One of my last assignments at the Killeen Daily Herald was covering the first day of the trial of Nidal Hasan, the Army major convicted today of the largest shooting on a U.S. military instillation in history.

Today, on Fort Hood, a jury of 13 unanimously declared him guilty of 13 counts of murder and wounding 31 others.

See my colleague Phil Jankowski’s breaking news coverage.

During opening statements August 6 Hasan admitted to the crimes.

But the Army psychiatrist’s later statements may change the public’s opinion of American’s Operation Enduring Freedom, despite the Army’s attempt to silence him.

“The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter and the dead bodies will show war is an ugly thing,” Hasan said, in his opening statement. “It involves death, destruction and devastation for both sides… I switched sides.”

Hasan’s attempt to claim a “defense of others” – defending the Taliban from the same soldiers who were readying to deploy to wage war against it – was quickly thrown away by the judge, who is a colonel in the Army.

Three-tiered security

The U.S Army forced the coverage of the court martial (or military trial) into intense restrictions and extrodinary security. Army courts operate on different rules than civilian courts.

Hasan’s trial took place within a few miles of the site of the massacre, inside a courtroom guarded by three levels of security barricades.

Piled up to the roof of the courtroom’s outer walls are heavy-duty fiber barriers filled with sand. Outside is a layer of about 180 Conex crates piled three high blocking view of the courthouse from the ground level. An outer perimeter is also maintained with armed guards and concrete highway barriers, such as those used for highway construction.

Gag orders, no photo bombs

Ninety-nine reporters from all over world arrived at Fort Hood for the first day of the trial on August 6, including Al Jazeera America and the BBC. Journalists were escorted onto the post by military personnel and, once on the site, soldiers guarded the parking lots and blocked the exits with military vehicles.

From the improvised media center, only 12 journalists were allowed to enter the courtroom, chosen by lottery (My colleague Phil got in). The rest of us watched the trial on a proxy screen in a room about 300 yards from the courtroom. The live video was not for public consumption.

One New York Times reporter noted the challenge of covering a trial without access to important documents and records relevant to the case.

“You have to be on post in order to find out what happened,” said Manny Fernandez, Houston bureau chief for the NYTs.

No photography, video or audio recording has been allowed of the trial, nor the suspect, since his imprisonment three years ago. Judge Tara Osborn has prohibited all witnesses from speaking to the press.

One photograph of Hasan wearing his controversial beard leaked out of Bell County Jail, where he is held. Each day he is flown in among a fleet of helicopters.

Voice from behind the curtain

Despite all of the limits placed on covering the story,  hearing the voice of the man I have read so much about was moving. His voice was soft, intelligent and most importantly American. Hasan was raised in Virginia by Palestinian immigrant parents. He radicalized after joining the Army.

The timing of this trial and the trial of Robert Bales, the Army Staff Sergeant convicted last month of murdering 16 Afghan men, women and children (noncombatants), strikes me as appropriate, especially with regard to Hasan’s understanding of war. Were the two killers treated equally?

Bales, tried on his own side of the war, was given life in prison. Hasan, who was tried by his enemy, faces the death penalty and by all accounts will get it. Sentencing is yet to come.

In addition to his guilt, Hasan’s trial also proved he targeted only uniformed soldiers in his planned massacre, no civilians. One civilian, Michael Cahill, was killed but only after attacking Hasan with a chair during the mayhem.

Justice in War

I have bounced the radical statements I heard from Hasan on the opening day of the trial off of several intelligent people I know, including one Texas lawyer friend of mine who was not as enchanted as I was.

“Under that reasoning you could justify just about anything,” he said.

However, turning a deaf ear to this so called “homegrown terrorist” ensures only that we will not learn from this tragedy. Now that the verdict has been determined, hopefully, the Army will allow journalists to do their jobs and everybody’s voice can be heard in the full light of day. Only then can the public judge for itself.