Purple Hearts proposed for Fort Hood victims

[humbled_opinion]

Source: cnn

Washington (CNN) -- Military victims of the Fort Hood massacre will be eligible to receive the Purple Heart if Congress passes a bill introduced Tuesday.

Nonmilitary victims could receive the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom, the civilian equivalent of the Purple Heart. Both military and civilian personnel killed or wounded in the November 5 attack would be granted the same legal status as combatant casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The bill was introduced by Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, who represents the district that includes Fort Hood Army Post in the House of Representatives.

"As far as I'm concerned, this was an attack by an enemy upon American troops on American soil," Carter said Tuesday at a Capitol Hill news conference.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/17/fort.hood.medals/

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It will be interesting if this gets majority vote in Congress. I suspect the GOP is trying to make political theater here. Opinions?

[Kutjara]

1. I'm guessing a cynical attempt to enshrine the attack as a...

..."terrarist" outrage on American soil. President Obama just isn't keeping us safe, dontcha know?

[Lost-in-FL]

4. "attack by an enemy upon American troops on American soil"

He was a soldier too and this is no different than that other scum throwing a granade on a tent full of officers in Kuwait.

[humbled_opinion]

5. Thats kind of where I was going

Was he a rogue soldier? Should he be charged with Treason? Did he somehow turn into a jihadist (Al-Qaida)? Was he recruited by Al-Qaida? Could it happen again?

Or was this just a disgruntled soldier that went off the deep end because of the stresses of war and his impending deployment and so he snapped and murdered innoncent people?

[Lost-in-FL]

14. I was refering to the attack shortly after the invasion of Iraq in 2003

where a soldier threw a granade in a tent killing a few soldiers because he did not want to kill fellow muslims (the soldier happened to be a follower of Islam). To me this is no different to the recent attack based on the few or little info that has been provided. Now republicans will paint this as Obama allowing terrorists in the Army when in fact, this soldier has been in the ARMY since 2001.

I am sure he will be tried as a murderer not as a Islamist fundie.

[paulsby]

22. considering that,

among other things he justified suicide bombers actions against his own military - i think he's more than a disgruntled soldier

[EFerrari]

26. But it was BUSH'S FBI that made the bad call last year. n/t

[mitchum]

27. +1

[unhappycamper]

2. The military does not want to give the Purple Heart to PTSD victims.

Carter is a putz.

[Lost-in-FL]

3. Purple Heart usually go unannounced

I think they just want to stamp this attack under Obama's watch.

[MiniMe]

6. And all the people who died on 9-11 got purple hearts, right?

Right? No? Didn't think so.

[Sebastian Doyle]

7. Don't give them any ideas.

Some of the Repukes already called the alleged Flight 93 passengers uprising "the first battle in the War on Terra". :eyes:

[dflprincess]

8. They were civilians and not eligible for it

But I don't understand why it would be given in this case which really is more of a work place shooting than anything else.

BTW - remember this event from last May?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/world/middleeast/17cl...

...And Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, was there because he had to be. After 15 years in the Army, he had fallen into debt and out of favor with his commanding officer, who took away his weapon and sent him for counseling.

It was in that clinic, a low-slung building at Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad, that Sergeant Russell used a weapon that he seized from an escort last Monday to shoot and kill Major Houseal, Private Yates and three other people, Army officials say. He has been charged with five counts of murder in the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence involving the American military in the six-year Iraq war.

That the shootings, which remain under investigation, happened in a clinic intended to be a quiet oasis from combat has in no small way underscored how stressful the nation’s two wars have become for its stretched military forces.

Army studies and surveys show that multiple deployments and long deployments contribute to higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and marital problems. And soldiers on their third or fourth deployment are at significantly higher risk than soldiers on their first or second ones for mental health problems and work-related problems, according to the Army Mental Health Advisory Team Report released last year.

I don't recall anyone calling Sgt. Russell a terrorist, or mentioning his religion.

[humbled_opinion]

12. There were active duty military killed too....

The Pentagon! and they did get the Purple Heart authorized by Rumsfeld a few weeks after 911....

The issue here is if Congress does agree to this legislation then basically they are acknowledging that Hasan was an enemy of the USA, all the How and why's will become secondary.

[dflprincess]

16. Oh dear God - I was only thinking of NYC

That was a major brain fart. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[humbled_opinion]

10. Yes, they did. n/t

[paulsby]

23. poor analogy

the purple heart can ONLY GO TO MILITARY MEMBERS.

whether or not there is good reason to issue purple hearts, the 911 victims were not military on duty personnel attacked at a military base.

it's a silly analogy

[Igel]

9. Sometimes CNN and Fox are close cousins.

The legislation would give the dead the same status as those killed in combat.

It means a lot of survivor's benefits. Insurance, pay, education expenses, travel expenses for the funeral, etc., etc., etc. I feel sorry for the survivors. I feel empathy for them. I want this bill to pass, not because of what it says about Hasan, not because of what it says about Obama, but because of the people that Hasan made into survivors.

Without this status, the cluster of benefits aren't there.

The purple heart business? Yeah, it's a possible benefit. I have to assume that the CNN editor is the kind of person who, if his/her offspring or spouse were killed, would first and foremost be asking, "Hey--can I get a medal?" Or perhaps the editor just thinks badly about people in the military.

Or maybe, by emphasizing the medal as the most important feature CNN assumes that viewers will assume that it really is the most important feature. In other words, all the other things are to be disregarded in deep-sixing Carter's proposal, which is obviously just a partisan ploy to embarrass Obama.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Empathy--not just a slogan for when it's convenient.

[tabasco]

11. Nope.

Stupid.

[Canuckistanian]

13. No

This wasn't a combat situation.

And this is just another lame attempt to have the Ft. Hood incident declared a "terrorist act"

[MetaTrope]

15. Political theater? Republicans? No, never!

[AlbertCat]

18. I was gonna quip...

....do they want them to get real Purple Hearts, or just band-aids?


Did anyone die or get wounded trying to save people? (Yes...I'm thinking) They should get one I suppose, but just being a victim of some lone nut is not the proper criteria.

[still_one]

17. That's bullshit. This was a tragic incident, but it is not what purple hearts are given for /nt

[bertman]

19. FUCK Carter!! That would demean the award that was earned by every American who

was ever wounded in combat.

Carter is a self-serving piece of shit.

[tomm2thumbs]

20. political theater is right /nt

[StarfarerBill]

21. And it must be asked:

if the alleged perpetrator was Christian or Jewish, would all this xenophobic, cynical garbage be thrown at us?

[panzerfaust]

24. What about folks injured & killed in training exercises ...

... should they not also be eligible? Why should their sacrifices go unrecognized?

Traditionally the Purple Heart is awarded for "Being wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States or as a result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed forces"

IMHO to award the Purple Heart for other purposes is to degrade it - much as the Republican's degraded it during the 2004 election campaign.





Like the Combat Infantryman Badge, it should only go to those who were deliberately going into harms way. The unfortunate soldiers at Ft. Hood were not killed and injured by "an enemy of the United States" but by a deeply disturbed religious nutter who is one of their own.




If the last three images are not instantly recognized by one, then one should spend a little time reviewing history. As should those who would, for political advantage, degrade what is essentially an award for valor.

[Doctor_J]

25. I thought the (R)'s would wait on this until the week before election 2010

they have to try to keep this atrocity alive for a year.

[Winterblues]

28. Is there evidence these people didn't plan this because they may run for President in four decades?

If a purple heart band-aid is good enough for Kerry it should be good enough for these soldiers as well..