Just weeks after trying to make nice at a town hall meeting, Muslim leaders and the office of U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., are again trading charges and counter charges.
At a news conference Wednesday, leaders of the Islamic Center of Charlotte said they and other local Muslims were victims of "a campaign of fear and smear" that has sought to link them with terrorism.
Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the mosque on Progress Lane, blamed the "baseless attacks" on Sue Myrick's office and on WBT (1110-AM), which gave the claims wide airing.
Observer calls and e-mails to Myrick's office were not returned. Neither was a call to WBT.
At issue is a charge first leveled at the end of the Feb. 26 town hall meeting by Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim physician and political ally of Myrick's who heads the Arizona-based Islamic Forum for Democracy.
At the town hall meeting - Myrick turned the microphone over to him - then again on Keith Larson's morning show on WBT, Jasser pointed out that the deed to the Islamic Center of Charlotte's property is held by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which he charged has ties to terrorism.
Larson also had Hough on his show, confronting him with the charges.
In 2007, the Indiana-based NAIT was among hundreds of Muslim groups named as "Unindicted co-conspirators" in a Federal case in Dallas.
The U.S. Justice Department charged that the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim charity, had funneled money to Hamas, which has been labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. government. The case ended in a mistrial and, on retrial, produced convictions.
After the Larson show, during which Hough acknowledged that NAIT held the deed, Myrick's office sent reporters links to the radio show and a follow-up report on WBTV (Channel 3).
On Wednesday, Hough and Izzat Saymeh, who also spoke at the news conference, said NAIT holds the deed for their mosque - and for more than 300 others in the United States.
NAIT, founded in 1973, holds the deed "in order to protect the status of the property. ... (Mosques) are traditionally looked after by a trust," said Saymeh, the mosque's volunteer outreach coordinator. It also offers interest-free loans, in accordance with Islamic law, though the Charlotte mosque did not borrow from NAIT, said Saymeh.
Hough and Saymeh also said the Islamic Center of Charlotte has local leaders, who independently decide its mission and policies.
"There's no real contact (with NAIT), except when we're getting ready to buy or sell a piece of property," Hough said. "(NAIT) doesn't send down a school of thought and they do not dictate."
In addition, Hough said, the Charlotte mosque - with 800 worshippers who've come from 30 different countries - has good relations with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the FBI, and is involved in interfaith and other outreach efforts.
Asked about NAIT's status as unindicted co-conspirator in the Dallas case, Saymeh said, "I highly doubt that they are (tied to terrorists). If they were, the government would have brought them to trial. ... Muslims have been experiencing, in the last nine or 10 years, guilt by association. They're guilty of being Muslim."
Also at the news conference, the Muslim leaders handed out brochures that included passages from the Quran, their holy book, that condemned the killing of innocent people.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) met face-to-face Thursday in a town hall meeting with members of Charlotte's Muslim community, defending controversial comments she's made about Islamic extremists.
Myrick stepped into the fire last year when she began talking about her concerns that radical Muslims are "infiltrating" American institutions, including the U.S. government.
In the foreword to a book titled, "Muslim Mafia," Myrick wrote, "America is asleep to the danger that confronts us. Since the 1960s there has been a concerted effort on the part of radical Islamists to infiltrate our major institutions."
Myrick also publicly requested an investigation into the Council of American Islamic Relations, accusing the civil rights organization of "infiltrating" the offices of key members of Congress by placing interns there.
In November, when Army Major Nadal Hasan shot 13 people at Fort Hood, Myrick said some of her fears were realized.
Supporters call her words courageous. Several Muslim groups, including the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and it's founder Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, support her.
Myrick said the purpose of Thursday night's forum was to reach out and discuss those topics, especially with many Muslims who complained the congresswoman was painting their community with too broad a brush.
The Government Center auditorium where a forum was held was packed. Many people in the crowd wore traditional Muslim head coverings, but there were also dozens of non-Muslims who told NewsChannel 36 they came to learn or to support the congresswoman.
"When I talk about that, I talk about people who are supporters or sympathizers with a radical agenda that they would like to see implemented. It isn’t all Muslims are bad or that all Muslims are trying to do this," Myrick explained. "Radicalism is like a form of cancer that humanity has and we have the means to cure it...We need to stand up against it and find ways to solve it."
"I feel the hurt of Americans, but I also feel the hurt of Muslims who have nothing to do with what's going on," said Khalil Akbar, a local man. "No one has ever said to me, 'Blow up anything,' because if I heard that kind of rhetoric I would be the first one to deal with it."
"As citizens of a non-Muslim country, we have a contract with America, not a contract on America," Jibril Hough, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, said.
Hough and Akbar both encouraged Myrick to visit a mosque or Islamic center and continue the conversation.
As she left for Washington Thursday night, Myrick pledged to make this just a first step. "We'll see where we go from here," she said.
Here's what U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Cherryville Republican, had to say about the health care bill that passed the House last night. McHenry voted "no," reports Barb Barrett.
