Hasan Called War on Terror ‘War Against Islam,’ Classmate Says
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By Justin Blum
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, regularly described the war on terror as “a war against Islam,” according to a doctor who was in a graduate program with him.
While studying for a masters degree in public health in 2007, Hasan used a presentation for an environmental health class to argue that Muslims were being targeted by the U.S. anti-terror campaign, said Val Finnell, a classmate.
“He was very vocal about the war, very upfront about being a Muslim first and an American second,” said Finnell, 41, a preventive medicine doctor in Los Angeles, in an interview today. “He was always concerned that Muslims in the military were being persecuted.”
Hasan, 39, opened fire on fellow soldiers with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army Base yesterday before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the base commander, told reporters. Military officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing what triggered the attack by the physician at a crowded medical processing center on the base.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, said she was told by Fort Hood authorities the suspect was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and had been “very upset and angry” in the past few days.
Licensed Physician
The Virginia Board of Medicine lists Hasan as a licensed physician. He received his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009.
Hasan was getting his masters degree in public health in 2007 and 2008 at the Uniformed Services University as part of his fellowship, said Bill Bester, vice president for external affairs at the school. Bester said he was unaware of comments Hasan may have made during the program.
Finnell said he remembered Hasan “vividly” and said of the shooting: “I’m not surprised, based on the things he said in the past. I’m shocked that it happened, but not surprised.”
In conversations, students challenged Hasan on his statements and he would become “visibly upset, sweaty, nervous,” Finnell said.
Toward the end of the program, in 2008, Hasan gave a presentation that was billed as a survey of the climate for Muslims who serve in the U.S. military, Finnell said.
“It wasn’t really very objective,” Finnell said. “It was like he was trying to prove a point.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 6, 2009 14:41 EST
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Justin Blum
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, regularly described the war on terror as “a war against Islam,” according to a doctor who was in a graduate program with him.
While studying for a masters degree in public health in 2007, Hasan used a presentation for an environmental health class to argue that Muslims were being targeted by the U.S. anti-terror campaign, said Val Finnell, a classmate.
“He was very vocal about the war, very upfront about being a Muslim first and an American second,” said Finnell, 41, a preventive medicine doctor in Los Angeles, in an interview today. “He was always concerned that Muslims in the military were being persecuted.”
Hasan, 39, opened fire on fellow soldiers with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army Base yesterday before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the base commander, told reporters. Military officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing what triggered the attack by the physician at a crowded medical processing center on the base.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican, said she was told by Fort Hood authorities the suspect was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and had been “very upset and angry” in the past few days.
Licensed Physician
The Virginia Board of Medicine lists Hasan as a licensed physician. He received his medical degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2003. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington in 2007 and a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry in 2009.
Hasan was getting his masters degree in public health in 2007 and 2008 at the Uniformed Services University as part of his fellowship, said Bill Bester, vice president for external affairs at the school. Bester said he was unaware of comments Hasan may have made during the program.
Finnell said he remembered Hasan “vividly” and said of the shooting: “I’m not surprised, based on the things he said in the past. I’m shocked that it happened, but not surprised.”
In conversations, students challenged Hasan on his statements and he would become “visibly upset, sweaty, nervous,” Finnell said.
Toward the end of the program, in 2008, Hasan gave a presentation that was billed as a survey of the climate for Muslims who serve in the U.S. military, Finnell said.
“It wasn’t really very objective,” Finnell said. “It was like he was trying to prove a point.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at [email protected]
Last Updated: November 6, 2009 14:41 EST
