The Glade 4.0

Just a horrible tragedy. The guy apparently got moved from Walter Reid because he was underperforming and showing some signs of wigging out. Sigh.

1.30pm: According to eye-witnesses, Hasan - who had at first sat down as if to help soldiers with their paperwork - stands on a desk and shouts "Allahu Akhbar" ("God is great") before opening fire with the fn 5.7 inside the centre, spraying soldiers and civilian workers with bullets from the semi-automatic weapon, a favourite of Mexican drug gangs. Sgt Johnny Kallon, 30, a human resources specialist about to be deployed to Iraq, is among those nearby who hear the gunfire and makes an emergency 911 call from his mobile phone.

1.34-44: As Hasan fires off more than 100 rounds, mostly inside the centre, unarmed soldiers duck for cover, pulling others with them to safety. In a brief lull in the shooting, some believe - mistakenly - that Hasan is out of ammunition and make a break for it from the building. Private Marquest Smith, a 21-year-old father of two who had been completing his medical paperwork, is among them, dragging two wounded soldiers outside.

Then he goes back in, and sees Hasan with his guns. "He had his back turned to me," he told the New York Times. "And when I turned to run, that's when I started hearing rounds going past my body, hitting the wall."

Outside, a friend with a pickup truck yells at the wounded to get in, and drives them to a nearby casualty unit.

Meanwhile two civilian police officers who had been directing traffic on the base respond to the 911 call. Sgt Kim Munley, the mother of a three-year-old girl, and her colleague Sgt Mark Todd arrive as Hasan leaves the building, still firing. The officers chase him around it, exchanging shots. Then Hasan begins to fumble with his gun.

"He's reloading," someone screams. The two officers open fire, downing Hasan with four swift shots - at least two of them from Sgt Munley's 9-millimeter Beretta. She is also felled, by two bullets that struck each thigh and a further one that hits her wrist.

Soldiers tear off strips from their uniforms to treat the injured.

Medics taking part in a graduation ceremony in a nearby hall race to the scene, some still in caps and gowns. They encounter horrific scenes - trails of blood, the injured, the dead and dying.

Altogether, 12 soldiers and one civilian are dead or dying. Another 30 people are injured by gun shots. Soldiers who witnessed the killing spree described Hasan as calm and methodical, and the gunfire as continuous and well-aimed.

An Army officer said that he counted three full magazines of ammunition near Hasan's felled body and five or six empty ones.

Army medic Francisco Delaserna is among those who arrive on the scene where Sgt Munley is drifting in and out of consciousness because of blood loss. He applies a tourniquet and then moves on to treat Hasan, the man he had just seen gunning down his comrades. "He was very calm, pale but breathing steadily. It didn't look like anything was fazing him," he said.

Inside the building, amid slippery pools of blood, those slain include Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago, who was pregnant and preparing to return home. She had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Sgt Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wisconsin, joined the army after the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 and had arrived at Fort Hood two days earlier, on her way to Afghanistan.

Others killed include Private Michael Pearson, 21, from Chicago, who left his job with a furniture company to join the Army a year ago - and Michael Grant Cahill, a 62-year-old physician assistant, who was just back at work after a heart attack two weeks ago.

In the chaos, Hasan is initially reported to have been killed - as is the as-yet unnamed police officer (Sgt Munley) who heroically halted his rampage. In the end both he and Sgt Munley survive, after being treated at the scene by the same medic - Specialist Delaserna .

Hasan and three of his badly injured victims are swiftly evacuated by helicopter to a civilian hospital in the town of Temple.

Other victims are loaded into cars and rushed to the nearby Darnell medical centre, where Hasan worked, for treatment. "It was just like being back in Iraq," said Sgt Howard Appleby, who was at the centre being treated for post-traumatic stress.

Some injured called their loved ones on mobile phones to let them know they were wounded but alive.

For most of the afternoon, the world's largest military base - home to about 70,000 troops, relatives and support staff - remains in lockdown as helicopters buzz overhead.

3.30pm: FBI officers arrive at Hasan's apartment, remove his few remaining possessions and question neighbours. They have already retrieved his handguns from the scene of the massacre and his car from its parking space.

Shortly after 7pm: the sirens sound again. "Declared emergency no longer exists" says a woman's voice over loudspeakers across the base. The lockdown is over.

10pm: Base commander Lt Gen Robert Cone reveals that Hasan and Sgt Munley are both alive after all. Hasan is on a ventilator under military guard in a nearby hospital.

Fort Hood shooting: policewoman Kim Munley awoke from surgery and asked if anybody died.

After regaining consciousness the first words of policewoman Kim Munley, who shot the Fort Hood gunman Major Nidal Malik Hasan, were "Did anybody die?"

Sergeant Munley, 34, was unconscious after being shot three times by Hasan and was rushed to hospital after she lost so much blood doctors thought she would die.

She was shot twice in the left thigh and once in the wrist but still managed to bring Malik down with four shots of her own.

Dr Kelly Matlock, who treated Munley in hospital, said: "She opened her eyes and said, 'Did anybody die?' That's what she said." Sgt Munley has now been told that Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 38 but her actions saved the lives of many others.

Officials: U.S. Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda
Army Major in Fort Hood Massacre Used 'Electronic Means' to Connect with Terrorists
By RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE and BRIAN ROSS
Nov. 9, 2009

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.

On Sunday, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist.

"If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have a zero tolerance," Lieberman told Fox News Sunday.
Related
'Cop Killer' Gun Used In Ft. Hood Shooting, Officials Said
WATCH: What Turned Major Into Alleged Killer?
More from Brian Ross and the Investigative Team

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

He denied any knowledge of the hijacking plot and was never charged with any crime. After an intensive investigation by the FBI, Awlaki moved to Yemen.

People who knew or worked with Hasan say he seemed to have gradually become more radical in his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He promised a safer US, that unemployment would not go above 10% if we hastily passed the stimulus package, and a more transparent government. Fail, fail and epic fail. He made himself responsible.

As much as I disliek Obama's policies in general, trying to tie him to this is pretty absurd. "A safer U.S." doesn't mean there will never be a terrorist attack. It's also not possible for him to micromanage the flow of information that could have prevented this.

At this point I'm still not entirely convinced this is terrorism per se anyhow although the evidence is rapidly heading in that direction. I'm waiting for details to solidify a little more.

At this point I'm still not entirely convinced this is terrorism per se anyhow although the evidence is rapidly heading in that direction. I'm waiting for details to solidify a little more.

["My little goat" moment.

Huh?

It's pretty sad, to me, that the CIA has to be asked to not destroy evidence of its failure to act on or share intelligence it had.