"This is an anti-jobs bill," McHenry said. "Instead of helping businesses create jobs it will increase federal spending, raise taxes and slow economic growth."
The fight goes on, McHenry added.
"This summer more than 5,000 people stood up against Obamacare at the 11 town halls I held across Western North Carolina," he said. "The battle against government-run health care is one of the most important I have ever fought and I am not about to give up now. I will work with like-minded Americans across our nation to repeal or challenge this unconstitutional government takeover."
Here's what U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Banner Elk Republican, had to say about the health care bill that passed the House last night. Foxx voted "no," reports Barb Barrett.
"Now more than ever we need sensible health care reform," Foxx said. "That’s why it's so sad that the Democratic majority forced this overhaul through. This bill is bad medicine, plain and simple. It's chock full of government mandates, $569 billion in job-killing tax hikes and $1.2 trillion in new government spending."
Here's what U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, had to say about the health care bill that passed the House last night. Coble voted "no," reports Barb Barrett.
"Although a small portion of my constituents support this proposal, the vast majority wants nothing to do with it," Coble said. "Clearly there are areas of our health care system that need to be improved. That being said, this bill is a complete overhaul of the system. Make no mistake about it. This bill will put the government in control of our health care. It is a train wreck waiting to occur and considering our current economic morass, we need no train wrecks."
Here's what U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, had to say about the health care bill that passed the House last night. Myrick voted "no," reports Barb Barrett.
"Talk about creating jobs." Myrick said. "The majority has written a bill that requires approximately 16,500 additional IRS agents, auditors and other employees. Under this bill, these new government employees will be able to determine if you have 'acceptable' health coverage, and fine you if you don't. If you can't pay the fine, they'll now have the authority to confiscate your tax return. To top it off, $10 billion of your tax dollars will be used to pay for these gross expansions. More bureaucracy. It's just what the doctor ordered."
Here's what U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, a Biscoe Democrat, had to say about the health care bill that passed the House last night. Kissell voted "no," Barb Barrett reports.
"I promised to protect Medicare," Kissell said. "While I believe we need health care reform and was proud to be an original co-sponsor of the bill to end the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies, I gave my word to the citizens of the 8th District that I would protect Medicare. The Senate Health Care Bill cuts Medicare by nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years and those cuts were not addressed in the Reconciliation Bill. I am a man of my word, and I have kept my word to protect Medicare."
A Yemeni-American Muslim preacher known for his ties to extremists operating in the U.S. called on American Muslims in a new audio message to turn against their government because of its actions against Muslims around the world.
Anwar al-Awlaki's latest message, excerpts of which were aired on CNN Wednesday, described his own radicalization after U.S. operations against Muslims and called on those in the U.S. to follow his path.
"I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other Muslim," he said in his American-accented English.
SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web Sites, confirmed the existence of the audio message when contacted by The Associated Press.
"To the Muslims in America I have this to say, how can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation responsible for the tyranny and crimes against your own brothers and sisters?" he asked. "How can you have loyalty to a government leading the war against Islam and Muslims?"
Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Yemeni security officials say they believe he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants.
He was in regular contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people in a rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. The two had 10 to 20 e-mail exchanges over several months last year.
Al-Awlaki also is believed to have been in touch with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who attempted to blow up a passenger airliner in Detroit on Christmas day with explosives concealed in his underwear.
"Our brother, Umar Farouk, has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the U.S. government alone over $40 billion since 9/11," he said in an unaired excerpt of the tape provided by SITE.
In Washington, a U.S. official said al-Awlaki was also in contact at one point with Sharif Mobley, a New Jersey man now being held in Yemen as a terror suspect, who allegedly tried to shoot his way out of a hospital there. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. authorities have been increasingly worried about the presence of Americans supporting jihad inside the country. Over the past week, a Pennsylvania woman, who went by the name "Jihad Jane," was accused in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist; a New Jersey man was held by authorities in Yemen; and five young Pakistani-American men from Northern Virginia were charged by Pakistani officials with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country.
More than a dozen Americans have been captured or identified by the U.S. government and its allies as actively supporting jihad, or holy war, in the past two years.
Al-Awlaki has for years posted messages online supporting violent Islamic extremism. A U.S. citizen himself, he has targeted his message, particularly in Internet postings, to the English-speaking audience.
On March 7, al-Qaida's American-born spokesman Adam Gadahn called on Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces to emulate Hasan, whom he called a role model, and attack the military.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) met face-to-face Thursday in a town hall meeting with members of Charlotte's Muslim community, defending controversial comments she's made about Islamic extremists.
Myrick stepped into the fire last year when she began talking about her concerns that radical Muslims are "infiltrating" American institutions, including the U.S. government.
In the foreword to a book titled, "Muslim Mafia," Myrick wrote, "America is asleep to the danger that confronts us. Since the 1960s there has been a concerted effort on the part of radical Islamists to infiltrate our major institutions."
