A memorial, including photos of each of those killed and wounded in the November 5 shooting rampage at the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood, is shown at the apartment complex where U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan lived, on November 9, 2009 in Killeen, Texas.
Major Nidal Hasan, the U.S. army doctor alleged to have gunned down dozens of fellow soldiers, attempted to contact Islamic extremists urging jihad in recent months, U.S. officials said Monday.
American counterterrorism agents monitored e-mail exchanges between Maj. Hasan and a radical Islamic cleric, now living in Yemen, who was previously linked to terrorist plots in several countries, according to several U.S. news organizations.
Maj. Hasan, who was described as shouting " Allahu Akbar" before he fired more than 100 times, killing 13 people and wounding 29 others, was shot four times by civilian police.
Under heavy guard at a military hospital in Texas, he was said to be conscious and talking to those caring for him but hadn't yet been interviewed by investigators probing the worse mass murder on a military base in the United States for decades.
Leading U.S. politicians were already demanding to know how the disaffected Muslim psychiatrist apparently slipped through the military's internal security net.
Unconfirmed reports that Maj. Hasan sought links to Islamic extremist groups - and that he was torn between his duty as a soldier to deploy to Afghanistan and his obligations as a Muslim not to wage war on fellow Muslims - raised new fears that the attack at Fort Hood, Tex., involved more than a deranged gunman acting alone. (Investigators said Monday there is no indication Maj. Hasan was directed to attack or had help.)
Meanwhile, leading radical imam, Anwar al Awlaki, now based in Yemen, praised the severely wounded Muslim psychiatrist as a noble holy warrior. "Fighting against the U.S. army is an Islamic duty," said Mr. Awlaki, an internationally known preacher who has been linked with radical cells in the United States, Canada and Britain.
According to unconfirmed reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents launched a probe into e-mails exchanged by Mr. Awlaki and Maj. Hasan but dropped the investigation after concluding they posed no serious threat. Investigative officials said Monday he will be charged at least initially by the U.S. military rather than in a civilian court, The Associated Press reported.
In a posting Monday on his website, Mr. Awlaki praised Maj. Hasan as a hero unwilling to betray his duty to Islam. Mr. Awlaki has been linked to several of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist hijackers and his taped exhortations to wage holy war were circulated among Muslims planning terrorist attacks in Canada.
So far, counterterrorism investigators haven't confirmed any linkage between Maj. Hasan and Mr. Awlaki, who was the imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in suburban Washington where Maj. Hasan prayed in 2001 and where the funeral for his mother, a Palestinian who emigrated to the United States, was held.
In his posting, the imam wrote: "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing," saying he was 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."
He appeared to be urging other Muslims to follow Maj. Hasan's lead.
"Muslims today have the right - rather the duty - to fight against American tyranny," he wrote. "True Muslim believers wearing the U.S. military uniform should follow the footsteps of men like Nidal."
Independent Senator Joe Lieberman demanded a full-blown investigation of why U.S. counterterrorism agencies failed to act on warning signs, including reports from other soldiers that Maj. Hasan was publicly espousing extreme anti-war positions.
Sen. Lieberman said it seemed Maj. Hasan "had turned to Islamist extremism," adding "if that is true, the murder of these 13 people was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11."
President Barack Obama, who will fly to Ft. Hood today to take part in memorial services for the slain, has cautioned against a rush to judgment.
The U.S. army's Chief of Staff, General George Casey, warned against premature conclusions that Maj. Hasan was motivated by ideology. He said he feared a backlash against Muslims or those of Arabic background serving in the military.
"What happened at Fort Hood is a tragedy," Gen. Casey said. "It would be a greater tragedy if diversity became a casualty."
John Galligan, a retired military lawyer, said he had requested military and civilian investigators not to attempt to interview Maj. Hasan.
The retired colonel said he had been retained by the major's family. Maj. Hasan has a brother and several other relatives living in Virginia where he was born and went to school before enlisting in the army as part of a program that pays for college education.