12 Killed in Fort Hood shooting!

12 Dead, 31 Wounded in Base Shootings

At least one gunman killed 11 soldiers and wounded 31 others on Thursday afternoon at Fort Hood in Texas. Authorities then killed the gunman, who was identified as Malik Nadal Hasan, an Army major who was about to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the commanding officer at Fort Hood, the largest active military installation in the country, said the base was placed in lockdown as military authorities, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigate the rampage.

“This was a terrible tragedy,” said General Cone, speaking at a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Stunning.”‘



Mr. Hasan was a medical officer, military officials said, and The Associated Press reported that his specialty was psychiatry.

The Austin-American Statesman quoted Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s spokesman, Jeff Sadoski, as saying Major Hasan was upset about his deployment.

President Obama, speaking from the White House, called it “a horrific outburst of violence.”

“My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen,” the president said.

“We don’t yet know all the details at this moment,” he said. “We will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.”

“It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil,” the president said.

General Cone said the shooting began at about 1:30 p.m. Central time, when a soldier entered the soldier readiness unit, where soldiers receive last-minute medical attention and other instruction before being being deployed overseas, including to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“A soldier opened fire, and due to the quick response of the police forces, he was killed,” General Cone said.

“There were several eyewitness accounts that there was more than one shooter,” he said. Two other soldiers were also taken into custody, he said, but the authorities are continuing to sort out what exactly happened.

General Cone said that the sprawling base has facilities that house children, but that there were no children among the dead or wounded.

“The soldiers and family members are absolutely devastated,” he said.

He said that the local police had responded quickly and that the wounded were taken to an area hospital.

Earlier, Senator Hutchison she had been apprised of the shootings.

“Our hearts go out,” she told Fox 4 News. “These are soldiers who are getting ready to go out to Iraq or Afghanistan and their families were under stress already. This was just a terrible tragedy and we don’t even know the extent of it yet.”

The based was the site today of the annual college graduation ceremonies for soldiers and family members who have not had the opportunity to participate in college commencement exercises during the past year because of deployment, according to the Fort Hood Sentinel.

In 1991 in Killeen, Tex., not far from the fort, one of the worst mass killings in United States history took place, when a crazed gunman drove his pickup truck through a cafeteria window, shot 22 people to death with a handgun, then killed himself.

Massive pullout by UN in Afghanistan

KABUL -- The United Nations said Thursday it is sending more than half of its foreign staff out of Afghanistan in response to the murder of five of its workers at a guesthouse in Kabul last week.

The U.N. called the move temporary, but its top official in Afghanistan issued an unusually stern warning to the government of President Hamid Karzai, saying the U.N. could curtail work permanently if it doesn't see marked reforms.

"There is a belief among some that the international community will continue, whatever happens, because of the strategic importance of Afghanistan," said Kai Eide, head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, at a news conference. "I would like to emphasize that that's not true."



The U.N. is evaluating how to move its staff to bigger and more tightly guarded compounds before it allows its 600 evacuated staff to return, officials said. Until recently, about 1,100 foreign workers have been dispersed through 90 residences around Kabul. The U.N. would like to reduce that number to about 30, one official said.



Some fear the U.N.'s move could further blunt the effectiveness of aid programs as workers withdraw to fewer fortress-like residences. Kabul, unlike Baghdad, has no green zone, a tightly defended portion of the city where diplomats and foreigners are concentrated.

If the U.N. moves its workers into a central location, such a zone could begin to coalesce on its own. "There's definitely a tendency towards one day having a large, secured area," said a Western diplomat who monitors the security situation. "Its always easier to protect a large area since you can concentrate your forces there."

Some in the aid community said that the U.N. was too quick in deciding to leave. "They should take more time to assess," said Sardar Mohd, deputy country director of Mercy Corps, an American nongovernmental organization. "These days after the elections are very complicated, and it's not the time to leave the country. It's a time to figure out how to move forward."

"The U.N. decreasing their involvement will have a negative impact," he added. "Everyone in the humanitarian community is connected to the U.N. somehow."

The U.N. is hoping to bring back its foreign staff to Kabul "within weeks," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the U.N. in Kabul. He said the U.N. is trying to send only its nonessential staff abroad, and will do its utmost to prevent their relocation to affect operations.

