New bill introduced to list Fort Hood shooting as act of terror

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New bill introduced to list Fort Hood shooting as act of terror

(Xinhua) 08:51, September 13, 2013

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HOUSTON, Sept. 12 -- U.S. legislators on Thursday introduced a new bill to reclassify the Fort Hood shooting rampage which claimed 13 lives and injured more than 30 in the Texas Army base in 2009 as an act of terror, local media reported.

The bill, known as Honoring the Fort Hood Heroes Act, was introduced to the floor of the Senate in Washington D.C. by senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz Thursday. It is unknown whether the bill will be passed or not at the U.S. Capitol.

The bill would provide victims and their kins with due compensation if it is adopted, the Houston Chronicle's website said.

The bill came after long-time protests from the victims and their kins in the Fort Hood rampage. The U.S. federal government has categorized the 2009 shooting as workplace violence, which the victims and their kins say falls short and deprives them the combat-related benefits they deserve.

The convicted shooter, 42-year-old Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan, was sentenced to death by a military jury in the state of Texas last month. He is now reportedly held at the U.S. Detention Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, home to the military death row.

Death sentences are rare in the U.S. military. No American soldier has been executed since 1961. Hasan could become the first American soldier executed in more than half a century. But because the military justice system requires a lengthy appeals process, years or even decades could pass before he is put to death.

（Editor：LiangJun、Zhang Qian）