Myrick also publicly requested an investigation into the Council of American Islamic Relations, accusing the civil rights organization of "infiltrating" the offices of key members of Congress by placing interns there.
In November, when Army Major Nadal Hasan shot 13 people at Fort Hood, Myrick said some of her fears were realized.
Supporters call her words courageous. Several Muslim groups, including the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and it's founder Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, support her.
Myrick said the purpose of Thursday night's forum was to reach out and discuss those topics, especially with many Muslims who complained the congresswoman was painting their community with too broad a brush.
The Government Center auditorium where a forum was held was packed. Many people in the crowd wore traditional Muslim head coverings, but there were also dozens of non-Muslims who told NewsChannel 36 they came to learn or to support the congresswoman.
"When I talk about that, I talk about people who are supporters or sympathizers with a radical agenda that they would like to see implemented. It isn’t all Muslims are bad or that all Muslims are trying to do this," Myrick explained. "Radicalism is like a form of cancer that humanity has and we have the means to cure it...We need to stand up against it and find ways to solve it."
"I feel the hurt of Americans, but I also feel the hurt of Muslims who have nothing to do with what's going on," said Khalil Akbar, a local man. "No one has ever said to me, 'Blow up anything,' because if I heard that kind of rhetoric I would be the first one to deal with it."
"As citizens of a non-Muslim country, we have a contract with America, not a contract on America," Jibril Hough, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, said.
Hough and Akbar both encouraged Myrick to visit a mosque or Islamic center and continue the conversation.
As she left for Washington Thursday night, Myrick pledged to make this just a first step. "We'll see where we go from here," she said.
Call me a prude if you will but I think American citizens regardless of their Political Affiliation or Ethnicity should listen to what Rep. Sue Myrick is saying about Terrorism and take it very seriously.
Sue Myrick is NOT trying to place Fear in our hearts or encourage Discrimination against Muslims.
Instead Rep. Myrick is simply trying to make us aware of what's going on behind the scenes of our Government as it relates to how they handle Terrorism threats.
After all she is a U.S. Congresswoman who has access to Classified Gov't Documents that the average American citizen doesn't.
For the record it really shouldn't matter if Pres. Obama calls Al-Qaida Operatives "Extremists" or if Sue Myrick calls them "Radical Islamists".
A Terrorist is a Terrorist!
Can we please stop the Semantics?
This isn't an I.Q. Test or a Spelling Bee.
Fighting the War on Terror needs to be a concerted, bi-partisan effort don't you agree?
Watch her videos below and you will see why what she states has merit.
I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Thank God Umar Mutallab's Terror Attempt failed on Christmas Day.
I truly believe someone onboard Flight 253 was praying for God's Divine Protection. Thus the failed Terror Attempt.
"The American people aren't being told the truth about Terrorism", according to U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick.
In the wake of a failed attack on a plane bound for Detroit in December, she warns on two new videos that citizens haven't been told that some people are willing to blow themselves up to hurt Americans, that jihadists exist who want to destroy Western democracies, that extremists are being radicalized through the Internet.
Myrick, a Charlotte Republican, launched an ongoing YouTube video series last week. In the first video, called "Beyond Terrorism: The Whole Story," she warns that extremists may live in our midst, perhaps even in our government.
"You're not being told the whole story about why these incidents are happening," Myrick tells the camera. "This is something that nobody ever tells you."
Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee for nearly a year, has long been worried about extreme Islam and jihadists. She held a roundtable last summer billed as the Moderate Muslim Summit on how to bring more anti-extremist views to the government's attention, and she has called for an investigation into a Pro-Muslim Advocacy Organization.
In an interview with The Charlotte Observer, Myrick said Friday she wants to educate the public about the larger terrorism picture, to help them connect the dots between an airplane near-miss here in the United States and the web of organizations abroad.
"This isn't something that's going to go away. The radical Islamists have long-term plans, and they're willing to wait," Myrick said. "Unless you're really educated on this, it sounds pretty far-fetched and wacky."
Myrick said the videos weren't about broad-brushing the Muslim religion, but about starting conversations among Americans and teaching them to be watchful in their communities.
So far, Myrick has posted two related videos on her congressional website. On them, she warns that the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt outside Detroit and the mass shooting last year at Fort Hood, Texas, are mere "tips of the iceberg" in what she calls a Jihad against America.
"There's a lot of radicalization on the Internet today," she says on the first video.
"There is radicalization in the mosques; there are people who have been indoctrinated into the same line of thinking who are in positions in our government."
In the second video, called "Fort Hood: What You're Not Hearing," Myrick's views are interspersed with four experts, including a cloaked former FBI agent, about the mass shooting by Army Maj. Nidal Hasan in November.
Among them is Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a frequent Fox News commentator who has advocated airport screening based in part on religion and ethnicity. In the Myrick video, he tells an unseen interviewer, "Maj. Hasan was an unequivocally Islamist terrorist committed to jihad."
