The court-martial of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people and injuring 30 others in a shooting at Fort Hood in 2009, began with Hasan, who is representing himself, giving an opening statement in which he admitted to being the shooter, according to USA Today.
"The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter," Hasan said. "Evidence will show I was on the wrong side of America's war and I later switched sides. We in the mujahideen are imperfect beings trying to establish a perfect religion...I apologize for any mistakes I have made in this endeavor."
Hasan has never denied that he was the shooter in the deadliest incident to ever occur at a U.S. military installation. During the shooting Hasan was shot in the back by police and was paralyzed. The shooting took place shortly before the Army psychiatrist was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan, according to ABC News.
In preparing his defense Hasan had initially wanted to argue that he had carried out the shooting in an effort to protect the lives of others, specifically to prevent the Taliban from being attacked by American soldiers. The judge would not allow that defense. Hasan also tried to plead guilty to the murders but was unable to do so since the military does not allow guilty pleas in cases where the prosecution is seeking the death penalty, according to the Washington Post.
The prosecutor, Col. Steve Hendricks, told the jury in his opening statement about the care Hasan took to only attack soldiers and the lengths he went to in order to avoid shooting civilians. Hendricks also said that Hasan had stuffed his cargo pockets full of paper towels in order to dampen the sound of the ammunition he was carrying, according to the Washington Post.
"All those fully loaded magazines do not clink, do not move, do not give him away," Hendricks said. "He sits among the soldiers he's about to kill with his head down. He then yelled 'Allahu ackbar!' and opened fire on unarmed, unsuspecting and defenseless soldiers."
Since Hasan is defending himself he will have the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses who were wounded during the shooting. Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford is one of those victims who told the Washington Post that he was looking forward to facing Hasan in the courtroom.
"I'm not going to dread anything," Lunsford said. "That's a sign of fear. That man strikes no fear in my heart. He strikes no fear in my family. What he did to me was bad. But the biggest mistake that he made was I survived. So he will see me again."
Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning felt very differently than Lunsford about the likelihood that he will face questioning from Hasan.
"I have to keep my composure and not go after the guy," Manning said. "I'm not afraid of him, obviously. He's a paralyzed guy in a wheelchair, but it's sickening that he's still living and breathing."
