Fort Hood Army Massacre Shooter Has Possible 9/11 Link

Nidal Malik Hasan, who savagely opened fire on his fellow servicemen in Fort Hood, Texas last week, killing 12 and injuring dozens others, may have a link to 9/11. Hasan attended a Virginia mosque at the same time as two of the 9/11 hijackers, and the FBI is now investigating whether there is a connection between the men.

Major Hasan, a psychiatrist for the Army, had held his mother's funeral at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va. during May 2001. At the time, the mosque's imam was the ultraradical Anwar Aulaqi, who was believed to have ties to Osama bin Laden. After the events of September 11, 2001, Aulaqi admitted to the FBI that he had met with Nawaf al-Hazmi, one of the hijackers who crashed a jet into the Pentagon. Al-Hazmi and another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, had attended his mosque in early April 2001 - at the same time Hasan's family worshipped there.

The Falls Church mosque is one of the largest on the East Coast, with thousands attending prayers and services there. However, Imam Abdul-Malki, the mosque's outreach director, said that it is a mistake to tie regular attendance at a mosque to extremism.

Nevertheless, the possible connectin between Hasan, the hijackers, and the radical imam have only fueled fears that the murders at Fort Hood were more than just the work of one mentally disturbed person.

Officials have said that Hasan was scheduled to be deployed soon to Afghanistan, which may have fueled his rage. Sen. Joe Lieberman said that the act may have been an act of terrorism:

"I want to say very quickly we don't know enough to say now, but there are very, very strong warning signs here that Dr. Hasan had become an Islamist extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act."

Lieberman, who heads the Senate's Commitee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, continued by saying that the Army should have discharged Hasan the moment he showed any signs of Islamic extremism.

Hasan's classmates at the Uniformed Services University said they repeatedly complained to supervisors about his constant anti-American rants. One said he warned superiors that Hasan was a "ticking time bomb" after he made a presentation defending Islamic suicide bombers.

Hasan was shot four times and remains in critical condition, but was removed from a ventilator on Saturday.

Update: ABC News is reporting that Hasan tried to make contact with al Qaeda terrorists, something that intelligence agencies were aware of months ago. It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that Maj. Hasan was seeking to connect with suspected terrorists.