Community | November 10, 2009 | 29 comments

Obama mourns victims of Fort Hood shootings

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/us/11hood.html

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FORT HOOD, Tex. — President Obama took on the role of national eulogist in a moment of tragedy on Tuesday for the first time since taking office as he led the country in mourning 13 current or retired soldiers gunned down not on a foreign battlefield but here on their home base by one of their own.

Mr. Obama met with survivors of the murderous rampage here at the nation’s largest Army base and relatives of those who were killed, then led a memorial service where he vowed that the memory of the slain would “endure through the life of our nation.” He mentioned each victim by name and described them and their families in personal terms.

“It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy,” the president told thousands of soldiers and relatives gathered outside the headquarters of III Corps. “But this much we do know: No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts. No just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice, in this world and the next.”

As he rejected the logic of Islamic extremists like the one who had been in contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of the killings, Mr. Obama offered no judgment on whether the incident should be viewed as linked to terrorism. Nor did he discuss whether the government missed warning signs, given that intelligence agencies intercepted communications between Major Hasan and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his anti-American rhetoric, but concluded they did not warrant further action.

The president also dealt only obliquely with the sensitive question of Muslims serving in the American military. Senior Army officers have expressed concern about a backlash, but Mr. Obama did not use the opportunity to address that directly and never used the word “Muslim” in his address.

Instead, he simply noted and praised the diversity of the military. “They are,” he said, “man and woman; white, black and brown; of all faiths and stations — all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.”

The Army says there are 1,977 soldiers in the active-duty service who identify themselves as Muslims, out of a total of 553,000. But there are probably many more Muslims in uniform who do not disclose their religion, according to experts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/us/11hood.html
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29 comments // Obama mourns victims of Fort Hood shootings

  • 2hellnwait
    • 0
      2hellnwait  

    • I'm not dazzled by this articulate and narcissistic fraud posing as a 'caring' leader, it is obvious (except to the Obamaniacs) that he seeks his own glory, not that of America.

    • 2 years ago
  • 2hellnwait
    • 0
      2hellnwait  
    • Image

    • I'll not not feel remorse for disrespecting any Islam apologist appeasing piece of shit, regardless of what "High" office they may hold.

    • 2 years ago
  • 2hellnwait
    • 0
      2hellnwait  
    • Image

    • I don't think B.O. really gives a shit, he waited to see the results of the medias blitz and it's consensus before making his "appearance". . !

      - - - - When all is said and done, what is the real issue here? - - - - -

      "America is still mourning the murders of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood in what can only be characterized as a vicious slaughter by a jihadist terrorist, an attack incubated and nurtured by an irrational pandemic of political correctness.

      I know no one else is putting it quite like this. I know I will be flamed for introducing politics into this terrible tragedy. But sick and twisted politics is what led to this massacre, and somebody has to say it.

      How many times do we need to see man-made disasters like this occur before we recognize we are at war? This is not some game. This is not an enemy that will go away if we turn our backs and pretend it really doesn't exist. This is war — all-out war against Americans and America." -> source: http://www.creators.com/conservative/joseph-farah.html

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
  • 2hellnwait
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • 2hellnwait:

      Responded first? He lied them into an unneeded war! Outed a C.I.A. agent for disagreeing with the bad intelligence, and never once visited section sixty the place his actions created at Arlington. Lincoln had his summer home at a mortuary, the Soldiers Home and never let the consequences of his actions be far from his mind. Biden our vice president has his own son in Iraq right now despite the fact he qualified for a deferment something Cheney used five times and somehow thought that qualified him for the position of Defense Secretary despite never serving and never knowing the burden of service. Your disprespecting a respectful commander and chief and vice president by lifting up that garbage.

    • 2 years ago
  • 2hellnwait
  • AllahIsGreat
  • samthesixth
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  

    • Its not about PREZBHO its about the dead and injured including family and other Soldiers..

      I am glad though there was no 'Shout Out's' prior to his comments.

    • 2 years ago
  • Jen_Kuligoski
    • 0
      Jen_Kuligoski  
    • My_America:

      Exactly. It is about the dead and the injured and he was just trying to honor them at that moment without bringing up an controversies because that would have been tasteless at a time like that.

