Fort Hood: The Truth

Simply stated, the Fort Hood shooting was a terrorist act on American soil, under President Obama's watch, infinitely more predictable and preventable than 9-11. Fox News would have us believe that what happened was merely political correctness run amok. While the remaining mainstream media and the president would have us believe that Major Nidel Malik Hasan was an unfortunate soul who had been subjected to so much personal harassment such as his car being keyed, that he just snapped, and his actions were at least understandable. Personally, I loathe those that use the word understandable, when they really mean justified, and I wonder if the mainstream media's understanding would extend to the overwhelming majority of public school deans, who have been subjected to far greater provocation, were they to all go on murderous rampages. I find the mainstream media's and the president's position grotesque and repugnant, however, the Fox News stance misses the 'X'ring as well.

What actually permitted the terrorist act at Fort Hood was nothing short of innumerable instances of cowardice in the face of the enemy. The FBI and the military claim that Major Nidal Malik Hasan's emails to an al-Quida Imam, al-Aulagi, were for spiritual guidance only, and thus not actionable. Could they have possibly thought the guidance from someone decrying, "Death to the United States and all infidels", would go something like this: "Oh well, you have taken an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States so I'm sure Allah will understand if you join ranks with unbelievers and kill the only people that follow the wishes of the 'one true god'". Or would the imam's consul go more like this: "Allah has placed you in a position to strike a glorious blow for all of Islam. I see 72 virgins in your future, you lucky cuss." Clearly, stupidity can't explain the refusal of those to act on the obvious nature of these communications. Only pure cowardice governed the inaction of those supposedly charged with protecting our nation. If the fear of possibly having a notation in their jacket which reads, 'Does not play well with Muslim terrorists' paralyzes a solider,that person does not belong in any uniform unless it has stripes down the legs and a number across the back. And, any command structure which fathers barriers to a solider acting in accordance with his oath, must be immediately purged. For as long as I can remember I have heard that war should be left to the generals and not politicians, but we are currently faced with military commanders who are at best politicians.

The one instance where stupidity might deserve equal billing with cowardice is in the case of Chief of Staff, General George Casey. Responding to the terrorist attack at Fort Hood, General Casey said, "What happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here". I'm sure all American and South Vietnamese commanders would have viewed the sudden loss of Viet Cong infiltrators within their ranks as a tragic loss of diversification. General Casey's comments should strike terror in the heart of every American citizen. Someone like him, being in a position of power, comprises a greater ultimate threat to our nation's security than Osama Bin Ladin ever did or ever will. Before anyone labels this claim as extreme, ask yourself one question: Could General Casey's words be uttered by someone dedicated to defeating the Islamic terrorist threat? Tragically, I fear most commissioned officers are nothing more than stereotypical civil servants, so completely absorbed with protecting their own butts, that the Band of Brotherhood which used to span the highest general to the lowliest of private, can now only claim kinship from Sergeant down.

The 9-11 Commission concluded that inter-departmental communication failures were at the heart of the successful attack. However, in the wake of the Fort Hood attack, I consider the commission's findings suspect. Granted, political correctness with respect to Muslims was not as pervasive as today, but since everyone seemingly knew everything with regards to Major Nidal Malik Hasan before his attack on Fort Hood, and did nothing, I seriously doubt officials would have had the courage to act in response to the 9-11 threat even if information was as widely available as in the case of Major Hasan.

I am not ignoring the fact that Mr. Hasan did the shooting in my analysis, but clearly everyone charged with protecting this country, that are expected to be able to identify threats, at least better than the average four-year-old, cowardly put their own job security interests over protecting the nation. And thus, all those that were fearfully frozen in the foxholes of their own careers, are as guilty of the fourteen(14) killings as if they had given the gun to Mr. Hasan and said, "Go for it!". Admittedly, I do not know the degree in which military justice has been bastardized, but I do know it was not that long ago that cowardice in the face of the enemy was subject to the death penalty.