Upcoming videos may include snippets from last summer's roundtable, or about the Muslim Brotherhood organization, Myrick said Friday.
"I call it a conversation with America," she said. "I want us as a country to talk about this, because it's like the elephant in the room. We need to face the problems that we have."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, has long been accused of having ties to terrorists. Now the group may be facing its most serious charges yet.
Four Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, are calling for a federal investigation into CAIR. At a press conference on Capitol Hill, they cited explosive new documents contained in a new book about CAIR called "Muslim Mafia."
Curry’s extended interview with Ahmadinejad. Watch Ann Curry’s exclusive interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Federal prosecutors Thursday took steps to seize four U.S. mosques and a Fifth Avenue skyscraper owned by a nonprofit Muslim organization long suspected of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government.
In what could prove to be one of the biggest Counter Terrorism seizures in U.S. history, prosecutors filed a civil complaint in federal court seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in assets of the Alavi Foundation and an alleged front company.
The assets include Islamic centers in New York City, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres in Virginia, and a 36-story office tower in New York.
Seizing the properties would be a sharp blow against Iran, which has been accused by the U.S. government of bankrolling terrorism and seeking a nuclear bomb.
A telephone call and e-mail to Iran's U.N. mission seeking comment were not immediately answered.
Religious backlash possible
It is extremely rare for U.S. law enforcement authorities to seize a house of worship, a step fraught with questions about the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
The action against the Shiite Muslim mosques is sure to inflame relations between the U.S. government and American Muslims, many of whom are fearful of a backlash after last week's Fort Hood shooting rampage, blamed on a Muslim American soldier.
The mosques and the office tower will remain open while the forfeiture case works its way through court in what could be a long process. What will happen to them if the government ultimately prevails is unclear. But the government typically sells properties it has seized through forfeiture, and the proceeds are sometimes distributed to crime victims.
There were no raids Thursday as part of the forfeiture action. The government is simply required to post notices of the civil complaint on the property.
Prosecutors said the Alavi Foundation, through a front company known as Assa Corp., illegally funneled millions in rental income back to Iran's state-owned Bank Melli. Bank Melli has been accused by a U.S. Treasury official of providing support for Iran's nuclear program, and it is illegal in the United States to do business with the bank.
Government officials have long suspected the foundation was an arm of the Iranian government; a 97-page complaint details involvement of several top officials in foundation business, including the country's deputy prime minister and ambassadors to the United Nations.
"For two decades, the Alavi Foundation's affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series of American laws," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
The skyscraper, known as the Piaget building, was erected in the 1970s under the shah of Iran, who was overthrown in 1979. The tenants include law and investment firms and other businesses.
The sleek, modern building, last valued at $570 million to $650 million in 2007, has served as important source of income for the foundation over the past 36 years. The most recent tax records show the foundation earned $4.5 million from rents in 2007.
Rents collected from the building help fund the centers and other ventures, such as sending imprisoned Muslims in the U.S. educational literature. The foundation has also invested in dozens of mosques around the country and supported Iranian academics at prominent universities.
Extremely rare
If federal prosecutors seize the skyscraper, the Alavi Foundation would have almost no way to continue supporting the Islamic centers, which house schools and mosques. That could leave a major void in Shiite communities, and hard feelings toward the FBI.
Legal scholars who specialize in religious liberty issues said they know of only a few cases in U.S. history in which law enforcement authorities have seized a house of worship. Marc Stern, a religious-liberty expert with the American Jewish Congress, called such cases "extremely rare."
The Alavi Foundation is the successor organization to the Pahlavi Foundation, a nonprofit group used by the shah to advance Iran's charitable interests in America. But authorities said its agenda changed after the fall of the shah.
In 2007, the United States accused Bank Melli of providing services to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs and put the bank on its list of companies whose assets must be frozen.
The United States has imposed sanctions against various other Iranian banks and other businesses.
Although U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte doesn't sit on the House Financial Services Committee, she said Friday she has been talking with colleagues about how to make sure that Bank of America doesn't leave the Queen City no matter who is named as its next chief executive officer.
Myrick, a former mayor, said it's up to the bank's board of directors to name the new CEO.
“Once the decision's made, it's up to the community to come together to convince them they need to keep the presence in Charlotte,” Myrick, a Republican, said in an interview.
“It's of great concern to everybody,” she said. “Nobody has said they are moving. But there are rumors all over the place.”
Myrick said she has a good relationship with Democratic U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, and has spoken with him about the issue.
“I talk to Barney all the time,” Myrick said. “Barney has basically said he believes there's a place for both Charlotte and Boston.”
A leading candidate for the CEO position, Bank of America consumer banking chief Brian Moynihan, is a former FleetBoston Financial executive who still has offices in Boston.
But, as her Democratic colleague Mel Watt pointed out this week, Myrick said the decision isn't up to Congress.
“This isn't a congressional decision, as everybody knows,” she said.
