History in the making is all too often tragic. Only rarely is it capable of irony. November 9, 1989, was one of those rare moments when irony reigned, because East Germany's bureaucratic socialism died as it had lived - with a bureaucratic snafu.

Alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a psychiatrist and specialist in combat stress who had been about to be deployed to Afghanistan against his wishes, also wounded 30 people in Thursday's deadly rampage.