President Donald Trump approved the military’s first execution in over six decades after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended to him that Nidal Malik Hasan, the Muslim terrorist who opened fire at Texas’s Army base Fort Hood in 2009 and killed 13 while wounding another 30. The Secretary of the Army will now determine the time and place of his sentencing, which will be carried out by a firing squad.
For context, President Barack Obama had been in office for less than one year when the former Army Major committed what that administration would label ‘workplace violence’ so as to downplay the religious background of Hasan, a Muslim who was later discovered to have been communicating with individuals linked to Al-Qaeda. At the same time, survivors could not collect the same benefits nor could the deceased be honored with a Purple Heart.
Now, nearly seventeen years later after the November 5th, 2009 attack in Killeen, Texas, the Trump administration is poised to mete out justice. Reporting on the news first was the Chief Pentagon Spokesman, Sean Parnell. He described the sequence of events that led up to this announcement and detailed how it would play out next.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting “Allahu Akbar” during the attack,” Parnell wrote on X.
He added: “The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.” Currently, there is only an Acting Secretary for this branch of the military. Adam R. Telle was named to the position just one month before the announcement of Hasan’s planned execution, filling in after an abrupt resignation from Daniel P. Driscoll, who left after growing tension with Pete Hegseth.
In any event, news of the execution were met with applause within the conservative community. “Justice will be served against a jihadist who infiltrated the ranks. Appropriate punishment for a terrorist!” wrote Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on social media. Other accounts were more succinct, with the War Secretary simply writing “JUSTICE” in all capital letters and a Florida-based reporter expressing “Good Riddance.”
Hasan’s attack cannot be understated. At the time, it was the largest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, and to this date remains the deadliest terrorist attack on an American military base. During the response, he was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. Despite being found guilty on all 13 counts of premeditated murder and an addition 32 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to death in 2013, the jihadi has remained alive in prison.