Fort Hood has set up a hotline for relatives of soldiers at the base to call for more information. The numbers, which are for family members only, are 254-288-7570 and 866-836 2751.
Relatives can also register and search on the Red Cross’ Safe and Well site to find out more.
Were red flags about the Fort Hood shooting suspect (Major Hasan) ignored?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, has long been accused of having ties to terrorists. Now the group may be facing its most serious charges yet.
Four Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, are calling for a federal investigation into CAIR. At a press conference on Capitol Hill, they cited explosive new documents contained in a new book about CAIR called "Muslim Mafia."
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, in a press conference, clarifies that the Fort Hood suspect is not dead but is in the hospital in stable condition. The first responder, who was also reported dead, is also still alive and in stable condition.
Authorities say an Army psychiatrist opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post, killing 13 and wounding 30 in the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base in history.
Federal agents investigate motive in Ft. Hood shootings. NBC Chief Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reports on the man suspected in the Fort Hood shooting rampage.
An Army psychiatrist who had counseled troops and was upset about being deployed to Iraq opened fire on a crowd of soldiers at Fort Hood Army base Thursday afternoon, killing 13 people and wounding 30, military officials said.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. citizen born in Virginia to Jordanian parents, was wounded by a civilian police officer responding to a shooting rampage that is believed to be the worst ever at a U.S. base, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of Fort Hood.
Hasan was unconscious Friday, on a ventilator and in custody in a hospital. Immediately after the shootings, authorities began trying to determine whether the incident was a coordinated act or the work of a lone gunman. Three other people were questioned but were released, Cone said.
As of Friday morning, all of those wounded were listed in stable condition, said Col. Steven Braverman, hospital commander at the sprawling base. Half of those wounded required surgery, Braverman said.
Those who died included one civilian and 12 soldiers, military officials said at a morning news conference.
The shooter was wearing his uniform, said Col. John Rossi. Investigators are still tracing the handguns that were used in the shootings, Rossi said.
"We believe the evidence indicates it was a single shooter," Cone said late Thursday, adding that despite earlier widespread reports that Hasan had been killed, the alleged gunman's death was "not imminent."
Hasan, 39, is a Virginia Tech graduate who spent six years studying at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., before moving to Fort Hood, according to military records.
Nader Hasan, who described himself to Fox News as a cousin, said Hasan is a Muslim who went into the military against his parents' wishes. Nader Hasan called his cousin a "good American" who never got into trouble but added that he did not support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He had always wanted to just get away from the war and (that) environment," Nader Hasan said. "He wasn't someone who even enjoyed going to the firing range.
"We're blown away as a family. We're shocked."
Noel Hamad, Nidal Hasan's aunt, said the family had not talked to Hasan since he arrived at Fort Hood.
"He didn't tell us he was going to deploy. We didn't know," Hamad said in an interview with USA TODAY from her home in Falls Church, Va. "He was trying to get out of the military since 9/11 because they were giving him a hard time," she said, without elaborating.
Fort Hood is home to the 1st Cavalry Division, whose soldiers have deployed multiple times to Iraq. At 339 square miles, it is one of the largest military bases in the world, and has been a focus of the Pentagon's efforts to counter rising wartime stress among troops.
The shootings occurred at Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers preparing to deploy overseas go for medical care and other duties. In an adjoining auditorium, 600 people had gathered to celebrate the college graduation of 138 soldiers, Cone said. When the shooting began, soldiers closed the doors to the auditorium to prevent the shooter from entering, he said.
Base officials locked down the base and began a building-by-building search across the fort that continued more than six hours after the shootings, said Hilary Shine, spokeswoman for the city of Killeen, which abuts Fort Hood.
Most of the dead and wounded are soldiers, Cone said. Two civilians were among the wounded.
Cone said he could not rule out terrorism but said the evidence "doesn't suggest that." He said he did not know whether the gunman had shot randomly or targeted certain people or units.
Ten of the shooting victims were taken to Scott and White Health System in nearby Temple. All arrived with gunshot wounds, said hospital spokesman Glen Couchman. He said four were in surgery late Thursday. The other six were in the emergency room and all would wind up in intensive care, he said.
He said hundreds of people had answered the hospital's request for blood donations immediately after the shootings.
The thirteenth death was announced early Friday by Fort Hood Spokesman Tyler Broadway. Late Thursday, officials said 12 people had been killed and 31 wounded in the afternoon attack. President Obama cut short his speech at the White House Tribal Nations Conference and consulted with Pentagon officials about the shooting.
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," the president said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
He called it "a horrific outburst of violence" and said his administration will work for "answers to every single question."
Former president George W. Bush, whose ranch in Crawford, Texas, is about 20 miles from the perimeter of Fort Hood, said in a statement, "Laura and I are keeping the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time."
A disgruntled doctor
Hasan was born in Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech university, according to The Roanoke Times archives.
