FORT HOOD, Texas, July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused shooter in the Fort Hood massacre in Texas, says the United States is at war against Islam.
In a six-page statement to Fox News, the 42-year-old psychiatrist, charged with killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in a November 2009 mass shooting at the military base, said he regrets serving in the U.S. military and that it was inconsistent with his religious beliefs.
"I would like to begin by repenting to Almighty Allah and apologize to the [Mujahideen], the believers, and the innocent," Hasan said. "I ask for their forgiveness and their prayers. I ask for their forgiveness for participating in the illegal and immoral aggression against Muslims, their religion and their lands."
Fox News reported Hasan was asked if this was a war on Islam. "You bet it is," he said. "I participated in it."
Fox News said it didn't know why Hasan, who is representing himself in his court-martial, which is to start Aug. 6, decided to issue the statement. Hasan faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted.
"This is yet further confirmation of a fact that everyone knows except our government. That is, the Fort Hood shooting was a terrorist jihadi attack," Neal Sher, a lawyer representing Fort Hood shooting victims and their families in a separate legal action, said of Hasan's statement.
