Friday in court, the man accused of killing a soldier at a Little Rock recruiting center blamed a holy war for his actions as well as the actions of Nadal Malik Hasan, the suspected gunman in the killing of 13 people at Fort Hood.
Jihad, an Arabic word for holy war, is all Abdulhakim Muhammad would say to reporters as they asked questions about the shooting of two soldiers outside an Army/Navy recruiting center and the shooting by another man at an army base in Texas.
Muhammad is accused of one count of capital murder and sixteen counts of committing a terroristic act. In an
interview, with the Associated Press, after the shooting he didn't hold back.
"The battlefield is not just in Iraq and Afghanistan. A battlefield is anywhere we see you at. And those people in the Army and those families of the people in the Army and the military and personnel all over the country, if you don't want to die or get shot for this so called war on terrorism, war on Islam, then get out of the Army. Get out of the Army and don't walk, run," Muhammad said.
Muhammad's attorney Claiborne Ferguson says with his clients admissions he's looking for the best way to defend him. He also has questions about Muhammad's arrest, the search of his home and whether the FBI who had Muhammad under surveillance could have stopped him.
We spoke to Muhammad's father Melvin Bledsoe by phone from Tennessee. He says the FBI had his son under surveillance 18 months before the shooting at the recruiting center. Mr. Bledsoe says he's sorry for what has happened but adds while "The agency didn't set this up but they allowed it to happen."
