"Allahu Akbar!"
By Mike Bibb
Nadal Malik Hasan in 2003, the year he graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. — WikipediaThe U.S. military hasn't carried out an execution since 1961, according to data kept by the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. That year, the U.S. hanged Army Pvt. John Bennett at a Kansas prison for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl." — USA Today, Oct. 6, 2026.
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The last time the U.S. Army executed a soldier was in 1961. 65 years later, it's about to do it again.
What took so long?
17 years ago, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan willfully, and with extreme malice, shot and killed 13 unarmed fellow soldiers, and wounded 30 others in an Army medical center at Ft. Hood, Texas on Nov. 5, 2009.
Carrying an Army issue semiautomatic handgun, Hasan repeatedly ejected empty clips, and reloaded with full ones as his evil inspired rampage continued.
During the melee, he could be heard yelling "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!" Arabic for "God is the greatest."
Finally, he was shot in the legs by responding police, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
So much for Dr. Hasan's loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath, and other military physicians' ethical pledges.
At trial, he didn't deny his actions, or put up much of a defense. He was found guilty of the charges.
Unless delayed, Maj. Hasan will find out how great his god is on Dec. 3, 2026, when he faces an Army firing squad.
President Donald Trump, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, recently signed the execution order.
Supposedly, Maj. Hasan's intentions were suspected by the FBI. In a Nov. 5, 2021 article in the Independent Review, revealed "Nidal Hasan, 51, is an American-born Muslim who earned a degree in psychiatry, joined the U.S. Army, and attained the rank of major. Trouble is, Hasan considered himself a "soldier of Allah" and in 2009 he was communicating with al Qaeda terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki about killing American soldiers. The FBI knew all about it, but as 'Lessons from Fort Hood' confirms, the Washington office of the FBI dropped the surveillance on Hasan and took no action against him."
It was later determined the killings at Ft. Hood was "Workplace violence" — not premediated murder by a religious psychopath.
Which, sounds more like a "politically correct" explanation, than a legitimate description of the facts leading up to incident.
Here was an obvious "Clear and present danger" case of a career Army medical officer, harboring depraved intentions against the very institution employing him, that eventually erupted into a homicidal rage killing of over a dozen troops and injuring over two dozen others.
Approximately, 43-45 in total — a mass-murder scene with multiple wounded.
Raising at least two questions: Why was no one else armed to counteract the shooting? And, why wasn't Maj. Hasan executed years ago?
There was no doubt he committed the crime, wasn't declared insane at the time, or even refuted the accusations during his trial.
He simply instigated a killing spree and didn't stop until he was shot and wounded.
When I was in the Marine Corps many years ago, and didn't really give it much thought, I was subject to the rules and regulations of military law, detailed in something called "The Uniform Code of Military Justice" (UCMJ).
I imagine, it is similar to civilian law, only with special applications pertaining to the military and its unique position in society.
At the time, the Vietnam War was raging, the military draft was in effect, and all sorts of feelings and protests were going on.
There were certain "war atrocities" committed by U.S. troops, and they were delt with accordingly.
However, I don't recall an incident where a commissioned military officer intentionally opened fire on a room of medical patients with the explicit purpose of killing as many of them as he could and loudly voicing "Allahu Akbar!" as he did it.
Or, some similar utterance.
As far as I know, this is an unprecedented situation, requiring special resolution as an example of what to expect if someone else is contemplating a comparable crime.
Death by lethal injection is too easy — and uncertain.
Whereas, a properly trained firing squad can guarantee 100% success.
In an instant. Possibly, the reason more state executions are using it.
Coincidentally, the flight time of the bullet after leaving the rifle barrel and crashing into Hasan's chest, is about the same amount of time it takes him to become a martyr in his Islamic faith.
Apparently, smashing airplanes into buildings, shooting shopping mall customers, killing medical patients, stabbing airline pilots, and any other form of death and destruction is of high importance when climbing the ladder to frolic with those heavenly maidens.
