Nidal Hasan murdered thirteen people in the name of Islam and jihad over three years ago; since then he has tied up the military in endless wrangling over his Muslim beard and other issues related to how they handled that beard — and now he wants a change of venue. Do you think it has ever occurred to Hasan that tying up and wasting the resources of the kuffar is a jihad in itself?
“Trial date set for accused shooter at U.S. Army base,” by Don Bolding and Jim Forsyth for Reuters, February 28 (thanks to all who sent this in):
FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) – A military judge on Thursday set May 29 for the start of jury selection in the murder trial of U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
Judge Tara Osborn, a U.S. Army colonel, did not rule on defense requests to change the venue from Fort Hood and the pool of potential jurors from U.S. Army personnel to U.S. Navy or Air Force personnel.
Osborn set July 1 for the start of the trial. The trial, including jury selection, is expected to take up to 90 days.
Hasan has been in custody since the attack, in which 32 people were wounded. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
An independent review by a former FBI director found Hasan had exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric linked to al Qaeda’s Yemen-based wing. Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike.
Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, the lead defense attorney, said the requests to change both the venue and the jury pool are a question of fairness.
“The community is saturated with information about the shootings,” Poppe said. He noted that the Army Times newspaper has had extensive and more negative coverage about the shootings, compared to the Navy and Air Force newspapers.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Addicott, a law professor at St. Mary’s University in Texas and a retired Army Judge Advocate General, said the requests are part of the defense strategy to delay the trial.
“This case is such a high-profile case that you can’t go to any military installation in the world where you will find a panel that has not heard about the case,” Addicott said….