Army Maj. Nidal Hasan will not be allowed to argue in his defense that he committed his 2009 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas — which killed 13 and wounded dozens more — to protect Taliban leaders. The former Army psychiatrist, who is representing himself at his court-martial, faces the death penalty if he is convicted in the shootings. He had maintained he opened fire as part of a premeditated "defense of others" to safeguard Taliban leaders in Afghanistan from U.S. military attacks. But a judge found Friday that Hasan's argument "fails as a matter of law" and said the legitimacy of U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan is "a non-justiciable political question not before the court," adding that none of the shooting victims "posed an immediate threat to those in Afghanistan." Hasan wants a three-month delay in his court-martial. He heads back to court for a hearing Tuesday.
