Blame game erupts over probe of Fort Hood suspect

In this undated handout photo from the website of the U.S. Government Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences downloaded on November 6, 2009, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the U.S. Army doctor named as a suspect in the shooting death of 13 people and the wounding of 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas November 5, is pictured. (U.S. Government Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — There are differences at the Pentagon about which officials had knowledge of contacts the Fort Hood massacre suspect made with a radical cleric months ago.

Government officials say a Pentagon terrorism investigator looked into Maj. Nidal Hasan's contacts with an imam. The investigator, who wrote an assessment, was part of a task force. It concluded the contacts did not advocate violence.

But a military official now denies prior knowledge that the Army psychiatrist had any contacts with Muslim extremists.

The disclosure about Hasan's communications came as questions swirled about whether opportunities were missed to head off the rampage in which 13 died and 29 were wounded last Thursday.

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