Inquiry dropped long before major's rampage

WASHINGTON - Intelligence agencies intercepted communications last year and this year between the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings.

Federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding the messages from Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan warranted no further action.

Hasan's 10 to 20 messages to Anwar al-Awlaki, once a spiritual leader at a mosque in Virginia where Hasan worshiped, indicate that the psychiatrist came to the attention of the authorities long before Thursday's shooting rampage in Texas.

Counterterrorism and military officials said that the communications, first intercepted last December as part of an unrelated investigation, were consistent with research the psychiatrist was then conducting at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on post-traumatic stress disorder. "There was no indication that Major Hasan was planning an imminent attack at all," one senior investigator said.

The officials said the Defense and Justice departments had decided Hasan would be prosecuted in a military court, an indication that investigators believe he acted alone. Government lawyers had said his case might be tried in civilian court if he were believed to have conspired with nonmilitary defendants.

In a statement, the FBI said, "At this point, there is no information to indicate Major Nidal Malik Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot." The statement concluded that "because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else was found," investigators decided "that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning."

Given the radical views of Awlaki, however, the conduct of the FBI and the military is likely to come under intense scrutiny from Congress. Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, on Monday asked intelligence and law enforcement officials to preserve all records of their dealings with Hasan.

'The right thing'

The communications provide the first indication that Hasan was in direct communication with anyone who espoused militant views. On Monday, Awlaki praised Hasan on his website, saying that he "did the right thing" in attacking soldiers preparing to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The officials said the communications did not alter the prevailing theory that Hasan acted by himself, lashing out as a result of combination of factors, including his outspoken opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq and Afghanistan and his deepening religious fervor as a Muslim.

Hasan, who was shot by a police officer and is at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, has regained consciousness and is able to talk, though he declined on Sunday to speak to federal investigators about the shootings. "He is critical but stable," a hospital spokeswoman, Maria Gallegos, said.

A lawyer for Hasan told the Associated Press on Monday he had asked investigators not to question his client and expressed doubt he could get a fair trial. The lawyer, retired Col. John Galligan, said he was contacted by Hasan's family on Monday and was traveling to San Antonio to consult with him.

Many questions remain about Hasan's state of mind, though another revelation Monday added to the complexity of his character. The general manager of a strip club about a quarter of a mile from the mosque where Hasan prayed five times a day, and next door to the gun shop where he bought the pistol used in the shootings, said Hasan was a customer.

The club manager, Matthew Jones, said Hasan had been in the Starz strip club at least three times in the past month. Jones said that Hasan sometimes stayed for six or seven hours and paid for lap dances in a private room.

Hasan called 'a hero'

The imam with whom Hasan made contact is a U.S. citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents. He wrote on Monday on his English-language website that Hasan was "a hero." The cleric said, "He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, Awlaki was quoted as disapproving of such violence and was portrayed as a moderate figure who might provide a bridge between Islam and Western democracies. But since leaving the United States in 2002 for London, and later Yemen, Awlaki has become, through his website, www.anwar-alawlaki.com, a prominent proponent of militant Islam

"He's one of the most popular figures among hard-line, English-speaking jihadis around the world," said Jarret Brachman, author of the book "Global Jihadism."

Brachman said Awlaki is especially appealing to young Muslims who are curious about radical ideas but not yet committed. "He's American, he's funny and he speaks in a very understandable way," Brachman said.

'Contact the Sheikh'

Awlaki, on his website, invites comments or questions from visitors under the heading "Contact the Sheikh."

The Toronto Star reported last month that a group of young Canadians charged with plotting attacks against military and government targets were inspired, in part, by listening to Awlaki's sermons online.

In 2000 and 2001, Awlaki served as an imam at two mosques in the United States frequented by three future Sept. 11 hijackers. Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi attended the Rabat mosque in San Diego, where Awlaki later admitted meeting Al-Hazmi several times but "claimed not to remember any specifics of what they discussed," according to the report of the national Sept. 11 commission.

Both Al-Hazmi and another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, later attended the Dar al Hijra mosque in Falls Church, Va., after Awlaki had moved there in early 2001. The Sept. 11 Commission report expressed "suspicion" about the coincidence but said its investigators were unable to find Awlaki in Yemen to question him.

Hasan attended the same Virginia mosque, but it is not known whether they met there.

Awlaki, who is in his late 30s, returned to Yemen with his family as a child. He received a religious education in Yemen and later earned degrees in engineering at Colorado State and in education leadership at San Diego State, according to a biography on his web site.

His writings urge Muslims to dedicate themselves to defending Islam, including pursuing "arms training," in such works as "44 Ways of Supporting Jihad."