Authorities Probe Possible Link Between Ft. Hood Shootings and Terrorism

Although federal authorities have said there is no known link between last week's shootings at a military base at Fort Hood, Texas, and organized terrorist groups, a former U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush is characterizing the attack, allegedly by a lone U.S. military gunman, as terrorism.

Meanwhile, citing unidentified sources, the Washington Post reports in a lengthy article that authorities are pursuing leads from the computer of the suspect, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, concerning possible terrorism links. They include, but are not limited to, visits to websites that espouse radical Islamist theory, according to the newspaper, which points out that a "thicket" of motivations could potentially have sparked the attack.

Also citing unidentified sources, ABC News reports that U.S. intelligence officials have been aware for months that Hasan was trying to make contact with individuals associated with al-Qaida.

A New York Times article says federal authorities last year and earlier this year intercepted communications between Hasan and a radical cleric in Yemen who is known for anti-American teachings, but decided no further action was warranted. The content of Hasan's communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, a former leader at a mosque which Hasan attended in Virginia, isn't reported.

An army psychiatrist, the 39-year-old Hasan is accused of killing 13 and injuring 38 on Thursday, using two guns, before he himself was shot multiple times and survived.

"The jury's still out on motivation," an unidentified law enforcement official tells the Post. However, "there's a massive effort here to look at the websites he visited," he says of Hasan. "That's part of what's ongoing: what you learn from it, then you've got to figure out what it means."

In a speech yesterday at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa., Mukasey went further, apparently calling the incident an act of terrorism.

Saying that Osama Bin Laden has tried to create a "leaderless jihad" promoting such solo attacks, former AG Michael Mukasey, who practices law at Debevoise Plimpton in New York, contends that the Fort Hood attack is at least closely linked to terrorism, reports the Patriot-News.

"To tell us to believe that someone has to have a membership card in al-Qaida or any other organization in order for them to act as a terrorist, and in order for us to call what he does an act of terrorism is to tell us to refuse to look facts in the face, and to refuse to believe what we see and hear with our own eyes and ears," Mukasey told the audience.

Hat tip: Main Justice.

Additional and related coverage:

Associated Press: "Lawyer asks investigators not to question Hasan"

Houston Chronicle: "Case against soldier accused in mass shooting faces many hurdles"

Lebanon Daily News: "Indiantown Gap National Cemetery ceremony honors nation's vets"

Last updated at 7:07 p.m. to include information from New York Times.