By Richard Simon By Richard Simon ADVERTISING The Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the former U.S. Army psychiatrist on trial in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, on Saturday accused the United States of
By Richard Simon
The Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the former U.S. Army psychiatrist on trial in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, on Saturday accused the United States of being at war with Islam, outlining his complaints in a statement he sent to Fox News.
“My complicity was on behalf of a government that openly acknowledges that it would hate for the law of Almighty Allah to be the supreme law of the land,” the network quoted Hasan as saying.
The 42-year-old American-born Muslim, who is representing himself at trial, is charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder in the killing of 13 people and the wounding of 32 others in an attack Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, about 130 miles southwest of Dallas.
If convicted, Hasan could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Hasan said in the statement that he regretted joining the Army and “participating in the illegal and immoral aggression against Muslims, their religion and their lands,” Fox News reported.
Hasan did not directly address the Ft. Hood shootings in the statement, which the network said runs more than six pages.
Hasan’s motivation for releasing the statement is unclear. But Geoffrey Corn, a retired lieutenant colonel and professor at South Texas College of Law, said Hasan probably had “come to the realization that he’s not going to be given the freedom to raise this theory in the trial … and the frustration is starting to boil over.”
Opening statements in the court-martial are set for Aug. 6.
Richard Rosen, a retired colonel and law professor at Texas Tech University School of Law, said the statement was unlikely to help Hasan and could hurt his case.
The government “can certainly use the statement to help establish that Hasan’s acts were premeditated, although the evidence of premeditation was already overwhelming,” Rosen said.
“I do not believe that his statement will do anything to help him during the sentencing phase of trial; the panel members will almost certainly reject Hasan’s assertion that the U.S. is at war with Islam.”
Neal Sher, a New York lawyer representing Ft. Hood shooting victims and their families, said the statement confirms “what, frankly, everybody has known about this guy, even well before the massacre took place: that he had jihadist beliefs.
“He’s making no secret about what his motivation was.”
