Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan once emailed a terrorist cleric that he could not wait to join him in the afterlife.
That same terror network is now making a new threat as Hasan's execution date approaches.
Al Qaeda just said it already knows exactly who to blame if the executioner pulls the trigger.
Al Qaeda Threatens Captive Americans Before Nidal Malik Hasan's Firing Squad Execution on December 3
The Army scheduled Hasan's execution for December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood, Texas.
A firing squad will carry out the sentence President Trump approved on October 2, 2026, the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Only the president can approve a death sentence for a service member, and Trump signed off the moment the case reached his desk.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula answered with a statement on October 12, 2026.
The terror group said it will kill any American who falls into its hands if the execution goes forward.
AQAP framed the choice as America's alone to make, insisting Washington would be responsible for every hostage death that follows.
An earlier warning tracked by the Middle East Media Research Institute went further, threatening attacks on American soldiers and the hijacking of U.S. aircraft.
The same message praised the gunman who tried to storm Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.
Al Qaeda Used the Same Playbook Before the Boston Bomber and the Allahu Akbar Attack at Fort Hood
This is not the first time Al Qaeda has threatened Americans to stop a scheduled execution.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri warned of "gravest consequences" in 2015 if the United States executed Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev is still alive on federal death row more than a decade later.
Al Qaeda's new threat follows the same script, only this time the target is a man who murdered 13 people and wounded more than 30 at Fort Hood in 2009, shouting "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire.
Hasan was never charged with terrorism, even though investigators found he had emailed Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who built AQAP into a global threat before a 2011 U.S. drone strike killed him.
Hasan told Awlaki he "could not wait to join" him in the afterlife.
The FBI had those emails in its files well before Hasan opened fire, and he still kept his post at Fort Hood.
Investigators had already flagged Hasan's contacts with jihadist websites before the shooting, and the warnings went nowhere.
A military jury convicted Hasan on 42 counts, including premeditated murder, and sentenced him to death in August 2013.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin Refused to Blink at the Al Qaeda Threat
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was asked on Face the Nation whether the execution raises the threat level.
"I don't see an elevated risk at this point at all because of this," Mullin said.
He added that any attack on Americans would be met with consequences that match the crime.
AQAP is a shadow of the network that built the underwear bomb Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nearly detonated over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, battered since by years of American airstrikes and the loss of most of the territory it once held in Yemen.
A weakened terror cell threatening hostages it does not currently hold is a propaganda tape, not an invasion force.
Colorado Democrat Jason Crow warned the execution would hand terrorists "anti-American propaganda that makes us less safe," as if Al Qaeda needed an excuse to threaten Americans it already wants dead.
Crow's concern was for the terrorists' messaging, not the Americans they just promised to kill.
Al Qaeda is betting that the threat of dead hostages can make Washington blink, the same bet it placed on Tsarnaev and lost for over a decade.
Mullin's answer did not need a terror network's permission, a Democrat's sympathy, or a single hedge word.
Hasan's mentor is already a corpse in the Yemeni sand, thirteen Americans are already dead at Fort Hood, and a terror network reduced to screaming threats on tape is not getting a stay of execution.
Sources:
- Army.mil, "Army Sets Execution Date for Convicted Murderer Nidal Hasan," Army.mil, 2026.
- YourNews, "Al-Qaida Threatens to Kill American Captives if Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Is Executed," YourNews, October 12, 2026.
- Newscats, "Al-Qaida Threatens to Kill American Hostages if Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Is Executed," Newscats, October 13, 2026.
- CP24, "No Elevated Security Risk From Livestreaming Execution, US Homeland Security Chief Says," CP24, October 11, 2026.
- ABC News, "Major Hasan's E-Mail: I Can't Wait to Join You in Afterlife," ABC News, November 2009.
- CBS News, "Al Qaeda Leader Threatens Gravest Consequences if Boston Marathon Bomber Executed," CBS News, 2015.
- The Hill, "Republicans Condemn Hegseth Execution Spectacle," The Hill, October 2026.
- Fox News, "Suspected Fort Hood Shooter Was Calm During Massacre, May Have Shouted God Is Great," Fox News, November 2009.
