The Army has just released its internal investigation into the Fort Hood shootings a year ago that left 13 people dead at the hands, according to eye-witnesses, of Maj. Nidal Hasan. He’s the Army psychiatrist and Muslim who shouted — according to some of those witnesses — “Allah Akbar” (“God is great”) as he methodically killed 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian. Shot and paralyzed by civilian cops amid the mayhem, he faces a military court martial.
“Taken individually, no single action would have prevented the tragedy at Fort Hood,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Radin, who led the Army’s internal review. But several military personnel who served alongside Hasan privately dispute that claim, contending Hasan’s behavior and words prior to the shootings should have forced him into counseling and perhaps out of the Army.
The Army has rolled out a bunch of initiatives to deal with such threats in the future: an iWatch program — kind of the Army’s version of a neighborhood watch — and iSalute, an “online counter-intelligence program.” In typical Army fashion, it has also created a Threat Awareness and Reporting Program, a Counterintelligence Fusion Cell, and an Army Personnel Security Investigation Center of Excellence.
Sun Tzu said one of the most important rules of war is to know one’s enemy. The Army’s 118-page investigation mentions the word “tragedy” eight times, and “Muslim” zero.