"We have tried in our half a century to live and work in the community and not be sealed off here," he said. "But before we were not a target and we have to adapt to being a target now."

"We don't see this as a pullout or evacuation," he said. But he said the U.N. is trying to determine whether some of its foreign workers can perform the same work from abroad.

One U.N. official said that the U.N. is planning to establish an office in Dubai to oversee activities, and that some of the staff evacuating this week will remain there.

The U.N. has already suspended most of its operations in northwest Pakistan because of crumbling security there. U.N. workers in Pakistan have been targeted a number of times in recent months, including a bombing of the U.N. World Food Program office in Islamabad last month that killed five employees.

Courtesy: Wall Street Journal and ITN

YANKEES WIN! DAAAAAAAAA YANKEEES WIN!

Baseball’s penthouse is again decorated with hand-painted silk pinstripe wallpaper. Nine years after their previous World Series title, the Yankees copped No. 27 last night when they spanked the defending champion Phillies, 7-3, in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium as a record gathering of 50,315 that didn’t include George Steinbrenner watched.

Friday morning the Yankees will celebrate with a ticker-tape parade up lower Broadway.

“Right where we belong," Derek Jeter bellowed from a stage in the middle of the $1.5 billion Stadium.

And they looked very comfortable. Alex Rodriguez, who doesn’t have to answer any more questions about choking in the postseason, let loose with a river of victory tears and promised the parade will be a huge party.

Mariano Rivera held a copy of The Post’s front page with the No. 27 on the cover.



Hideki Matsui, who went 3-for-4 with a homer and six RBIs that tied the single-game record, was named MVP and took the occasion to lobby for a return.

“I hope so,’’ when asked if he would be back. Matsui can become a free agent in 15 days. “I hope it works out. I love New York and I love the fans.’’

From 1996 to 2000 the Yankees won four Series titles and three straight (1998-2000). They came within two outs of winning in 2001, were bounced from the Series in six 2003 games, and didn’t make it back until this year when they spent almost a half-billion dollars of Steinbrenner’s fortune to import CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira to successfully plug gaping holes in the rotation and lineup.

When the subject of money surfaced, GM Brian Cashman was ready with an answer.

"You can call us anything you want. You're also going to have to call us world champions,’’ said Cashman, who didn’t join the Steinbrenner family on the stage to accept the World Series trophy.

Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira played big roles in the Yankees success but it was Matsui who turned Game 6 into a knockout audition for 2009 employment.

“Tonight he was as locked in as I have ever seen him,’’ Jeter said.

Matsui, the 2000 MVP of the Japan Series, hit a two-run homer in the second, a two-run single in the third, and a two-run double in the fifth that broke the Phillies’ will.

Andy Pettitte, another free-agent candidate who has a better chance of the Yankees wanting him back than Matsui, provided 5 2/3 gutsy innings on three days' rest.

Pettitte struggled with command problems from the first pitch, and his fifth walk to Chase Utley with one out in the sixth inning was followed by Ryan Howard’s opposite-field, two-run homer to left that cut the Yankees’ lead to 7-3.

Following a chat with Joe Girardi, Pettitte caught Jayson Werth looking for the second out. But when Raul Ibanez rifled a double into the right-field corner, Joba Chamberlain trotted in from the bullpen.

Pettitte, who is 18-9 in the postseason and 4-0 this year, left to a loud standing ovation. He allowed three runs, four hits and five walks.

With copies of yesterday’s Post poster of Pedro Martinez in a diaper being flashed around the Stadium that was filled with “Who's Your Daddy?!’’ chants, Martinez lasted four innings. He gave up four runs and three hits, including Matsui’s two-run homer.

The victory vindicated Girardi’s decision to use Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte on three days' rest instead of trusting a World Series start to Chad Gaudin. And the manager erased all that criticism for using so many relievers in the ALCS against the Angels.

Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte and Posada will be fitted for their fifth World Series rings, all as Yankees.

Damaso Marte topped off a wonderful Series (five Ks in 2 2/3 innings) by fanning Chase Utley with two out to end the seventh and Ryan Howard starting the eighth.

Girardi then called for Rivera to get the final five outs.

Courtesy: NYPOST.COM