All Things Soldier: Was The Fort Hood Massacre A Case Of “Workplace Violence?”

I have commented on several occasions on the Ft. Hood massacre, and wish I had the space in this edition to publish my other articles in order to do a decent job with the back story. The short version is this: people I served and served with in Iraq were there, (thankfully next door,) were pinned down inside while the wounded starting falling in the doors to escape the carnage, my friends had to stay there for hours while the MPs searched for other shooters, and I got to talk to them nearly in real time and extensively face to face later. It was a day I’ll never forget. My relief that no one that I love was harmed, (at least physically) continues to be palpable, as does my outrage over the Commander-in-Chief referring to the massacre as an example of “workplace violence.”

Now we are nearing the end of the trial, of Major Nidal Hasan, and not surprisingly, it is virtually a media non-event. The evil delusions of jihadist thinking are dismissed essentially by what has not been said, save for the surprising op-ed set forth by ABC News:

A long-serving Pennsylvania Democrat has joined Republican colleagues to ask Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to overturn the “indefensible” decision by the military to designate the Fort Hood massacre “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

“This designation has since resulted in an embarrassing lack of care and treatment by our military for the victims and their families.”

In the letter, the lawmakers blame “considerations of ‘political correctness'” not only for the “workplace violence” designation, but for allowing the attack to unfold in the first place.

In a statement to ABC News, Congressman Wolf said, “I believe more members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are coming to realize how poorly the Obama Administration has treated families of the victims and the survivors of the Ft. Hood terrorist attack over the last four years.”

Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier, and 32 others wounded in the Nov. 5, 2009 rampage at the Army base in Killeen, Texas.

The new letter alleges “political sensitivities” regarding the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan’s “extremist” Muslim beliefs prevented the FBI from properly investigating Hasan before the attack, despite evidence he was in communication with high-profile al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Pulling more information from Athens Now, dated February 17, 2011, “On February 12, 2011, the United States Senate issued a report implicating the FBI and the DOD in their naive, politically correct handling and willful ignorance of an abundance of warning signs regarding the perpetrator of the attacks on Ft. Hood.

So, here we have an interesting dilemma. The Senate has implicated both the FBI and the DOD, and elucidated the fact that the spinelessness of political correctness inadvertently kills, and the President has thrown the attack into the same category as someone “going postal.” (My most profound apologies to the hard working civil servants at the USPS, whose raging co-workers’ rampages have coined an unfortunate term.) The only prayer we will have is that thankfully this is a military trial, and that they will hopefully uphold the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and find Hasan guilty of fratricide as well as treason. Then, my fond hope is that he won’t be sentenced to death, (which is what he wants,) but that he’ll live out his days in prison. That will keep the promise of the 72 virgins just out of reach for all eternity, because the only way to get that “perk” is to die for jihad.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner