Suspect warned of Muslims fighting Muslims

FORT HOOD, Texas, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The man accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, warned U.S. Army physicians 18 months ago against deploying Muslim soldiers to fight other Muslims.

As a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan urged senior Army physicians to avoid "adverse events" by allowing Muslim soldiers be released as conscientious objectors rather than fight in wars against other Muslims, a copy of his presentation obtained by The Washington Post indicated.

"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he said during the presentation that was supposed to be about a medical topic, the Post reported Tuesday.

Investigators allege that Hasan opened fire in Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Center, killing 12 military personnel and one civilian Thursday.

An Army spokesman told the Post he was unaware of the presentation.

Hasan spent six years at Walter Reed as an intern, resident and fellow beginning in 2003. He was transferred to Fort Hood as a psychiatrist in July and was to be deployed soon for Afghanistan. A relative said Hasan asked not to be deployed, but it was unknown whether he sought conscientious-objector status, the Post said.

The title of Hasan's 50-slide presentation was "The Koranic World View As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military." In one slide, Hasan described the presentation's objectives as identifying "what the Koran inculcates in the minds of Muslims and the potential implications this may have for the U.S. military."

Its recommendation was, "Department of Defense should allow Muslims (sic) Soldiers the option of being released as 'Conscientious objectors' to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events."