"Tragedy at Ft Hood"
by Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)
This past Thursday 13 American Soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded
at a horrific mass shooting at US Army installation, Ft Hood Texas. As I
watched in horror and then anger I recalled my two years of final service in
the Army as a Battalion Commander at Ft Hood, 2002-2004.
My wife and two daughters were stunned at the incident, having lived on the
post in family housing.
A military installation, whether it is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, or
Coast Guard, is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for our Warriors and their
families. It is intended to provide a home whereby our "Band of Brothers and
Sisters" can find solace and bond beyond just the foxhole but as family
units.
A military installation is supposed to be a place where our Warriors train
for war, to serve and protect our Nation.
On Thursday, 5 November 2009 Ft Hood became a part of the battlefield in the
war against Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.
There may be those who feel threatened by my words and would even recommend
they not be uttered. To those individuals I say step aside because now is
not the time for cowardice. Our Country has become so paralyzed by political
correctness that we have allowed a vile and determined enemy to breach what
should be the safest place in America, an Army post.
We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about
the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced
benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable. The fact
that there are some who have now created an entire new classification
called; "pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" is
unconscionable.
This is not a "man caused disaster". It is what it is, an Islamic jihadist
attack.
We have seen this before in 2003 when a SGT Hasan of the 101st Airborne
Division (Air Assault) threw hand grenades and opened fire into his
Commanding Officer's tent in Kuwait. We have seen the foiled attempt of
Albanian Muslims who sought to attack Ft Dix, NJ. Recently we saw a young
convert to Islam named Carlos Bledsoe travel to Yemen, receive terrorist
training, and return to gun down two US Soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas
Army recruiting station. We thwarted another Islamic terrorist plot in North
Carolina which had US Marine Corps Base, Quantico as a target.
What have we done with all these prevalent trends? Nothing.
What we see are recalcitrant leaders who are refusing to confront the issue,
Islamic terrorist infiltration into America, and possibly further into our
Armed Services. Instead we have a multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on
steroids.
Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood, matter of fact he
should have been Chaptered from the Army. His previous statements, poor
evaluation reports, and the fact that the FBI had him under investigation
for jihadist website posting should have been proof positive.
However, what we have is a typical liberal approach to find a victim, not
the 13 and 30 Soldiers and Civilian, but rather the poor shooter. A shooter
who we are told was a great American, who loved the Army and serving his
Nation and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) stating that his
actions had nothing to do with religious belief.
We know that Major Hasan deliberately planned this episode; he did give away
his possessions. He stood atop a table in the confined space of the Soldier
Readiness Center shouting "Allahu Akhbar", same chant as the 9-11 terrorists
and those we fight against overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of
operation.
No one in leadership seems willing to sound the alarm for the American
people; they are therefore complicit in any future attacks. Our Congress
should suspend the insidious action to vote on a preposterous and
unconstitutional healthcare bill and resolve the issue of "protecting the
American people".
The recent incidents in Dearborn Michigan, Boston Massachusetts, Dallas
Texas, and Chicago Illinois should bear witness to the fact that we have an
Islamic terrorism issue in America. And don't have CAIR call me and try to
issue a vanilla press statement; they are an illegitimate terrorist
associated organization which should be disbanded.
We have Saudi Arabia funding close to 80% of the mosques in the United
States, one right here in South Florida, Pompano Beach. Are we building
churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia? Are "Kaffirs" and "Infidels"
allowed travel to Mecca?
So much for peaceful coexistence.
Saudi Arabia is sponsoring radical Imams who enter into our prisons and
convert young men into a virulent Wahabbist ideology....one resulting in
four individuals wanting to destroy synagogues in New York with plastic
explosives. Thank God the explosives were dummy. They are sponsoring
textbooks which present Islamic centric revisionist history in our schools.
We must recognize that there is an urgent need to separate the
theo-political radical Islamic ideology out of our American society. We must
begin to demand surveillance of suspected Imams and mosques that are
spreading hate and preaching the overthrow of our Constitutional
Republic......that speech is not protected under First Amendment, it is
sedition and if done by an American treason.
There should not be some 30 Islamic terrorist training camps in America, that
has nothing to do with First Amendment, Freedom of Religion. The Saudis are
not our friends and any American political figure who believes such is
delusional.
When tolerance becomes a one way street it certainly leads to cultural
suicide. We are on that street. Liberals cannot be trusted to defend our
Republic, because their sympathies obviously lie with their perceived
victim, Major Nidal Malik Hasan.
I make no apologies for these words, and anyone angered by them, please, go
to Ft Hood and look into the eyes of the real victims. The tragedy at Ft
Hood Texas did not have to happen. Consider now the feelings of those there
and on every military installation in the world. Consider the feelings of
the Warriors deployed into combat zones who now are concerned that their
loved ones at home are in a combat zone!
Ft Hood suffered an Islamic jihadist attack. Stop the denial, and realize a
simple point.
The reality of your enemy must become your own.
Steadfast and Loyal,
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)
