A Major Court Martial

Major Nidal Hasan, an American citizen born in Virginia, won the right to represent himself in his court-martial trial regarding his killing of 13 members of the military and wounding 32 others. This action took place at Fort Hood outside San Antonio in Kileen, Texas on November 5, 2009.

The Obama administration deemed this a case of workplace violence rather than a terrorist attack. During the shooting, Major Hasan, who is/was an Army psychiatrist, was heard to scream out "Allahu Akbar" many times which means "God  is Great" in Arabic. Generally, this phrase is cried out during an act of jihad or holy war by those who believe in radical Islam.

In 2010, the United States Senate issued a report which indicated that the Ft Hood massacre was the worst "act of terrorism on US soil since September 11, 2001." Yet, the Department of Defense has decided to stay with its initial characterization of "workplace violence". This has been a highly debated issue since that time.

Surviving witnesses will have the opportunity to question Major Nidal concerning his reasons for committing these horrific actions. He has previously tried to justify them by indicating that he did not want to have himself or other soldiers going to Afghanistan, at the end of November, 2009, to kill the supporters of the Taliban.

As stated above, Major Hasan, who has been in the military since 1988, will represent himself but he will have attorneys present in the event he needs assistance. The jury is scheduled to be selected on or about June 5 and the trial will begin on or about July 5.

He has been found competent to go to trial and of course he has pleaded "Not Guilty". He faces the Death Penalty or Life without Parole. The DOD and the Army understand the significance of this trial as viewed from the Muslim world and will try to keep the theatrics to a minimum, unlike the Zacarias Moussaoui trial. He, of course, was the missing 9/11 hijacker.

As the trial gets under way and evidence is established, we will find how such a terrible act could occur on a US military base, and how the Major's beliefs or behavior did not raise alarms to his superior officers. Obviously, there was a breakdown of command and security at the fort.

Once Major Hasan's trial is completed, an investigation should be, must be conducted to determine how this breach occurred, so that a recurrence of such a horrific event does not happen again.

That must be the lesson we take away from this tragedy. If we don't, we are doomed to see a repeat of it.