Fort Hood massacre: Malik Nadal Hasan did it

Latest report is that the shooters were U.S. soldiers, though no motive is known. The nearby hospital is begging people to come give blood. CNN quoting a soldier based at Fort Hood as having said that the base is so big that a lot of soldiers struggling with PTSD are not getting the help they need. Same soldier said that the Army has lowered its standards in recent years because it needs personnel -- that's true, not just an allegation -- but that that has meant some gang activity has been happening at Fort Hood. Not confirmed, though.

Will update this post as more information becomes available. Please contribute to the thread below.

UPDATE: CNN just reported name of the dead shooter: Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. He was 39 or 40 years old -- not a kid. And, apparently, not a Swedish Lutheran.

Here we go...

UPDATE.2: ABC News reports that Hasan was an Army psychiatrist. Initial reports were that he was a Muslim convert, but now it's believed he was born a Muslim.
There has been talk on TV that Hasan killed his victims methodically, suggesting that this was premeditated, not a psychotic break.

UPDATE.3: Georgia imam condemns shooting. Good for him.

UPDATE.4: Now this is interesting: the Fort Hood spokesman just said on CNN that there were two shooters. If that's true, that says conspiracy. The second one is now in custody. The commanding general of the fort is going to give a presser momentarily.

UPDATE.5: AnotherBeliever, who served in Iraq and who is an Arabic linguist, posts the following:

Islam may or may not have been THE motivating factor in this attack. It may have well played some role, this is not the first instance of fragging by a Muslim soldier in this war. IF it is a case of enemy infiltration, again, it's not the first, and I doubt it will be the last. This sort of thing was fairly common during the Cold War, back when the Russians were the enemy. I put my money on psychiatric disturbance, exacerbated or fueled by the inability of this officer to square deploying to Iraq with his faith. Ultimately, and I say this as an Army Veteran, it is the U.S. Army which is responsible for letting these attacks happen. Clearly, somebody at some level dropped the ball. Probably more than one somebody. That will be investigated, of course. There are Muslim terrorists and sympathizers in this country. Fact. However, it would be counterproductive in the extreme to somehow wall all Muslims off into police-controlled ghettos, as it seems some people want to do. This would only turn the neutral and supportive portions of the populace into more sympathizers. We must engage with the whole population, identify and isolate the sympathizers, figure out who the sympathizer's leaders and influencers are, throw the book at THEM, and empower Muslim communities to stand up their own INTERNAL home-grown leaders to counter the influence of outsiders who may be backed (and financed) by terrorist groups that wish to subvert U.S. Muslims and attack Americans. This will require law enforcement people who simultaneously have real familiarity and respect for Islam and Muslims AND a commitment to countering terrorists, and a flawless information operation campaign.

Meanwhile, a retired Army officer, a colonel who worked with Hasan at Fort Hood said Hasan had been saying publicly that the U.S. ought to get out of Iraq, that Muslims ought to stand up to the aggressor. The colonel, Terry Lee, said Hasan "stuck strongly to his faith." And: "He made his views well known about how he felt about the US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan." Lee said that at the time he retired, he was told that Hasan was being investigated. Further, Lee said Hasan was "sort of a loner" who never associated with other officers out of the office.

UPDATE.6: Holy crap -- now the commanding general of Fort Hood says that Hasan is alive, and in custody! This story gets stranger and stranger.