CLOAK AND DAGGER

US officials identified the gunman as
Major Nidal Malik Hasan

Fort Hood shooter and the FBI

While few official details have been released about Hasan, his family and others have given some insight into the man accused of killing 13 people and wounded 38 others in Thursday's massacre at Fort Hood Army Post in Texas.

On a form for those looking for spouses through the mosque he listed his birthplace as Arlington, Virginia, but his nationality as Palestinian, Mr Khan said. - BBC

His aunt, Noel Hasan, said her nephew had been upset by the injuries he saw at Walter Reed (Medical Centre). "He must have snapped," she added.
Dr Thomas Grieger, who was training director at the centre while Maj Hasan was an intern there, said told AP that he had had "difficulties" that required counselling and extra supervision.

Ms Hasan said Maj Hasan had spent holidays and free time at her house, and that he "did not make many friends".

Nidal Hasan may have attended a lecture in January at George Washington University involving the Israeli ambassador to the United States and other officials discussing Israel's offensive into Gaza last winter. Video from the lecture shows a person who appears to be Hasan dressed in military fatigues seated in the audience taking notes.

INTERNET CONNECTION

A neighbor, Willie Bell, said Hasan had helped him set up his laptop and regularly tapped into Bell's wireless service.

Bell, a maintenance man at Fort Hood who didn't show up for work Thursday, said he was interviewed by the FBI for four hours that day and the laptop was seized. He said he received two calls from Hasan early Thursday, one at 2:37 a.m. asking Bell to turn on the wireless service and again at 5 a.m. to say he was moving.

One official was quoted by the New York Times as saying that the FBI had become aware of internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan.
In one such posting, the act of a suicide bomber who kills himself to protect Muslims was compared to a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to protect other soldiers.

However, officials said they had not confirmed that Maj Hasan was the author of the postings.

 BBC