Was Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the shooter at Ford Hood, a ticking bomb that the military should have detected?
That's an inevitable question, as details about the accused shooter emerge.
As an AP article in today's Netscape News informs us:
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some ``difficulties'' that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case. See this link for more.
Was this tragedy something the army should have foreseen? Or is the final irony the fact that Hasan, an army psychiatrist, the very person the army would have trusted to see the potential for this to happen?
Is there a way to prevent this from happening in the future?
What do you think?
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