General Music Chat

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us/06forthood.html

12 Dead, 31 Wounded in Base Shootings
By MARIA NEWMAN
Published: November 5, 2009

At least one gunman killed 12 people and wounded 31 in a shooting on Thursday afternoon at Fort Hood in Texas. Military police killed one shooter, who had two guns, and at least two soldiers are in custody.

Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the commanding officer at Fort Hood, the largest active military installation in the country, said the base was in lockdown as military authorities, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigate the rampage.

“This was a terrible tragedy,” said General Cone, speaking at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Stunning.”’

An Army spokesman, Gary Tallman, said that the dead gunman was an Army major. A law enforcement official identified the him as Malik Nadal Hassan.

President Obama, speaking from the White House, called it “a horrific outburst of violence.”

“My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen,” the president said.

“We don’t yet know all the details at this moment,” he said. “We will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.”

“It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil,” the president said.

General Cone said the shooting began at about 1:30 p.m. Central time, when a soldier entered the soldier readiness unit, where soldiers receive last-minute medical attention before being shipped overseas, including to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“A solder opened fire, and due to the quick response of the police forces, he was killed,” General Cone said.

“There were several eyewitness accounts that there was more than one shooter,” he said. Two other soldiers were also taken into custody, he said, but the authorities are continuing to sort out what exactly happened.

General Cone said that the sprawling base has facilities that house children, but that there were no children among the dead or wounded.

“The soldiers and family members are absolutely devastated,” he said.

He said that the local police had responded quickly and that the wounded were taken to an area hospital.

Earlier, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said she had been apprised of the shootings.

“Our hearts go out,” she told Fox 4 News. “These are soldiers who are getting ready to go out to Iraq or Afghanistan and their families were under stress already. This was just a terrible tragedy and we don’t even know the extent of it yet.”

WTF!!!!

Why is this story not dominating the news????

These were soldiers apparently who committed these murders.

3 or 4 gunmen at least!

TWO LOCATIONS OF KILLINGS!

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Seems like the shooter who was killed was a Muslim U.S. Soldier upset about more planned deployments to Iraq.

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The gnman's name sounded Arabic. Wasn't there a Muslim in the U.S. armed forces who went berserk in Iraq or Saudi Arabia and killed a number of his fellow soldiers? People shouldn't join the military if their religious or political beliefs conflict with the beliefs of our country. If there's any possibility of conflicts then maybe volunteer for something else...or move to another country.

Seems like it is dominating Craig.

I think you have to cut the news agencies some slack. If they report stuff too soon, without all the facts, they get crucified (rightly so). But now they wait and get their fact straight, and we're crucifying them for not "dominating the news"...

Seems like it is dominating Craig....

I'm an American.

11 Soldiers have just been murdered.

On base.

On American soil.

By as many as 3 gunmen, which means it is not a case of ONE WHACKO going off the deep end. This was planned, and then executed.

It is an act of TERRORISM, although it will get spun as a "criminal action" instead, most likely.

IT IS VERY SERIOUS!

And there are 11 families (as of now) that have lost sons, fathers, husbands and brothers!

If you don't understand why that would make me concerned, then it is unfortunate that you are an American.

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I think you have to cut the news agencies some slack. If they report stuff too soon, without all the facts, they get crucified (rightly so). But now they wait and get their fact straight, and we're crucifying them for not "dominating the news"...

They are already SPINNING this.

This isn't about getting facts straight.


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Wait till the facts are known Craig.
Right now it's just the entertainment industry masterbating.

It never IS about getting the facts straight. I thought we'd covered that already.

This appears to be a case of American on American violence, with a religious backdrop. It's still "terrorism," but somehow that word brings "foreign influence" to most American minds, & gets them all riled at the wrong thing. This was NOT an act of foreign terrorism!

Bottom line - some ppl should never ever be allowed to hold a gun. I dunno if there's a litmus test to determine who is or isn't capable of handling them, though, so I expect that this sort of thing will happen again at some point.

Any way you look at it, it's a damned shame. I feel for the victims, & wonder what led to it all.

I think I heard that the 2 other suspects were released. If true, it's unlikely they were involved. Maybe it was one crazy whacko?

Colors,

I feel bad about what I said to you. But I don't think it should be unusual to be concerned about an event such as this. I'm still wondering why a rampage on a military base, would not concern you as well though?

Sadly, I don't have full cable anymore and only get a dozen or so stations, and only a few of those are news, and not round the clock, just some local news.

There was supposed to be a press conference by the military and Fox had some LIVE online thing for it, but they never showed up to talk by the time I had to leave.

Did this happen? Anyone see the press conference?

I'm trying to understand how a lone gunman killed 11 people and wounded 30-something others with only two handguns?

If these were military issue, what would the clips hold? Anyone know?


George,

How far are you away from Ft. Hood? I was wondering if any of the wounded got shipped your way? Or if you had any other information on this?

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HOLY CRAP!!!

THAT F*CKER SURVIVED!!!!

Was just catching up on the news on this!

That's just great.

Now we all get to pay for his trial and numerous appeals.

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Perhaps at least he'll explain why...if he can...

Perhaps at least he'll explain why...if he can...

His family and people who knew him, have stated that he was being deployed to Iraq, and didn't want to go. He had previously hired a lawyer to get him out of the military. And he was said to have been the target of some racist remarks in the past "Camel Jockey". But he also apparently got into heated arguments with those who support the war.

This asswipe doesn't know what it's like to be hammered by name calling! Those were compliments, compared to some of the names Phil's called me!

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You should enter the news business Craig.
Did my bit in other fields. You have a temper for it........... for sure.

Make your headline THE headline and follow upon it with hard hitting comment. But please make sure you do not over type and check your sources before posting since they always change in circumstances such as this.

You should enter the news business Craig.
Did my bit in other fields. You have a temper for it........... for sure.

Make your headline THE headline and follow upon it with hard hitting comment. But please make sure you do not over type and check your sources before posting since they always change in circumstances such as this.

Uhh yeah, and I look like an idiot. Colors is going to enjoy this. LOL

Well, the big thing they got wrong, and this was the hospitals mistake I think, was the original reports that the shooter had been killed, when in fact, he survived and is in stable condition.

But you can get away with spouting off on OPINION programs. And despite the attacks that Fox gets over this, they all do the same. They aren't any different, other than that Fox is going to give you more conservative opinions, and MsNBC and others are going to give you liberal opinions.

But that's not my calling.

And I would suck at it with audiences, cause I don't buy into any agendas. I support the positions I believe in, which will sometimes be in line with conservatives and other times be in line with liberals and moderates.

I like that about myself. Confirms to me that I am not a sheep and have an open mind to finding truth, wherever it is being espoused.

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