Obama consoles families of Fort Hood victims in Washington

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, yesterday consoled families and attended a memorial service at Fort Hood, Texas, for 13 people who were killed by Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist.

Thirteen photographs sat on steps leading up to the podium, along with 13 pairs of army boots, assault rifles and helmets that belonged to Major Hasan’s victims.

“This is a time of war, yet these Americans did not die on a field of battle; they were killed here,” Mr Obama said, “a fact that makes the tragedy even more painful, even more incomprehensible.”

The President then summarised the life stories of the 12 dead soldiers and a retired army doctor, among them private Francheska Velez (21), who had recently returned from Iraq and was pregnant with her first child, and specialist Jason Hunt (22), who also served in Iraq and was married two months ago.

“No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts,” Mr Obama said, promising that justice would be done.

A 21-gun salute followed the president’s remarks, songs, a sermon and prayers.

The Obamas then visited the wounded in hospital. Fifteen soldiers remain hospitalised, and 27 have already been released.

For security and privacy, the army built a high wall of grey freight containers around the outdoor service, which was attended by 3,000 people.

The central question in the mass killings, as defined by Mr Obama in an earlier interview with ABC, remains: “Is this an individual who’s acting in this way or is it some larger set of actors? ”

Attention is now focused on indications that the army and US intelligence may have ignored signs that Hasan was becoming increasingly religious, politicised and dangerous, just as authorities ignored warnings of the September 11th, 2001 attacks.

The US departments of defence and justice have agreed that Major Hasan will be tried by a military court.

He regained consciousness at the weekend and has spoken to retired army colonel John Galligan, a former military judge at Fort Hood, whom his family hired to represent him.

If a military prosecutor asks for the death sentence, Hasan would have to be convicted by a 12-person jury of military personnel, and the president would have to sign the death sentence.

The military has not executed anyone since 1961, though there are six people on military death row.

In June 2007, the Washington Post revealed yesterday, Hasan delivered an hour-long lecture entitled The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the US Military to army physicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre.

Hasan said it was growing more difficult for Muslims to morally justify serving in the US military, and concluded that the “Department of Defence should allow Muslim soldiers the option of being released as ‘conscientious objectors’ to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events.”

CNN reported yesterday that Hasan attended seminars on counterterrorism at George Washington University, wearing his army uniform and taking notes.

Texas authorities are trying to track down six people who dined with Hasan the night before the killings. The men reportedly celebrated the departure of one on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

On Monday it emerged that Hasan sent between 10 and 20 e-mails to Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric who lives in Yemen.

The FBI was aware of these communications but concluded they were consistent with Hasan’s research at Walter Reed.

In addition to the army and FBI, Senator Joe Lieberman, who heads the committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, will begin hearings next week on Major Hasan’s motives.

Senator Lieberman has called the Fort Hood shootings “the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11”.