Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. Army’s chief of staff, said Sunday that the Army is taking a hard look at itself to make certain that something like the Fort Hood rampage doesn’t happen again.
In addition, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut independent, who is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he plans to begin a congressional investigation of Thursday’s events.
The shootings left 13 dead and 29 wounded. The alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded by civilian police.
Gen. Casey warned against reaching conclusions about motives until officials have investigated the attack thoroughly. Early reports suggest Maj. Hasan, a Muslim, was angry about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and worried about his pending deployment to Afghanistan.
Gen. Casey said focusing on Maj. Hasan’s Islamic roots could “heighten the backlash” against all Muslims in the military.
Mr. Lieberman said he wants to determine whether the shootings constitute a terrorist attack. He said he also wants to find out whether the Army missed warning signs that Maj. Hasan was becoming extreme in his Islamist views. He said that if Maj. Hasan was showing signs of becoming an Islamist radical, the Army should have shown “zero tolerance” and discharged him.
Gen. Casey appeared Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press”; Mr. Lieberman appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”
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