Senator Joe Lieberman, (I) Connecticut
On the surface, President Obama's request to Congress to hold off on hearings in the wake of the Ft Hood tragedy seems reasonable. There is a criminal case to prosecute, and Congress has indeed in the past, compromised criminal cases with their own hearings. I think in this case, that problem can be avoided.
The criminal case on Hasan is pretty clear-cut insofar as it pertains to him. There are plenty of witnesses to what he did, and Congress has little to contribute if anything to Hasan's prosecution. They should also allow the FBI and other agencies to pursue any leads that might point to conspiracy and involvement on the part of others.
What I think Congress can do now-and should- is get to the bottom of how Hasan was allowed to remain in the Army in the face of all the red flags that were thrown up. It is pretty obvious at this point that a lot of people in the military and possibly the intelligence services screwed up. Was there a lack of information-sharing between the intelligence and military? We have 14 dead people (I am including a 6 month old fetus) that apparently were victims of political correctness. Just taking the words of Army Chief of Staff George Casey, he apparently thinks that losing its (Army) diversity would be a greater tragedy than the deaths of these innocent people.
George Casey should resign.
What Congress must do-and do now- is determine and expose the breakdowns that allowed Hasan to remain in the Army. What our military needs to know is if there are other Hasans out there. If our military is so concerned about political correctness, then I am not sure they can do the job properly.
Of course, with the politically-correct Democrats in charge of Congress, who knows how effective they will be? Obviously, they will be concerned about any perceptions that it is a witch hunt against Muslims in general, and rightly so. It is encouraging that the independent-minded Joe Lieberman is the one calling for an inquiry. He is an honorable man, and I don't think he would abuse his position in this matter to harm innocent citizens.
Done properly, Congress can and should move ahead now -not trying to prove Hasan's guilt or find any possible co-conspirators-that should be left to the investigating authorities. Congress' task is to find where the system broke down and force the military to fix it fast. Our troops deserve nothing less. And President Obama should not stand in the way.
2 comments:
Just remember that all of these red flags were going up during the Bush administration, so let's not put any undeserved blame on the current President.
Bryan,
That is correct, but now it has bit us on the ass. It's like 9-11, where Bush has to accept responsibility for the first 8 months of his admin, but the seeds were planted before Bush took office. The test for Obama now is what he does ..or not do.
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