Hasan Akbar’s jihad has reached its conclusion. From AP, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.
Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.
Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve “maximum carnage” on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.…
Defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart countered that Akbar was concerned the invasion of Iraq would result in the deaths of Muslims and that U.S. soldiers would rape Iraqi women.
He said the prosecution’s depiction of Akbar as a cold-blooded killer ignored that the defendant was sufficiently mentally ill — though not insane — to be confused and fearful about the impending invasion of Iraq.
The defense lawyer scoffed at an Army psychiatrist’s testimony that Akbar suffered merely from “the blues” — not any serious mental problems.
“It doesn’t make any sense. This guy doesn’t have the blues,” he said. “He is mentally ill.”
Although that’s the conclusion many people reach concerning jihad motivated killings, that doesn’t make it true. He was motivated by the same teachings as the 9/11 hijackers and all the other jihadis worldwide. They can’t all be insane.
Brookhart said Akbar’s actions after the initial attack showed he wasn’t intent on achieving maximum destruction. He said Akbar stopped his attack with a nearly full clip still in his M-4 rifle and three more grenades. He also noted the defendant didn’t try to flee during the chaos following the attack….
During Thursday’s arguments, relatives of the victims cried when prosecutors showed pictures of the bodies on a large TV screen. When a prosecutor pointed at Akbar, nearly yelling that he was responsible, Akbar sipped from a coffee mug….