WGBA -Grandma: Shooter a ‘Good Doctor’ But Troubled

Grandma: Shooter a ‘Good Doctor’ But Troubled

NBC News and news services

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The grandmother of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base, wept Friday as she discussed her grandson at her house in a wealthy suburb of this West Bank city.

Hasan's maternal grandmother, Salha Hamad, 84, said her grandson was a "good boy" and a "good doctor with a good heart" with whom she would speak frequently on the phone.

She told NBC News that he was extremely unhappy in Fort Hood. Hamad said Hasan told her he was very troubled by his upcoming deployment.

She said Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was particularly upset by seeing soldiers who were suffering as a result of being injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army spokeswoman Col. Cathy Abbott on Friday said that Hasan was to deploy to Afghanistan to help with what the military calls "behavioral health" counseling for soldiers suffering from combat stress.

A military official earlier told The Associated Press that Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq. It was not immediately possible to verify the discrepancy.

The military official, who did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Hasan had indicated he didn't want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan.

In the United States, his family on Friday described Hasan's actions as "despicable and deplorable."

A day after the attack, there remained many unknowns about the suspect, and President Barack Obama, in remarks in the Rose Garden, cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

Six years at Walter Reed
Yet details of his life and mindset, emerging from his family, personal acquaintances and official sources, were troubling.

For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood in July, the 39-year-old Army major - who is seen as a balding, heavy-set man in photos - worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing his career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry.

He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001. He was in the preparation stage of deployment to Afghanistan. 

While an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Grieger said privacy laws prevented him from going into details but noted that the problems had to do with Hasan's interactions with patients. He recalled Hasan as a "mostly very quiet" person who never spoke ill of the military or his country.

"He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," Grieger said. "I didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths." But, more recently, federal agents grew suspicious. At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

They had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the postings, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

Harassed for religious beliefs?
Reports have emerged that Hasan, a devout Muslim, felt he was discriminated against for his beliefs.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and he wanted out of the Army.

"Some people can take it, and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military."

She said he had sought a discharge from the military for several years, and even offered to repay the cost of his medical training. 

Noel Hasan said her nephew "did not make many friends" and would say "the military was his life."

Born in Virginia
Hasan was born and raised in Virginia, the son of Palestinian parents who immigrated to the United States from Albireh, a West Bank suburb of Ramallah. His grandmother told NBC News that many members of his extended family have American citizenship and she has a U.S. green card.

In a statement Friday, Kim Fuller, a spokeswoman for Hasan's family, said relatives in Virginia were reaching out to law enforcement to offer any help they can into the investigation. While Hasan had spent nearly a decade in the military, he often expressed anti-war opinions. His cousin, Nader Hasan, told The New York Times that Hasan counseled soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder. "He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there."

Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the apartment complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, Thursday night and conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of public information for the city. She didn't say what was found during the search.

Officials said earlier that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of his computer.

Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Lee said Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.

But a neighbor of Hasan's said he appeared to be OK with his pending deployment.

"I asked him how he felt about going over there, with their religion and everything, and he said, 'It's going to be interesting,'" said Edgar Booker, a 58-year-old retired soldier who now works in a cafeteria on the post.

‘Committed soldier' looking for a wife
Hasan attended prayers regularly when he lived outside Washington, often in his Army uniform, said Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md.

"I got the impression that he was a committed soldier," Khan said. Hasan was single, but Khan said he spoke often with Hasan about his desire for a wife.

His grandmother also told NBC that she frequently spoke with him about getting married, but he said he was so stressed by his work, that he never had time to meet anyone.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.

cstsonline.org Nidal Malik Hasan reportedly had orders to deploy overseas this month.

"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

Nothing stood out about Hasan as radical or extremist, Khan said.

"We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist."

Hasan earned his rank of major in April 2008, according to a July 2008 Army Times article.

He served eight years as an enlisted soldier. He was an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and graduated with honors in 1995. Contrary to earlier reports, a statement released by Virginia Tech said that he was not a member of any ROTC program at the school.