12 dead in Fort Hood shooting spree

[AhabsOtherLeg]

I'm puzzled by your statement.

The Teabaggers I know supported Ron Paul during the last election. And didn't support the Purple team.

They were anti-Purple before being anti-Purple became cool for many.

So I'm puzzled by your comment.

You were anti-purple if you took theses folks' advice... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... firefox-a# ... and voted for anyone but The Duopoly.

The Teabaggers whom I know... did exactly that.

The vibrant discord of Red State – Blue State has been punctured.

Purple Reign – Purple Reign

Brought to you by All State

Beautifully put, and a lot to think about there.

It'll be hard to pacify or re-direct the Teabaggers though - doesn't seem like they can have two ideas in their heads at one time, so their aims tend to have a low and slow turnover.

I know what you're saying 23, and you're right, but I can't help tending to think of the Teabaggers as being a splinter group from the Republican base, and as embodying the Red State, right wing side of the duopoly rather than being a mixture of disaffected voters from both parties. As you say, they mostly vote for various Independents, but there's no denying they all hate the Democrats more than the Repubs. Where were they the last eight years, when everybody needed them more urgently?

I probably also think of them that way because they were so heavily promoted on Fox.

I dunno. I'm in the UK (Scotland), and never been to the US, so my opinion on internal US politics is worth little - but I try to keep up, and I thought Ian Eye was making a good point in saying that the open and accepted Government-hate by people on both sides of the political spectrum might now be ruled verboten by the mainstream media.

Red and Blue will come even closer together, and mix into purple. One big blob of non-opposition, where nothing is ever challenged, and everything is accepted - especially the diktat of the intelligence services. This is how it is in the UK - Labour, Tories, even Lib Dems are all in agreement on just about everything - and it seems just about everything is decided by shady figures like Lord Mandelson and others with obvious Intelligence links, and way too much unbridled power.

If I'm wrong about the Teabaggers, let me know. It's just that till I saw them, I thought I was a political conservative - when I heard their views, I realised that, in their eyes, I'm probably a Maoist.


BTW, somebody mentioned fragging in relation to this case. Just wanted to remind everybody of the incident at the very start of the Iraq invasion, when the troops were still in Kuwait, and a Muslim sergeant rolled a grenade into the officer's tent, killing, I think, twelve. There have been a couple of other fraggings in Iraq since then as well, but no others, so far as I'm aware, by Muslim American soldiers.

[Nordic]

I know what you're saying 23, and you're right, but I can't help tending to think of the Teabaggers as being a splinter group from the Republican base, and as embodying the Red State, right wing side of the duopoly rather than being a mixture of disaffected voters from both parties. As you say, they mostly vote for various Independents, but there's no denying they all hate the Democrats more than the Repubs. Where were they the last eight years, when everybody needed them more urgently?

I probably also think of them that way because they were so heavily promoted on Fox.

I dunno. I'm in the UK (Scotland), and never been to the US, so my opinion on internal US politics is worth little - but I try to keep up, and I thought Ian Eye was making a good point in saying that the open and accepted Government-hate by people on both sides of the political spectrum might now be ruled verboten by the mainstream media.

Red and Blue will come even closer together, and mix into purple. One big blob of non-opposition, where nothing is ever challenged, and everything is accepted - especially the diktat of the intelligence services. This is how it is in the UK - Labour, Tories, even Lib Dems are all in agreement on just about everything - and it seems just about everything is decided by shady figures like Lord Mandelson and others with obvious Intelligence links, and way too much unbridled power.

If I'm wrong about the Teabaggers, let me know. It's just that till I saw them, I thought I was a political conservative - when I heard their views, I realised that, in their eyes, I'm probably a Maoist.

You are 100% right about the Teabaggers. They are 99.9% nutjob rightwing Palin-loving morons. I have them in my family and hear way too much about them.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Yeah, I thought I might be right. I've gone right off Ron Paul and his supporters as well, for what it's worth (literally nothing, but it's how I feel).

[SanDiegoBuffGuy]

JackRiddler wrote:

- Does anyone care to make the case that this massacre helps with recruitment or morale?

I'll play devil's advocate here...

The gunman was Muslim, or as NBC news said yesterday morning, "of Muslim descent" (but they didn't explain how you can have descent from a religion). They also had an interview with the grandma who lives in the West Bank. This man is "the other." We are over there to fight guys like this, and remember, we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here. Muslim fanaticism is what got us into this mess and it must be stopped. They are ruthless, and far-reaching, so we need more people over there to kick some ass to get rid of this fanaticism or at least contain it, so it doesn't show its ugly face on American soil again.

Besides, the shooter was a lone gunman and we know how Americans just love loners. I'll try to muster up my best recruiter voice here: "Don't you want to be part of the team? You need to get with the program, sign up and be a part of the group. There's no room for people who aren't team players."

My first post, btw. Love the forum!

[Cordelia]

The gunman was Muslim, or as NBC news said yesterday morning, "of Muslim descent" (but they didn't explain how you can have descent from a religion)

Great observation--do newscasters frequently make those kinds of mistakes? (I don't have T.V.).

I thought, due to high unemployment, recruitment was no longer a problem (good reason for high unemployment).

Welcome to the site--I'm new too.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Welcome to RI, SanDiegoBuffGuy. That's a far better first post than I managed, and I'm still here somehow. Love the name!

Y'know, though, if Hasan really was bullied and mocked for his religion as has been suggested, wasn't his own response to that provocation (and I don't mean to offend anybody here) kind of all-American in a way.

"Don't tread on me - or I'll shoot!"

I'm making no excuses whatsoever for the man's actions here. Just sayin'.