      Why are we criticizing a man honoring those who were injured and killed?

    • 2 years ago
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  
    • My_America:

      I do not criticize him for yesteday. He did what he was suppose to do.

      I do not like articles that put the focus in the wrong direction. I don't care if it was Reagan, Bush, Clinton or whomever just aim the focus in the correct direction.

      I DO criticize his inital response to this tragic event.

    • 2 years ago
  • Jen_Kuligoski
  • samthesixth
  • mario_a
  • mrEddie
    • 0
      mrEddie [removed]  

    • Obambi says: 'But this much we do know - no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts'

      The cognitive dissonance here is that Major Hasan and many other Muslims clearly believe that their faith does justify these "murderous and craven acts." By ruling out a priori any investigation of that fact, Obama is foreclosing on any serious analysis of what motivated this attack. That in turn will foreclose any serious analysis of what can be done to prevent there being another like it.

    • 2 years ago
  • nobamayomama
    • 0
      nobamayomama  
    • mrEddie:

      exactly. Obama needs to really take on a more serious attitude toward this threat - they FAILED to heed the warning signs. Ironically, the female soldier who stopped Hasan shooting him called it like it was - "we are under terrorist attack". Obama chooses to rename the obvious (and that's laughable in itself) as "man caused disasters" or whatever. ALL evidence points to this man shooting INFIDELS and those are anyone who is NOT a Muslim extremist. The Quran has specific scriptures on this, I read them. It pretty much spells it out.

    • 2 years ago
  • hpseaton
    • 0
      hpseaton  
    • mrEddie:

      So by your reasoning anyone committing mass murder in the United States should be judged first and foremost on his religious leanings?

      I can see you two have a hard on for Islam, and I despise all religions so I'm not shying away from that topic, but I'm just wondering if you would be as upset if this asshole was a practicing Christian, or Scientologist, Mormon, etc. Or whether you would wave that off as irrelevant.

    • 2 years ago
  • Jen_Kuligoski
  • mrEddie
  • JohnA
  • hpseaton
    • 0
      hpseaton  
    • Jen_Kuligoski:

      JohnA I would posit that the cameras follow him around, not vice versa. He is the President so they do tend to want to cover him, much as they did George Bush for 8 years, no matter what idiotic sentences trailed out of his mouth.

      Oh mr.eddie you are such a wiz with words. Keep up your fabulous work.

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
  • Nettle
    • 0
      Nettle  
    • JohnA:

      What do you mean "has to chime in"? He's the president, don'tcha think he ought to pay his respects. If he ignored it and never went, you'd still be angry.

      Nothing ever pleases you, huh?

    • 2 years ago
  • JohnA
  • Mobius2012
    • 0
      Mobius2012  
    • JohnA:

      LOL exactly Jen. We need to step outside of our little paradigm in the sky and wake up! This world system is coming to an end, and face it, a Black Man is leading the revolution! HAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How Ironic

    • 2 years ago
  • carmalite
    • 0
      carmalite  

    • The Gulf of Tonkin was allowed to happen, and it is alledged that the Pearl Harbor attack was allowed to happen, so government could get the public to support policies.
      I blelieve that this incident was allowed to happen because the Military industrial complex wants the war to continue. We have locked up people with less evdence that we had against the danger that this mans actions and words proposed. This was inho an enabling intentionally, or a horrible horrible horrible failure of the Army to do its job, and know the mental and patriotic statuis of its troops and officers.
      How could they be so stupid?
      Any of us would have realilzed that this man's words, and requests to not go to Iraq, plus his saying in public that Muslims should not be forced to fight against Muslims were a very loud signal. They could have kept his state side.
      I don't believe that this was an accident. Everyone is all riled up now, and justifiably, but this was an enabling of an emotionally ill person known to be a loose cannon.
      Hey since their defense is "it was not illegal" all they had to do was keep his in the Stats, tell him he was going to stay here and work, and WATCH him.

      Intentional in my blelief, or worse, they are really not capable of doing their jobs.

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
  • mario_a
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