Saturday, November 14, 2009

Obama Still Won't Call Fort Hood a Terrorist Attack

In his weekly address, President Obama revealed the White House is conducting an inquiry into the events that resulted in the deaths of 13 people at the Fort Hood military base on November 5th.

However, Obama continues to insist this incident is "unthinkable" and will not characterize it as a terrorist attack:

All of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater that sometimes dominates the discussion here in Washington. The stakes are far too high.

Yes, the stakes are very high. But how is calling this a terrorist attack an act of "political theater"? But then again perhaps Obama wants to have his cake and eat it too:

But given the potential warning signs that may have been known prior [to] these shootings, we must uncover what steps – if any – could have been taken to avert this tragedy.

We must quickly and thoroughly evaluate and address any flaws in the system, so that we can prevent a similar breach from happening again. Our government must be able to act swiftly and surely when it has threatening information. And our troops must have the security that they deserve.

With red flags flapping in the wind, the U.S. Army dropped the ball on this one and the President should conduct a full scale inquiry. Yet it begs this question. Are there more Hasans in the U.S. military? If there are then the only way to avert another Fort Hood is to make clear that they have no place in our military.

But let's suppose there are more Soldiers of Allah in our midst. President Obama's first instinct was to tell America not to jump to conclusions. What is there to prevent the military from doing the same in the future? What is there to prevent the military from disciplining personnel who blow the whistle instead of disciplining those who wave the red flag? So long as the politically correct mantra of diversity takes precedence over the sometimes politically incorrect methods of security then it should come as no surprise to anyone if similar terrorist attack comes to a U.S. military base near you.

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