Classmate: Hasan "Muslim first," "American second"
Associated Press
11/06/09 5:05 PM EST
WASHINGTON — A classmate of the man accused of killing 13 people in Fort Hood says Maj. Nidal Hasan believed the war against terror was a "war against Islam."
Dr. Val Finnell was a classmate of Hasan's at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Both attended a master's in public health program in 2007-2008.
Finnell says he got to know Hasan because the group of public health students took an environmental health class together. At the end of the class, everyone had to give a presentation. Classmates wrote on topics such as dry cleaning chemicals and mold in homes, but Finnell says Hasan's topic was whether the war against terror was "a war against Islam."
Finnell says Hasan told classmates he was "a Muslim first and an American second."
