Army psychiatrist identified as attacker is captured alive, general says

[Nikki Stone1]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33678801/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 3 minutes ago
An Army psychiatrist opened fire Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others, military officials said.

The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded multiple times at the scene but was captured alive and was in stable condition, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, said at a press conference late Thursday.

Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported. Cone said that most of those shots were military but two were civilians.

U.S. officials said Hasan was an Army psychiatrist who had been promoted to major in May, NBC News reported. Defense officials said Hasan, 39, arrived at Fort Hood in July after practicing for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which included a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry.

Cone also said that a female first responder shot Hasan and was herself wounded and was being treated in a hospital. Cone said that Hasan was in custody at a hospital and that his death was not imminent.

Hasan was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq on Nov. 28, officials said. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was “pretty upset” about his deployment orders.

The Associated Press, quoting federal law enforcement officials, said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials said they were still trying to confirm that he was the author....

[imdjh]

1. And I said nothing.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Also, he has never been depolyed to a war zone. Yet some speculate it was PTSD

In the absence of facts, people make shit up.

Reporters are no less guilty than anyone else.

[FarCenter]

3. If he was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed, he was most likely working with severly wounded from Iraq

Many of the wounded survive because of body armor, but their heads are pretty scrambled by the blast.

He would also likely be working with soldiers who were stressed by what they had seen or done in Iraq.

[glinda]

5. I think he cracked. Hearing those stories day in and day out. Worried that he was barely

hanging on mentally after hearing them and dreading that he would become one of those people telling the stories. I think he panicked and cracked.

[Nikki Stone1]

7. I think you're on the money here.

..

[pscot]

4. After 6 years in DC

the transfer to Ft.Hood must have been pretty traumatic. He'd had a soft berth, and now the army wanted him to pay some dues. He flipped out.

[branders seine]

6. One can suffer from PTSD based on working with extremely disturbed people.

I know personally of just such a case of PTSD.

[demosincebirth]

8. Maybe he just hated the U.S. and decided...

to take out a few of his fellow soldiers. You guys can make all the excuses you want for this shit-head, but the fact is that 12 U.S. soldiers are dead and many injured...tell that to the families of those killed. Do you think they'll give him a pass because some asses, here, think he may have PTSD? I don't think so. Too bad the shit head lived, now it'll cost us millions and millions of dollars to keep this ass-hole alive for a trial,(in maybe five of six years) so he can spend the rest of his life in a six x twelve eating three squares a day on our dine.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. Yeah, the guy hated America so much that he spent 20 years in the military

That makes a lot of fucking sense.

[demosincebirth]

12. More sense than PTSD..

[bobbolink]

21. Oh, yeah... you're the "expert"

I'm sure if you'll call Limpballs, he'll have you on his program to "testify".

[demosincebirth]

22. I'm not an expert at any thing... but we seem to have enough of 'em here on DU

[TicketyBoo]

15. What I heard on MSNBC

was that he started at Virginia Tech ROTC in 1995, got his undergraduate degree (and some said his Master's) there, and then went to Bethesda for medical training. Promoted to Major this past May.

He was born in Virginia, so a natural-born citizen.

They are reporting that his cousin said he has been kind of freaking out about the concept of being deployed to the Middle East ever since 9/11 and the start of the war, and now it was happening. (Deployment date of 11/28/09.)

So, basically, he snapped.

I, for one, am glad that he wasn't killed. The families may get some kind of an explanation to help them accept this awful thing, sick though that explanation may be.

He could be tried for treason, I would think. And should be.

[uppityperson]

11. There is a difference between excuse and explanation. Most of us try to figure out WHY something

happens, while others just react to what happened.

[demosincebirth]

13. Just like the two farmers arguing about how the horse got ...

into the ditch, instead of trying to figure out how to get him out.

[uppityperson]

17. "Do you think they'll give him a pass because some asses, here, think he may have PTSD?" Who is say

Who here is saying "give him a pass"? Who? Trying to figure out "why" is what we are musing about. I am glad that he didn't get killed BECAUSE maybe they can figure out wtf went wrong with him and prevent that from happening in the future.

[paulsby]

14. "try to figure out"

more properly described as engage in wild assed guesses.

[uppityperson]

16. You mean like "Maybe he just hated the U.S. and decided to take out a few of his fellow soldiers"?

I agree that trying to come to any firm conclusion is difficult until enough time has passed for accurate info to get out. The first while after an incident, media is very concerned with being the first to scoop a story, rather than waiting to find out what is real.

That said, there is a difference between excusing behavior and explaining behavior. Nothing excuses mass murders, but there can be explanations as to why they happen.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. If you think I'm defending him ANY WAY, you're so far off base, you're on another planet.

What I am doing is calling the people who make shit up instead of waiting for facts.

[bobbolink]

20. Grow a heart.

Been listening to Glenn Beck?

[demosincebirth]

19. I'm not disagreeing with you...just making a statement.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Remember all the times our government has lied to us? I don't believe anything I can't

independently verify. :(

[thepeopleunited]

23. I think that is good advice.

In this case particularly. MIC + Texas + Islam = extremely dubious.