Nidal Hasan, the Army officer who according to witnesses stood on a desk at Fort Hood, Texas, and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before shooting and killing 13 people and injuring 32 more, says he wants to be part of ISIS.
That's the Islamic movement, also known as the Islamic State, that has carried out beheadings and crucifixions in its conquering of large portions of Iraq and Syria. Christians has been forced to flee Mosul, where they've had a presence since the time of Christ. This week, ISIS captured hundreds of Syrian soldiers, stripping them to their underwear and marching them across the desert to their executions.
According to CBN News, Hasan, who awaits execution while his case is being reviewed by appellate courts, has asked to become a citizen of the Islamic State, the caliphate declared by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The report said Hasan has written a letter from his prison cell to Baghdadi.
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"It would be an honor for any believers to be an obedient citizen soldier to a people and its leader who don't compromise the religion of All-Mighty Allah to get along with disbelievers," he writes.
Hasan, imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, caused innumerable delays in his prosecution, arguing with authorities about his beard, his room, his diet and other issues.
WND reported that while investigators showed Hasan was a dedicated Muslim, communicated with terrorists overseas and shouted "Allahu Akbar" before his shooting spree, his act was classified "workplace violence" instead of a terror attack.
Consequently, survivors and family members of the victims were denied the compensation and benefits the government provides to victims of terror.
WND also reported official records from Hasan's three-year stint at Bell County Jail in Texas reveal the inmate sent frequent complaints and demands to his jailors. Hasan insisted the temperature of his cell be kept at 70 degrees, asked for a thermometer to monitor it, harassed his caregivers and during one episode even began defecating in his trash can instead of the bathroom.
Further, an investigation by KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth revealed Hasan during that time had cost taxpayers the following:
- $200,000 spent on daily helicopter rides to ferry him from the jail to Fort Hood
- Tens of thousands of dollars setting up a private Fort Hood office for Hasan, who insisted on representing himself at trial
- $5 million in expenses, travel for government lawyers, fees paid to expert witnesses, vehicles and cell phones purchased and major security renovations at the base
- $300,000 in military pay between his arrest and his dishonorable discharge in September 2013.
KXAS-TV was the first to send a news crew inside the jail and see the room known as MW1, the medical ward that housed Hasan before he was eventually moved to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.
The news crew reported the room was much larger than a typical cell and would normally house up to three inmates. But the cell was granted to Hasan alone, along with a private guard who watched him through a window at least 12 hours a day and took notes on what he read and watched on television.
Even Hasan's civil attorney balked at the all the expense.
"I mean, it's just a bunch of overkill," attorney John Galligan told KXAS-TV. "Unnecessary funds that were spent."
In addition, the Bell County Sheriff's Office was paid nearly $650,000 to house Hasan, and in return, official records reveal, Hasan filled his jailors' lives with nearly incessant grief.
For example, on April 15, 2010, Hassan demanded a clock so he could roll over every two hours to avoid bed sores, visits from an imam and the temperature held at no less than 70 degrees.
Hasan filed a repeat request on April 19, complaining of the cold, no clock and no visits from an imam. And when on April 24 his demands had not been met, the inmate began defecating in his cell's trash can.
Eventually jailers told him that imams didn't want to come and see him.
Prior to the shooting, Hasan reportedly was disciplined for pushing his beliefs on others, routinely wore Islamic dress and the morning of the massacre gave away his furniture and Qurans.
His business card carried an abbreviation for "Soldier of Allah." U.S. intelligence had been aware of email communications between Hasan and the Yemen-based terror organizer Anwar al-Awlaki. Hasan's colleagues spoke of his increasing radicalization for several years. Hasan himself later wrote of Awlaki as his "mentor" and spoke out against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.