Fort Hood

By now, extensive news coverage has been given to the incident that occurred on Thursday of last week at Fort Hood, Texas. A gunman who, as it turns out, is an Army psychiatrist and a Muslim who had previously voiced serious opposition to being deployed overseas to fight America's war on Islamic terrorism opened fire at a medical screening facility on the east Texas base, killed thirteen people and wounded another 29.


Heartbreak does not even begin to describe what I feel over the fact that twelve families of American soldiers will never again see their son, daughter, sister, brother, mother, father, or relative again because of the heinous actions of this individual. My heart breaks for them and my prayers go out to them as they mourn the loss of their loved one. As a fellow chaplain, my prayers also go out to the Army chaplains and other care providers who will no doubt be faced with many counseling and ministry opportunities in the coming months and even years. May they be blessed with the ability to listen first and foremost and to speak words of healing and truth into the lives of hurting people.


However, I would be remiss in overlooking the obvious: not only is this arguably the most horrific act of violence and terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11, it is also yet another indication of our inability and unwillingness to protect ourselves from terrorism in the name of political correctness. According to the ABC link below, Major Hasan tried to make contact with a prominent al-Qaeda leader within the U.S. The Army was informed of this, yet they obviously were unable/unwilling to do much (if anything) to prevent what happened. And innocent people died as a result.

Why? Has it really gotten to the point where someone with ties to anti-American extremism and violence against innocent people can become a high-ranking member of the U.S. Armed Services and, without so much as a second glance, unleash hell against those he is sworn to fight alongside and protect...ON AN AMERICAN MILITARY BASE??!!

If so, then I suggest we no longer even bother to fight al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other anti-freedom forces abroad because we certainly do not seem willing to secure our own homefront against them at home.

I'm not even bull-crapping. What is the point of convincing the rest of the world that our values dictate freedom and security against Islamofascist thugs if we do not demonstrate those values within our borders? What is the point of sending soldiers, sailors, and marines to faraway places to literally give their lives in defeating terrorism if our own commander-in-chief is seen wringing his hands just days after the shooting and urging the American people not to "jump to conclusions" regarding the motives of the shooter...even though dozens of people heard him scream "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) just before he opened fire? As far as I'm concerned, his motives were crystal clear: kill as many American infidels as possible. Period.

Please do not misunderstand. I am not arguing that Islam (or any religion) should be outlawed, nor am I arguing that adherents to a particular faith tradition should be unfairly discriminated against. We still live in a free country where people can worship as they choose. As a Navy chaplain, I will take a backseat to no one when it comes to standing up for the constitutional rights of sailors and marines everywhere. But I refuse to sit back after this latest tragedy and behave as though individuals like Hasan should not be investigated more thoroughly before they are allowed to wear the uniform of this nation, as well as prosecuted swiftly, harshly, and justly when it becomes known that they have ties to anti-American forces. BECAUSE THEY SHOULD BE.

As a Naval officer and patriotic American, I am furious not just because this tragedy happened, but because advance knowledge about the shooter's capabilities and proclivities was obviously shared with the right people and nothing was done to stop it. And patriotic American soldiers died because of it. On top of that, we're now once again hearing this same liberal song-and-dance about multiculturalism at the expense of our freedom and national security and you know what? I'm sick of it.

If anybody is reading this who has anything to do with preventing senseless tragedies like this from happening in the future, I have a message to you: get off the freaking sidelines and get in the game when it comes to fighting and defeating America's enemies AT HOME as well as abroad. Stop being part of the problem by sucking up to multiculturalists everywhere and realize that our enemies want to kill us and could give a rat's rear end about appeasement. They need to be located, closed with, and destroyed. Do you job and make it happen!

Please join me in prayer as we mourn together the loss of our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers who said "yes" to the call of service to their nation, only to be betrayed by those sworn to protect and serve alongside them. And pray that our government would get serious, once and for all, about defeating terrorism.

God bless.

http://news.aol.com/article/alleged-fort-hood-shooter-nidal-malik/758172?icid=mainmaindl1link3http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Falleged-fort-hood-shooter-nidal-malik%2F758172

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/06/national/main5551286.shtml