It’s very rare that I find myself not knowing what to write. But in the wake of something as tragic and shocking as the massacre at Fort Hood, it really is difficult to find words.
So I’ll just recap the facts of what we know right now. We know that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress, opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas yesterday. Thirteen people are dead, and at least 30 are wounded. Hasan himself was shot four times during the rampage, but contrary to the earliest reports, it turned out he survived.
We know that Hasan, 39, acted alone. We have heard reports that in the past, he resisted deployment to Iraq, that his name appeared on radical Internet postings, and that he shouted, “Allahu Akbar!” which is Arabic for, “God is great!” before the rampage. And while the motive isn’t clear yet, this is enough for some blogs out there to characterize the massacre as a “terrorist attack.” Was it? We don’t know yet if it was a “terrorist attack” of the radical Islamist variety. But if we’re just to take the expression “terrorist attack” at face value, the answer, without a doubt, is yes.

We also know that a soldier from Bolingbrook was among those killed in the attack. Pfc. Michael Pearson, 21, was at Fort Hood training to deactivate bombs.
But there are still a lot of answers that we’ll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, all we can do is offer our thoughts and condolences to the families of those who were slain, and those who served with them.
In the video below, Manuel Gallegus has the latest about the Fort Hood massacre. Also, here is a slideshow of images taken as the news broke yesterday.