He later received two degrees from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., according to Hasan's military record and a university newsletter.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Austin, was briefed by military officials and said Hasan had taken some unusual classes for someone studying about mental health.
"He took a lot of extra classes in weapons training, which seems a little odd for a psychiatrist," McCaul said.
McCaul said Hasan had received poor grades for his work at Walter Reed and was not happy about his situation in Fort Hood, where Hasan apparently felt like "he didn't fit in."
"He's disgruntled because he had a poor performance evaluation, he doesn't believe in the mission, he's looking at getting transferred to Afghanistan or Iraq," McCaul said. "He's not happy about all that."
McCaul added that officials planned to interview Hasan to try to determine for sure that he was not working with foreign agents.
"From an intelligence standpoint, that's key, finding out if he talked to anyone overseas," McCaul said.
Hasan had come to the attention of federal law enforcement officials at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.
The official said investigators were trying to confirm that Hasan was the author of the postings, one of which was a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades. One of the officials said federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize seizure of Hasan's computer.
'It's just nerve-racking'
Soldiers and others described a chaotic scene at the base.
Sirens wailed as Tammy Biggers, wife of an Army specialist deployed in Iraq, huddled in her locked house, fielding phone calls from family and friends while sending text messages to her daughter at the local high school.
"Now I can't even get a hold of her. The cellphones are jammed. I can't even send a text," Biggers said. "They still have us on lockdown. I'm just staying right beside my computer with the news on and praying."
The basewide siren and announcement system, usually used to warn of tornadoes, instructed base residents to seek shelter, lock their doors and turn off the air-conditioning. Biggers had been outside her house with their chihuahua when she heard the first sirens.
"Down here you don't think a lot about sirens. It could be a training exercise," she said. Then came the orders to seek shelter. "It's just nerve-racking."
"It is crazy to see it happen on your home turf," said Army Sgt. Dominic Moes, 28, from Boyne City, Mich. "You don't really expect it at all, especially soldier-to-soldier. It's pretty shocking."
Moes was among hundreds of soldiers waiting outside the base, which had been locked down for hours. Dozens of cars were lined up at the gate, going nowhere.
"A lot of us deal with the stress but it's something else to hurt another soldier," said Moes, who said he has deployed to Iraq three times. "These are the guys we confide in. A lot of these soldier are as close to me as my own family."
Specialist David Straub, from Ardmore, Ala., waited in a line of cars to re-enter Fort Hood. He said he had twice deployed and was proud that both times they "came back with everybody."
"Now this happens," Straub said. "I feel like I've been stabbed in the back." 'Everything's locked down'
The shooting also rattled the city of Killeen, near the sprawling base.
About 15 children remained after hours at the Miles Ahead day-care center because parents were unable to leave the post when it was sealed off, said Tanisha Laws, 35, a cook at the center.
"You don't know who is who or what is what," Laws said.
There was only one customer inside the normally busy Henderson's Family Restaurant in Killeen.
"It's dead right now because everything's locked down," said cashier Kelly Kuehnle, 43. "It's a very oppressive atmosphere. Everybody's devastated."
Beauty salon owner Chemar Jones said she and three employees spent a nerve-wracking afternoon holed up in the Killeen salon with the front and doors locked. Jones was worried about her cousin, a medic with the military police on Fort Hood, who she tried multiple times to reach without success.
Shine, the Killeen spokeswoman, said she was "immediately reminded" of the 1991 massacre at the Luby's cafeteria in the city in which 23 were killed.
"Our community is restless and worried," Shine says. "Because a lot of people have family and friends working at Fort Hood, I know many are wondering if the victims are people they know. Unfortunately, for some, that is going to be true."
An Army psychiatrist facing deployment to one of America’s war zones killed 13 people and wounded 30 others on Thursday in a shooting rampage with two handguns at the sprawling Fort Hood Army post in central Texas, military officials said.
It was one of the worst mass shootings ever at a military base in the United States.
The gunman, who was still alive after being shot four times, was identified by law enforcement authorities as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, who had been in the service since 1995. Major Hasan was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas.
Clad in a military uniform and firing an automatic pistol and another weapon, Major Hasan, a balding, chubby-faced man with heavy eyebrows, sprayed bullets inside a crowded medical processing center for soldiers returning from or about to be sent overseas, military officials said.
The victims, nearly all military personnel but including two civilians, were cut down in clusters, the officials said. Witnesses told military investigators that medics working at the center tore open the clothing of the dead and wounded to get at the wounds and administer first aid.
As the shooting unfolded, military police and civilian officers of the Department of the Army responded and returned the gunman’s fire, officials said, adding that Major Hasan was shot by a first-responder, who was herself wounded in the exchange.
In the confusion of a day of wild and misleading reports, the major and the officer who shot him were both reported killed in the gun battle, but both reports were erroneous.
Eight hours after the shootings, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, a base spokesmen, said Major Hasan, whom he described as the sole gunman, had been shot four times, but was hospitalized off the base, under around-the-clock guard, in stable condition and was not in imminent danger of dying.
