During CNN’s coverage of Wednesday's Ft. Hood shooting, anchor Wolf Blitzer revisited the 2009 massacre by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who murdered 13 people and injured 32. Blitzer pressed CNN national security correspondent Peter Bergen on how Hasan, though having sought the guidance of terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki and openly stating he was acting to protect terrorist groups in Afghanistan, had only been charged with “workplace violence.”  After Bergen’s unsatisfactory attempt to explain the rationale and redirect the conversation, Blitzer returned to hammer home his point that Hasan “certainly was inspired by al-Qaeda” and terrorist leader Anwar al-Awlaki.

After providing the details of Hasan’s attack, Blitzer focused on the “workplace violence” charges brought against him, turning to panelist Bergen to explain how terrorism played no role in his military trial, despite Hasan’s actions and statements leading up to and following the shooting.

Blitzer: He admitted that he wanted to target U.S. soldiers, who were about to deploy to Afghanistan to protect the Taliban and the Taliban’s leadership. That’s what he said. Even though he didn’t testify directly, that’s what he said during the course of various statements that he made. Yet for some reason this was not formally categorized as an act of terror. Why wasn’t it an act of terror? It was sort of seen by law enforcement as workplace violence.

Bergen attempted to dismiss the question by explaining that, in his understanding, a military court was unlikely to bring charges of terrorism because the murder case was “straightforward," and, besides, Hasan had no legitimate ties to a terrorist organization:

Bergen: He was tried in a military court. He wasn't tried in a conventional court. My understanding of military law is that terrorism is not a charge that he would necessarily have been convicted under. It was a very straightforward murder trial. He admitted that he did it. It wasn't really necessary to go to terrorism charges. And, by the way, he had no links to a foreign terrorist organization. He had been in contact with the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula by e-mail, but the leader, Anwar al Alaki—an American citizen—didn’t tell him to do this, basically kind of ignored the e-mails that he had. 

Bergen then tried to redirect the discussion to what was “relevant right now,” addressing the differences in the two situations and some of the changes in security measures taken at Ft. Hood since 2009. However, when Bergen finished, Blitzer emphatically returned to his initial point to make sure he had the last word:

Blitzer: Major Nidal Hasan, even if he didn’t have any formal, official links to any terrorists groups, he certainly was inspired by al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, by Anwar al-Awlaki, among others. He made that clear.