President Obama handles Fort Hood shooting with kid gloves

November 7, 11:00 AMUS Headlines ExaminerCharisse Van Horn

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Opinion

There are many differences between President Obama and former president George Bush but none may be as glaring as President Obama’s handling of the Fort Hood shooting. There is no doubt that former president George Bush would have taken to the airwaves and held a special news conference.

Though President Obama has made three attempts to speak against the violence that transpired on November 5, 2009, he has yet to do so. In each of his remarks, he discussed the facts, the need for patience, and the grief that victims’ families are undergoing. He has yet to condemn the shooting, nor illustrate ways to prevent this from happening in the future.

Why?

Yes, we understand that the military is a rainbow coalition of all ethnic groups and faiths, but there should be one prerequisite for joining the United States armed forces: wanting to protect America.
To ignore the reality that there are soldiers (regardless of their faith, ethnicity, or gender) who are seeking to destroy Americans and the United States as a whole does not a good leader of the armed forces make.

When is this topic going to be addressed?

This isn’t a Democratic, Republican, Independent, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim issue so why the kid gloves? Are United States soldiers safe in the military? What steps are being taken to treat those with PTSD?
When an Army doctor, who is in charge of counseling soldiers suffering from PTSD, goes on a bloody rampage, the issue needs to be addressed: not swept under the carpet, not handled with kid gloves, and definitely deserves more than a few moments of remarks and then yielding to the topic of the economy.

There are two underlying topics that need to be addressed. The first is the issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the next is the possibility that there are terrorists in the United States armed forces. Whether Nidal Malik Hasan was linked to an organization or not does not negate the reality that he terrorized United States American soldiers firing his weapons and screaming Allah is Great while he did it.

It appears that the White House is afraid to publicly address the fact that Nidal Malik Hasan was a Muslim while the rest of the nation is readily aware of it. The nation also knows that Hasan isn’t a good Muslim. No one is advocating removing Muslims from the military, but all people who advocate suicide bombings should not be looked at by the FBI and then allowed to remain in the military. Every soldier that shows they are not in favor of the United States and would rather side with Iraq and Afghanistan requires official action be taken.

It’s time that President Obama tells the nation what he plans to do to solve this problem.