Another military spokesman listed the major’s condition as critical. The condition of the officer who shot the gunman was not given.
Major Hasan was not speaking to investigators, and much about his background — and his motives — were unknown.
General Cone said that terrorism was not being ruled out, but that preliminary evidence did not suggest that the rampage had been an act of terrorism. Fox News quoted a retired Army colonel, Terry Lee, as saying that Major Hasan, with whom he worked, had voiced hope that President Obama would pull American troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, had argued with military colleagues who supported the wars and had tried to prevent his own deployment.
As a parade of ambulances wailed to the scene of the shootings, officials said the extent of injuries to the wounded varied significantly, with some in critical condition and others lightly wounded. General Cone praised the first-responders and the medics who acted quickly to administer first aid at the scene.
“Horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse,” the general said.
The rampage recalled other mass shootings in the United States, including 13 killed at a center for immigrants in upstate New York last April, the deaths of 10 during a gunman’s rampage in Alabama in March and 32 people killed at Virginia Tech in 2007, the deadliest shooting in modern American history.
As a widespread investigation by the military, the F.B.I., and other agencies began, much about the assault in Texas remained unclear. Department of Homeland Security officials said the Army would take the lead in the investigation.
A federal law enforcement official said the F.B.I. was sending more agents to join the inquiry. On Thursday night, F.B.I. agents were interviewing residents of a townhouse complex in the Washington suburb of Kensington, Md., where Major Hasan had lived before moving to Texas.
Mr. Obama called the shootings “a horrific outburst of violence” and urged Americans to pray for those who were killed and wounded.
“It is difficult enough when we lose these men and women in battles overseas,” he said. “It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.”
The president pledged “to get answers to every single question about this horrible incident.”
Military records indicated that Major Hasan was single, had been born in Virginia, had never served abroad and listed “no religious preference” on his personnel records. Three other soldiers, their roles unclear, were taken into custody in connection with the rampage. The office of Representative John Carter, Republican of Texas, said they were later released, but a Fort Hood spokesman could not confirm that. General Cone said that more than 100 people had been questioned during the day.
Fort Hood, near Killeen and 100 miles south of Dallas-Fort Worth, is the largest active duty military post in the United States, 340 square miles of training and support facilities and homes, a virtual city for more than 50,000 military personnel and some 150,000 family members and civilian support personnel. It has been a major center for troops being deployed to or returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The base went into lockdown shortly after the shootings. Gates were closed and barriers put up at all entrance and exit checkpoints, and the military police turned away all but essential personnel. Schools on the base were closed, playgrounds were deserted and sidewalks were empty. Sirens wailed across the base through the afternoon, a warning to military personnel and their families to remain indoors.
Military commanders were instructed to account for all personnel on the base.
“The immediate concern is to make sure that all of our soldiers and family members are safe, and that’s what commanders have been instructed to do,” said Jay Adams of the First Army, Division West, at Ford Hood.
General Cone said the shooting took place about 1:30 p.m., inside a complex of buildings that he called a Soldier Readiness Processing Center. The type of weapons used was unclear, and it was not known whether the gunman had reloaded, although it seemed likely, given that 43 people were shot, perhaps more than once.
All the victims were gunned down “in the same area,” General Cone said.
As the shootings ended, scores of emergency vehicles rushed to the scene, which is in the center of the fort, and dozens of ambulances carried the shooting victims to hospitals in the region.
Both of the handguns used by Major Hasan were recovered at the scene, officials said. Investigators said the major’s computers, cellphones and papers would be examined, his past investigated and his friends, relatives and military acquaintances would be interviewed in an effort to develop a profile of him and try to learn what had motivated his deadly outburst.
Major Hasan was assigned to the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood.
The weapons used in the attack were described as “civilian” handguns. Security experts said the fact that two handguns had been used suggested premeditation, as opposed to a spontaneous act.
Rifles and assault weapons are conspicuous and not ordinarily seen on the streets of a military post, and medical personnel would have no reason to carry any weapon, they said. Moreover, security experts noted, it took a lot of ammunition to shoot 43 people, another indication of premeditation.
It appeared certain that the shootings would generate a whole new look at questions of security on military posts of all the armed forces in the United States. Expressions of dismay were voiced by public officials across the country.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council, speaking for many American Muslims, condemned the shootings as a “heinous incident” and said, “We share the sentiment of our president.”
The council added, “Our entire organization extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of those killed as well as those wounded and their loved ones.”
General Cone said Fort Hood was “absolutely devastated.”
News of the shooting set off panic among families and friends of the base personnel. Alyssa Marie Seace’s husband, Pfc. Ray Seace Jr., sent her a text message just before 2 p.m. saying that someone had “shot up the S.R.P. building,” referring to the Soldier Readiness Processing Center. He told her he was “hiding.”
