When will DOD apologize to the troops for Maj. Hasan

When will DOD apologize to the troops for Maj. Hasan?
by
Chaplain Kathie

13 dead, 32 wounded but the well kept secret of Maj. Hasan's treasonous actions could have prevented this slaughter. Above all the findings of the chain of command overlooking what he said, what he believed that suicide bombers were necessary, the screaming fact is that the commanders did not put the troops first by having "Army’s few Muslim mental health specialists" never once thinking of what he was saying to the troops coming to him for help. What kind of a message did this send to them as they were seeing their buddies blown up by suicide bombers? What kind of a message did this send to them that they were exposed to someone with hatred for them enough that he wanted them dead?

Everything coming out about what the DOD allowed to be continued has not been the basis for a total reckoning of what this did to the troops. Not just the soldiers and their families at Fort Hood subjected to the shattering of their "home" territory, but to all the servicemen and women on every base now wondering who is on their base with the same kind of history put in charge of their mental healthcare. How many others are looking over their shoulders wishing they had their gun with them on base in case there is another Hasan out there somewhere promoted up the chain for the sake of any other reason than the welfare of the troops?

Whatever they use for an excuse of why they did it, the fact remains the best interests of the troops were not even considered. The result goes far beyond the 13 dead and 32 wounded. The result will be carried in the minds of every serviceman and women risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the veterans of these wars still wounded by combat by body and soul.

There needs to be a very public apology to the troops and their families with the assurance nothing like this will ever happen again.

Ft. Hood suspect was Army dilemma
His extreme views possibly overlooked in favor of diversity


By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / February 22, 2010
WASHINGTON - Army superiors were warned about the radicalization of Major Nidal Malik Hasan years before he allegedly massacred 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, but did not act in part because they valued the rare diversity of having a Muslim psychiatrist, military investigators wrote in previously undisclosed reports.

An obvious “problem child’’ spouting extremist views, Hasan made numerous statements that were not protected by the First Amendment and were grounds for discharge by violating his military oath, investigators found.

Examples of Hasan’s radical behavior have previously been disclosed in press accounts based on interviews with unnamed Army officials, including his defense of suicide bombings and assertions that Islamic law took priority over his allegiance to the United States.

But the Pentagon’s careful documentation of individual episodes dating back to 2005 and the subsequent inaction of his superiors have not been made public before.

The Globe was permitted to review the Army’s more complete findings on the condition that it not name supervisory officers who did not act, some of whom are facing possible disciplinary action.

In searching for explanations for why superiors did not move to revoke Hasan’s security clearances or expel him from the Army, the report portrays colleagues and superiors as possibly reluctant to lose one of the Army’s few Muslim mental health specialists.
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Ft. Hood suspect was Army dilemma