Muslims at fort express outrage and ask questions

KILLEEN, Texas — Leaders of the Muslim community here expressed outrage Friday at the shooting rampage being laid to one of their members, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who had become a regular attendee of prayers at the local mosque.

But some of the men who had befriended Hasan at the mosque said the military should examine the policies that might have caused him to snap.

"When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal," said Victor Benjamin, 30, a former member of the Army. "But when a Muslim does it, they call it jihad.

"Ultimately it was Brother Nidal's doing, but the command should be held accountable," Benjamin said. "GIs are like any equipment in the Army. When it breaks, those who were in charge of keeping it fit should be held responsible for it."

The mosque, the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, sits off Highway 195, near Fort Hood. Hasan began attending prayers about two months ago.

The mosque has about 75 families who have lived peacefully with their Christian neighbors.

"After 9-11, nothing happened here," said Ajsaf Khan, who owns three convenience stores with his brother, Abdul Khan. "We are very cooperative."

A mosque leader, Dr. Manzoor Farooqi, a pediatrician, when asked if he feared retribution for the shootings, said he hoped good relations would prevail.

Hasan was one of about 10 men from Fort Hood who attended prayers in their uniforms, Farooqi said, and he was shocked to see the major's face on television identified as that of the shooter. "He is an educated man. A psychiatrist," he said. "I can't believe he would do such a stupid thing."

"The Islamic community strongly condemns this cowardly attack, which was particularly heinous in that it was directed at the all-volunteer army that protects our nation," Farooqi said.

Among those attending Friday prayers at the Killeen mosque was Sgt. Fahad Kamal, 26, an Army medic who wore his Airborne uniform, and later he said he was angered on several levels. "I want to believe it was the individual, and not the religion, that made him do what he did," said Kamal, who returned to the United States last year after a 15-month tour in Afghanistan. "It's an awful thing. I feel let down. We're better than this."