[n0x23]

The gunman was Muslim, or as NBC news said yesterday morning, "of Muslim descent" (but they didn't explain how you can have descent from a religion).

Go ask the Jews.

[smallprint]

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists

Major Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a "spiritual adviser" to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001.

By Philip Sherwell and Alex Spillius
Published: 8:17PM GMT 07 Nov 2009


Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother's funeral was held there in May that year.

The preacher at the time was Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni scholar who was banned from addressing a meeting in London by video link in August because he is accused of supporting attacks on British troops and backing terrorist organisations.

Hasan's eyes "lit up" when he mentioned his deep respect for al-Awlaki's teachings, according to a fellow Muslim officer at the Fort Hood base in Texas, the scene of Thursday's horrific shooting spree.

As investigators look at Hasan's motives and mindset, his attendance at the mosque could be an important piece of the jigsaw. Al-Awlaki moved to Dar al-Hijrah as imam in January, 2001, from the west coast, and three months later the September 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hamzi and Hani Hanjour began attending his services. A third hijacker attended his services in California.

Hasan was praying at Dar al-Hijrah at about the same time, and the FBI will now want to investigate whether he met the two terrorists.

Charles Allen, a former under-secretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, has described al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, as an "al-Qaeda supporter, and former spiritual leader to three of the September 11 hijackers... who targets US Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks from his new home in Yemen".

Last night Hasan remained in a coma under guard at a military hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and was said to be in a "stable" condition. Born in America to a Palestinian family, Hasan, 39, was an army psychiatrist who had chosen to sign up for the US military against his parents' wishes.

But he turned into an angry critic of the wars America was waging in Iraq and Afghanistan and had tried in vain to negotiate his discharge.

He counselled soldiers returning from the front line and told relatives that he was horrified at the prospect of a deployment to Afghanistan later this year – his first time in a combat zone.

Whether due to his personal convictions, his stress over his deployment or other reasons, Hasan is alleged to have snapped and gone on a murderous rampage with a powerful semi-automatic handgun after shouting "Allahu Akhbar" ("God is great"), according to survivors. He had earlier given away copies of the Koran to neighbours.

Investigators at this stage have no indication that he planned the attacks with anyone else. But they are trawling through his phone records, paperwork and computers he used before the attack during an apparently sleepless night.

Five of the 13 victims were fellow mental health professionals from three units of the army's Combat Stress Control Detachment, it was disclosed yesterday.

It is understood that Hasan had been due to be deployed with members of those units in coming months. Whether he deliberately singled out other combat stress counsellors is another key question.

...

Yet away from his strident attacks on US foreign policy, he came across as subdued and reclusive – not hostile or threatening. Soldiers he counselled at the Walter Reed hospital in Washington praised him, while at Fort Hood, Kimberly Kesling, the deputy commander of clinical services, remarked: "Up to this point, I would consider him an asset."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rists.html

[MinM]

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists

Major Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a "spiritual adviser" to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001...

Radical Imam?

Campaigns : 08/11/2006
Urgent Appeal: Imam Anwar Al Awlaki - A Leader in Need

http://www.cageprisoners.com

Reports indicate that Imam Anwar Al Awlaki, a prominent Muslim scholar highly regarded in English speaking Islamic circles, has been detained incommunicado for the past two months in Yemen and may face torture or ill treatment in custody.

Anwar Awlaki, whilst in the US worked for inter-faith dialogue– working hard to establish a reasoned, nuanced and just form of intellectual dissent in Western Muslims Enabling Muslim communities in western societies to contribute and interact in wider society and contribute to it whilst remaining confident of their Islamic heritage and identity.

Regarding the 9/11 attacks, Imam Anwar was quick to state,

“What has occurred is a heinous crime. A Muslim can have nothing to do with this.” [1]

Imam Anwar was renowned for his justice amongst people, even when Muslim sentiment would seem to be totally against the West; this is typified by one of his statements:

“President Bush has showed the Muslim American community some good gestures. He specifically warned the people from committing any hate crimes against their fellow Muslim citizens, and he visited a Mosque.”...
rigorousintuition.ca :: View topic - Letter Writing Guide from Amnesty International

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt...

How convenient. Right in the backyard of al-CIA-duh.

[Wombaticus Rex]

The gunman was Muslim, or as NBC news said yesterday morning, "of Muslim descent" (but they didn't explain how you can have descent from a religion).

Go ask the Jews.

*DIES LAUGHING*

thanks for the first bright note in a long shitty day, bro

[SanDiegoBuffGuy]

Thanks for the welcome guys, it's good to be here.

Cordelia, I don't have a TV either, but caught the news on "Today" at the gym when I was doing my hour of cardio. I haven't had a TV for almost a year now, but for some strange reason the screen tempts me wherever I go (and I finished reading my book by that time).

The story doesn't seem to get any better, does it? There had to be a September 11th connection to "close the loop," so to speak. Now you have simple sound-byte-like pieces of information to string together. Forget about any of the details, it all makes for easier Twittering:

1. Muslim guy goes wacko
2. Muslim guy lone nut
3. Muslim guy is linked to 911
4. Let's kick some Muslim ass!

Careful now n0x23 tut, tut, tut...

[MacCruiskeen]

SanDiegoBuffGuy

Hmph.

I am now going to change my username to RichMuscularSensitiveTangoGaucho.

[SanDiegoBuffGuy]

Easy now Mac...

You could change your name to that, well, if that's what you really are, I suppose

[Nordic]

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists

Jesus fucking Christ. Right on schedule. Is Bush still President?

[MacCruiskeen]

This means war.