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Va. Imam Hails Hasan as 'Hero'

Spiritual adviser to 9/11 hijackers says shooter 'did right thing'

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 10, 2009 2:40 AM CST | Updated Nov 10, 2009 5:52 AM CST
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(Newser) – An imam who was spiritual adviser to two 9/11 hijackers and who once headed a Virginia mosque visited by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan has hailed Hasan as a "hero." A message on the web site of imam Anwar al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, was entitled: "Nidal Hasan Did the Right Thing." Hasan "is a hero," Awlaki wrote. "He is a man of conscience who could not bear being a Muslim and serving in an army fighting his people," reports the New York Daily News.

Investigators are probing the link between Hasan and Awlaki, though they currently believe Hasan acted alone when he shot dead 13 soldiers at Fort Hood last week, according to officials. Hasan did attempt months ago to reach out to terrorists in al-Qaeda, sources have told ABC News. Army officials were told of the attempt, but it's not known what, if any, action they took.

Flags and flowers mark the apartment, upper right, where Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan lived outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.
Flags and flowers mark the apartment, upper right, where Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan lived outside of Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Parishioners sing at the Comanche Chapel gospel service inside Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.
Parishioners sing at the Comanche Chapel gospel service inside Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Lt. Arlene Decindio of Tuscarora, Penn., stands in front of a US flag flying at half mast on the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold Bahrain The flag was lowered in honor of Fort Hood victims.
Lt. Arlene Decindio of Tuscarora, Penn., stands in front of a US flag flying at half mast on the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold Bahrain The flag was lowered in honor of Fort Hood victims.   (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 20 comments
So_Cal_Larry
Nov 11, 2009 12:43 PM CST
Religious extremism is a killer. Period. Many wars have been religous in nature. Many muslims see the U.S. as infidels occupying muslim lands - an act which must be met with resistance. Can we now talk about Catholic extremism and the Inquisition which burned about 86,000 at the stake in order to cleanse their souls? Or about the Crusades? This is all just the current religious state of the world. And, let's face it - there are many Americans who believe in occupying these lands to eject (infidel) despicable dictators.
Bubblebee
Nov 11, 2009 2:15 AM CST
No one forced him to join the Army, no one asked him to continue to reenlist, no one forced him to stay, he could have disappeared, no one deserved to die! He had a choice, did the unborn child he killed have a choice? Would his God really want for all those people to die? He will have to face his God, and if a just God, he will not be in heaven...
Bubblebee
Nov 11, 2009 2:09 AM CST
A man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength that is a hero... this man killed a woman and her unborn child, I don't see a hero I see a monster.

 
Lhasa • Fort Hood • Fort Hood shooting

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