon number?

He talked to a guy, who talked to a guy, who was in Al Qaeda?

Drawing bullshit conclusions like "Hasan Efforts to Contact Al Qaeda" are just as valid as "Saddam Efforts to Contact Al Qaeda" were.

I suppose the people who fell for that line would fall for this one, too. Sadly.