FORT HOOD: A US Army psychiatrist admitted yesterday to opening fire on fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood military base, as he took charge of his own defence at a high profile trial.
“The evidence will clearly show I am the shooter,” declared Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who has fired his lawyers and is representing himself, in his opening statement.
Hasan, who has previously admitted to killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in the 2009 attack at Fort Hood, faces the death penalty if convicted.
Military law prohibits him from pleading guilty to a capital offense and so Hasan has been given the opportunity to try to convince a jury of 13 officers that he does not deserve death for his actions.
“It could be the opening salvo for him to talk about jihad and to tell the jury he is justified in what he did,” said Jeff Addicott, a terrorism law expert from St Mary’s University.
The attack jolted the US military and prompted calls for stronger safeguards against internal security threats and “homegrown” terror attacks.
Nearly four years after being attacked in what should have been the safety of a protected base, survivors are steeling themselves to be cross-examined by Hasan, the man who shot them.
Military judge Colonel Tara Osborn will try to ensure Hasan does not use the high-profile trial as a platform to espouse extreme views and that he treats witnesses with respect.
Shawn Manning, a mental health specialist in the same unit as Hasan who was shot six times, said he was dreading the prospect of being cross-examined by his former colleague.
“A guy who tried to murder you and your friends, and you have to be cordial and nice, it is going to be difficult,” Manning said as he prepared to testify later in the week.
“In a lot of ways, I hope he doesn’t ask me any questions, but I’ve prepared myself.”
Manning is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit urging the military to reclassify the shooting as “terrorism” instead of the current designation of “workplace violence,” which offers less compensation to victims. Osborn has barred prosecutors from mentioning terrorism as a motive and prohibited Hasan from using a “defence of others” strategy to justify his actions.
Hasan, 42, was due to deploy to Afghanistan weeks after the attack. He has said that he shot soldiers to protect his fellow Muslims from an “illegal” war.
Three weeks before the shooting, according to prosecutors, Hasan told a doctor: “They have another thing coming if they think they are going to deploy me.”
As he prepared to kill as many soldiers as possible, Hasan read jihadist writings by Taliban leaders and wrapped ammunition magazines in paper towels so people wouldn’t hear them clinking in his pockets, prosecutors said.
Born in the eastern US state of Virginia to Palestinian parents, Hasan joined the Army in 1995.
AFP
