[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27853]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       NIDAL HASAN, TERRORIST--AKA ``ALIEN UNLAWFUL BELLIGERENT''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is a 
terrorist. If anyone needs confirmation, it says on his own business 
cards, Soldier of Allah, and those business cards were found in his 
apartment. Within an hour of his terrorist attack on Fort Hood, the FBI 
quickly told us he is not a terrorist. The authorities told us not to 
jump to conclusions while they jump to conclusions.
  The news media has called Hasan everything but a terrorist. Hasan was 
called a ``lone gunman'' or a ``troubled individual'' who somehow 
suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The main problem with 
that is he hadn't been deployed overseas, so how could he have post-
traumatic stress disorder? Maybe it should be called pre-post-traumatic 
stress disorder.
  They said Hasan's terrorist rampage was an ``isolated incident,'' a 
``random act of violence.'' Hasan was ``under stress,'' ``harassed'' 
and was somehow forced to ``snap.'' And they even blame it on guns. But 
don't call him a terrorist.
  The day after Hasan's terrorist attack, reports leaked out that he 
had yelled the standard terrorist ``Allahu Akbar,'' Arabic for ``God is 
great,'' while gunning down innocent people.
  According to The Dallas Morning News, authorities are investigating 
whether Hasan wired money to Pakistan terrorist groups in recent 
months.

                              {time}  1530

  His apartment cost $350 a month and didn't have much furniture in it. 
He drove an old car, but he made over $100,000 a year. Now people are 
asking, Where did all that money go?
  According to a colleague at Walter Reed Hospital, Hasan gave an hour-
long lecture there on what he called the ``Koranic View of Military 
Service, Jihad, and War.'' Instead of the medical lecture he was 
supposed to talk about, Hasan talked about punishment visited upon 
infidels--consignment to hell, decapitation, and having hot oil poured 
down your throat. According to his colleague at the hospital, this 
``freaked a lot of doctors out.'' Well, no kidding. But apparently not 
enough for anyone to break their politically correct silence and report 
him. Why have the politically correct police made those who report 
crime so timid?
  Hasan's colleagues said that he was the kind of guy who the staff 
actually stood around in the hallway saying, Do you think this guy is a 
terrorist or is he just odd? Nothing was done. And why wasn't he 
formally reported by colleagues? There are no answers.
  Hasan exchanged emails with an al Qaeda recruiter in Yemen 20 times. 
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon said they were never 
told by intelligence agencies about the emails, which raises even more 
questions.
  The FBI, Army Intelligence, the CIA, apparently they're still not 
talking to each other. So we need congressional investigations on this 
entire situation. I've asked that the Terrorism Subcommittee, which I 
serve on in Congress, investigate this situation.
  There were warning signs that were ignored because he was a Muslim. 
Is this a reflection on all Muslims in the Army? Absolutely not. We 
have those in the Muslim faith loyally serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Many speak Farsi and help our troops in combat. But it is a reflection 
on one person who radicalized.
  There were warning signs, and interventions should have occurred much 
earlier. It's a reflection on the Army's ability to be decisive and 
take care of business, take care of a threat when they see it. They 
missed the obvious. The question is: Is this continuing to happen in 
the military? Are they going to continue to ignore the obvious? Hasan 
had murdered 14 people, including a pregnant soldier and her unborn 
child. She was sent back home from Iraq out of the war zone to have her 
baby.
  Mr. Speaker, when it gets to the point where political correctness 
puts the lives of our troops in danger on American soil at their home 
base, it's well past time to stop playing preposterous PC games.
  By the way, Mr. Speaker, do you know what the military officially 
calls terrorists? We don't use that term ``terrorist'' anymore. They 
are officially called alien unlawful belligerents. Now, isn't that 
lovely. We can't call them terrorist or killers or criminals because 
that might hurt their feelings.
  The American military, the FBI, and the media must deal with the 
facts and the truth without trying to mislead the American public.
  And that's just the way it is.

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