Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan |
One year ago on this day a Muslim U.S. Army officer known by co-workers for his militant Islamic views killed 13 people and wounded 30 others at Ford Hood in Texas.
Now an association of first-responder officers who say the nation and its political leaders have ignored the lessons of that attack is sponsoring an alternative to today's official memorial service.
The International Counter-Terrorism Officers Association, or ICTOA, a non-profit founded by members of the New York Police Department, says their Nov. 21 event at 2 p.m. at the Killeen Conference Center in Killeen, Texas, is a "competing memorial" to honor the dead and wounded.
The memorial will be followed by five speakers "who will expose what our nation's leaders are afraid to share with the American people."
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With the theme "Diversity starts with the truth," the event will feature former jihad terrorists Walid Shoebat and Kamal Saleem; decorated war hero Gen. William Boykin; Jihad Watch director and author Robert Spencer; and Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a decorated intelligence officer and noted specialist on Islam. Coughlin often is cited as the Pentagon's leading expert on Islamic law.
"We dishonor our men and women in uniform, and put them at greater risk by not speaking the truth or facing the facts about jihadist terrorists like Major Nidal Hasan, whose hidden agenda killed 14 and wounded 35," the ICTOA said in a statement.
See the video promo for the event:
Hasan, a Muslim of Palestinian descent, allegedly entered the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood at about 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 and, according to witnesses, took a seat at a table, bowed his head for a few seconds, then stood up and started shooting.
Witnesses say the devout Muslim officer jumped up on a desk and shouted, "Allahu akbar!" – Allah is greatest – before opening fire and spraying more than 100 bullets inside a crowded building where troops were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.
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."
As WND reported in December, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., expressed concern about the "troubling refusal by Obama officials to acknowledge that the shooting likely was an act of homegrown terrorism."
Hoekstra said U.S. officials "need to understand how homegrown terrorism works if we are to identify and stop homegrown terrorists before they carry out acts of violence."
National security advocate Brigitte Gabriel, founder of the group the ACT! for America , said an environment of political correctness allowed Hasan to escape scrutiny and go on to kill 13 people and wound 30 others.
The alarm bells should have been ringing in every room in the Pentagon long before Hasan pulled the trigger, she asserted.
"In the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, the question so many are asking is 'How could such a hatemonger Islamic ideologue be allowed to serve as an officer in the [U.S.] Army,'" Gabriel said.
As WND reported, at least a dozen other Muslim soldiers have been convicted of terrorism or espionage since 9/11, including:
- NAVY SIGNALMAN HASSAN ABUJIHAAD last year was convicted of tipping
off al-Qaida to battlegroup movements in the Persian Gulf, including
disclosing classified documents detailing the group's vulnerability to
terror attack - ARMY RESERVIST JEFFREY LEON BATTLE in 2003 pleaded guilty to conspiring to
wage war against the U.S., confessing he enlisted "to receive military
training to use against America" - ARMY RESERVIST SEMI OSMAN in 2002 was arrested for providing material
support to al-Qaida and pleaded guilty to weapons charges after agreeing to
testify against other terror suspects - MARINE ABDUL RAHEEM AL-ARSHAD ALI trained at a suspected al-Qaida camp and
was charged with selling a semiautomatic handgun to Osman - ARMY SGT. ALI "THE AMERICAN" MOHAMED trained Green Berets at the elite
Swick warfare school at Fort Bragg before stealing classified military
secrets for al-Qaida and helping plan the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in
Africa - ARMY SGT. HAMMAD ABDUR-RAHEEM in 2004 was convicted of terror-related
charges - ARMY SPC. RYAN G. ANDERSON in 2004 was convicted of leaking military
intelligence to al-Qaida terrorists, including sensitive information about
the vulnerabilities of armored Humvees - ARMY SNIPER JOHN ALLEN MUHAMMAD was sentenced to death after fatally
shooting 10 in the nation's capital a year after the 9/11 attacks - FORMER ARMY LINGUIST AHMED FATHY MEHALBA in 2005 was convicted of stealing secret documents listing, among other things, the names of al-Qaida
detainees from Gitmo - SENIOR AIRMAN AHMAD AL-HALABI in 2004 was convicted of mishandling classified documents as an Arabic linguist at Gitmo
- ARMY CAPT. JAMES "YOUSEF" YEE in 2003 was formally charged with mishandling classified information – including maps of a new Gitmo facility – as a Muslim chaplain at Gitmo.
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