Where Were the Alarms on Hasan?

In history's Hall of Infamy, Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, has earned a special place, even among the mass killers.

The Washington Post's Colby King made the point: This man didn't shoot people at random, nor did he seem to have a grudge against any particular person.

No, he shot people he had been sent to help, which must be the worst of all crimes.

It is as if a teacher shot at students, or a doctor strangled patients.

Now the investigation and the debate have begun. Was he a religious extremist, or crazy, or a little bit of both?

As King noted, he had enough sense to keep quiet until he could hire a lawyer, and the answers to those questions will be interesting to know.

But the obvious questions remain the more important ones: Why didn't someone notice him before 13 people died?

I have listened carefully all week as various military and government spokesmen have counseled we can not rush to judgment, but there were just too many red flags to ignore - Internet postings, communications with known terrorists, low performance ratings.

Why did they not set off alarms?

Whatever the shooter's motives, whatever demons drove him, I find myself in the same place I was at the beginning of all this: This man should not have been shuffled off to Fort Hood. This heinous crime should not have happened.