Ms. Seace, 18, who lives about five minutes from the base and had not been watching the news, reacted with alarm. She texted him back but got no response. She called her father in Connecticut, who told her not to call her husband because it might reveal his hiding place.
Finally, 45 minutes later, her husband, a mechanic who is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in February, texted back to say that three people from his unit had been hit and that a dozen people in all were dead.
By late afternoon, the sirens at Fort Hood had fallen silent. In Killeen, state troopers were parked on ridges overlooking the two main highways through town. In residential areas, the only signs of life were cars moving through the streets. In the business districts, people went about their business.
In 1991, Killeen was the scene of one of the worst mass killings in American history. A gunman drove his pickup truck through the window of a cafeteria, fatally shot 22 people with a handgun, then killed himself.
Fort Hood, opened in September 1942 as America geared up for World War II, was named for Gen. John Bell Hood of the Confederacy. It has been used continuously for armor training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.
It is a place that feels, on ordinary days, like one of the safest in the world, surrounded by those who protect the nation with their lives. It is home to nine schools — seven elementary schools and two middle schools, for the children of personnel. But on Thursday, the streets were lined with emergency vehicles, their lights flashing and sirens piercing the air as Texas Rangers and state troopers took up posts at the gates to seal the base.
Shortly after 7 p.m., the sirens sounded again and over the loudspeakers a woman’s voice that could be heard all over the base announced in a clipped military fashion: “Declared emergency no longer exists.”
The gates reopened, and a stream of cars and trucks that had been bottled up for hours began to move out.
Born and reared in Virginia, the son of immigrant parents from a small Palestinian town near Jerusalem, he joined the Army right out of high school, against his parents’ wishes. The Army, in turn, put him through college and then medical school, where he trained to be a psychiatrist.
But Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the 39-year-old man accused of Thursday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood, Tex., began having second thoughts about a military career a few years ago after other soldiers harassed him for being a Muslim, he told relatives in Virginia.
He had also more recently expressed deep concerns about being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan. Having counseled scores of returning soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, first at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and more recently at Fort Hood, he knew all too well the terrifying realities of war, said a cousin, Nader Hasan.
“He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” Mr. Hasan said. “He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier became aware of Internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan, a law enforcement official said. The postings discussed suicide bombings favorably, but the investigators were not clear whether the writer was Major Hasan.
In one posting on the Web site Scribd, a man named Nidal Hasan compared the heroism of a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to protect fellow soldiers to suicide bombers who sacrifice themselves to protect Muslims.
“If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory,” the man wrote. It could not be confirmed, however, that the writer was Major Hasan.
Major Hasan was wounded and taken into custody by the Fort Hood police after the shooting rampage, in which 12 people were killed and at least 31 others were wounded.
Though Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas reported that Major Hasan was to be deployed this month, that could not be confirmed with the Army on Thursday night.
Nader Hasan said his cousin never mentioned in recent phone calls to Virginia that he was going to be deployed, and he said the family was shocked when it heard the news on television on Thursday afternoon.
“He was doing everything he could to avoid that,” Mr. Hasan said. “He wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn’t go over.”
Some years ago, that included retaining a lawyer and asking if he could get out of the Army before his contract was up, because of the harassment he had received as a Muslim. But Nader Hasan said the lawyer had told his cousin that even if he paid the Army back for his education, it would not allow him to leave before his commitment was up.
“I think he gave up that fight and was just doing his time,” Mr. Hasan said.
Nader Hasan said his cousin’s parents had both been American citizens who owned businesses, including restaurants and a store, in Roanoke, Va. He declined to confirm reports that they were Jordanian but said the parents, who are both dead, had immigrated from a small town near Jerusalem many years ago.
His mother’s obituary, in The Roanoke Times in 2001, said she was born in Palestine in 1952. It described her as a restaurant owner “known for her ability to keep sometimes rowdy customers out of trouble and always had a warm meal for someone who otherwise would not have anything to eat that evening.”
Records show that Major Hasan received an undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech and a medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He did a residency at Walter Reed Medical Center and worked there for years before a transfer to the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood this year.
Major Hasan had two brothers, one in Virginia and another in Jerusalem, his cousin said. The family, by and large, prospered in the United States, Mr. Hasan said.
The former imam at a Silver Spring, Md., mosque where Major Hasan worshiped for about 10 years described him as proud of his work in the Army and “very serious about his religion.” The former imam, Faizul Khan, said that Major Hasan had wanted to marry an equally religious woman but that his efforts to find one had failed.
“He wanted a woman who prayed five times a day and wears a hijab, and maybe the women he met were not complying with those things,” the former imam said.
Mr. Hasan, 40, a lawyer in Virginia, described his cousin as a respectful, hard-working man who had devoted himself to his parents and his career.
Mr. Hasan said his cousin became more devout after his parents died in 1998 and 2001.
“His parents didn’t want him to go into the military,” Mr. Hasan said. “He said, ‘No, I was born and raised here, I’m going to do my duty to the country.’ ”
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