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Pentagon Clueless on Fort Hood Shootings
· Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Political correctness is alive in the Pentagon. Witness "Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood," a Department of Defense report released last week on the Nov. 5 shootings that left 13 people dead.
Granted, drafters of the report had to be careful not to say anything that would help the defense of accused shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who has pleaded not guilty. Even so, if the report's purpose was to craft lessons to prevent future attacks, how could they leave out radical Islam?
"Our concern is with actions and effects, not necessarily with motivations," former Army Secretary Togo West explained to Time magazine.
In that turn-a-blind-eye spirit, the report essentially whited out the many warning signs left by the Army psychiatrist. On the Internet, Hasan compared Islamist suicide bombers with an American soldier who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq to protect fellow troops. As reported in the Times of London, Hasan explained, "Scholars have paralleled this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers. If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard, that would be considered a strategic victory." The Washington Post reported that Hasan gave public talks to his colleagues in which he equated the war on terror with a war on Islam.
M. Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which challenges radicalized Islam, also is an internist and former lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. As one who went through the same system that trained Hasan, Jasser believes the biggest lesson from Fort Hood should be that a "culture of political correctness" kept concerned officers from reporting Hasan. Yet the report papers over the elephant in the room.
To Pentagon report writers, the shootings have an air of mystery. As in: "Detecting a trusted insider's intention to commit a violent act requires observation of behavioral cues/anomalies." It helps if you can believe that Hasan's cues were observable only to the trained eye.
Ignoring Hasan's pro-terrorist Web postings, the report instead focuses on workplace violence, programs to prevent workplace violence -- such as the Post Office's "Going Postal Program" -- and the stress imposed on military health care providers.
The report does refer to "radicalization," which is good. But it overuses the term "self-radicalization," despite Hasan' contact with Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki before the shootings. Said Jasser: "They are simply trying to exaggerate the fact that these are lone actors. I do not believe they are."
Jasser is especially offended at the notion that Hasan's actions were the fruit of psychological problems -- or, as per the report, "cumulative psychological effects of persistent conflict." (To me, the report read like the first draft of a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity plea.) To Jasser, the more obvious finding could be that the shooter, like Osama bin Laden, simply decided that the ends justify the means.
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g.wegmann
It sounds to me like the draft was written in the White House! All the top brass in the Pentagon are trying to get another star. What's more the president and his hand picked Homeland Security chief, Napolitano, probably wish he could be tried in civil criminal court like the five terrorists are being treated.
Posted January 26, 2010 at 8:20:01 AM
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Posted January 26, 2010 at 10:06:40 AM
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Posted January 26, 2010 at 11:12:32 AM
Frank Leslie
I am reposting this from Friday's Digest.
As long as the Constitution is suspended, civil rights are denied, and state duly trained and licensed civilians possessing concealed firearms are prevented from carrying on stateside military installations, those installations will remain guns free zones and potential massacre sites as we witnessed at Fort Hood.
The report to Secretary Gates will not fix the problem, only force lower level accountability.
Department of Homeland Security's "Active Shooter Response Protocol" will only result in more deaths should another event occur similar to Hasan's.
Hasan had approximately 180 seconds before he was faced by an armed responder. How many of those he shot were shot within those 180 seconds? We may never know. How many less would have been shot had a duly state trained and licensed concealed handgun carrying person had been in the SRP at the time? We will probably never know that answer.
But as long as those in authority positions expect people to act like sheep in these kinds of situations, more will probably die.
Posted January 26, 2010 at 11:22:11 AM
Howard Last
Remember when seconds count the police will be there in minutes. Or another way to put it "Dial 911 and Die." The people on the plane over PA could only do that. What would have been the outcome on Sept 11 if the pilot(s) or passanger(s) were armed? Ask a liberal and the answer will probably be, "it would have been worse." Figure that out if you have time to waste. As for me my decision first thing in the morning, "Do I carry the .45 or the .357?"
Posted January 26, 2010 at 6:59:35 PM
Dave Wideman
It is time to throw the 'empty suits' out.
Posted January 27, 2010 at 8:40:45 AM
Tony B
Frank, that was well spoken, only problem,"probably die" should be replaced with "will die." The next major attack will happen on our schools, we've already been told our fate by way of the Russians (Beslan) tenfold. I am glad to see Texas step up and train and certify teachers willing to carry. They teach our children and should be held to the standard of protecting them as well until more highly trained personnel arrive. With that note training needs to step up in all LE agencies to be able to handle active shooter scenarios in any populated public gathering place. It's a shame a fellow soldier wasted taxpayer dollars for training himself as well as the training of those who died needlessly. They should lift the gun-free zone and better prepare MP's by upping ther numbers and prescence on post.
Howard, I love my .40s but always take the .45. Even if you should miss the sound of the .45 and damage it will inflict will cause bowel loss in just about anyone on the recieving end.
To everyone out there, Keep up the good fight.
Posted January 27, 2010 at 9:25:50 AM
Bud
Not only do our schools have to have security guards, but now our own military?? We have to have protection for the protection?
Posted January 27, 2010 at 11:33:15 AM
Doktor Riktor Von Zhades
This wouldn't have happened if we still had George Patton around. Major Hasan would be on his way to Allah by now...
Posted January 27, 2010 at 6:29:22 PM
Howard Last
Tony B, I carry a .45 because they don't make a .46.
BTW, when will the Militia Act of 1792 be enforced? It requires most males to have a military rifle and sufficiant amunition. That means a M16, except for us knuckle dragers who will keep our Garands.
Posted January 27, 2010 at 7:57:37 PM
Frank Leslie
Howard Last, some of us have both. Garand for long range or heavy cover, AR-15 for close range or light cover!
Molon Labe!
Posted January 28, 2010 at 2:49:59 PM
Rick
This report is nothing more than the PC specialists in white washing town east, home of the thought police, covering their fat gludius maximus.
For gosh sakes, do not offend the nut case from Arab culture or land. Let him and his "brothers" continue killing harmless civilians or defenseless soldiers(TX).
We dare not be accused of profiling the poor down trodden terrorist. What would our neighbors think? What would obamarama think? Would he again grovel at the feet of Iran and the Saudi king to denounce Americans as unkind and unthinking.
Posted January 28, 2010 at 3:58:55 PM
Howard Last
To Frank Leslie
An AR-15 when properly outfitted is good for long range. That means a faster twist to stabilize heavier bullets (77 gr or 80 gr), a better trigger, the front sling swivel not attached to the barrel and weights in the butstock and around the barrel. Most competitors at Camp Perry have switched to competition Bushmasters or other mfg's. My daughter shot a Bushmaster as a member of the NYS Highpower Team. A few of the kids even made the Presidents 100.
But being a knuckle dragger I will stick to my Garand. I will let the others use a Mouse Gun.
Posted January 28, 2010 at 4:31:14 PM
tdrag
After seeing the gun paranoia of our society, the PC actions of our military in this case, and the disregard of our president and attorney general regarding terrorism I fear we no longer have the will to fight this enemy. May God help us!
Posted January 30, 2010 at 3:35:28 PM