Terrorism? Fort Hood report doesn’t mention Islamic extremism.
At congressional hearings Wednesday on Fort Hood, House Armed Services Committee Republicans said Islamic extremism is the ‘800 pound gorilla’ in the room.
Former Army Secretary Togo D. West Jr. (l.) and former chief of naval operations, retired Navy Adm. Vern Clark, at a news conference at the Pentagon, Jan 15, to discuss the results of their independent review related to the Ft. Hood shooting.
Kevin Wolf/AP
House Republicans were keen Wednesday to find out why a report titled “Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood” fails to discuss Islamic extremism as a possible motive for Maj. Nidal Hasan’s attack in November, which killed 13 and wounded 43.
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Frustrated by the Department of Defense’s description of the Fort Hood rampage as an “incident” by an “alleged perpetrator,” several members of the House Armed Services Committee wondered if political correctness is besting common sense as the US tries to understand the nature and strategy of its enemies.
The debate highlights ongoing tension over how to define and react to a series of high-profile attacks, including the Fort Hood rampage and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound jetliner.
President Obama has described the Christmas Day attack as an act of war, but the government has so far resisted calling the Fort Hood attack “terrorism,” despite Hasan's ties to a cleric in Yemen alleged to be an Al Qaeda recruiter. Republican criticism come as conservatives – most notably former Vice President Dick Cheney – have sought to cast Obama as weak against terrorism.
'Strange silence' on Islamic extremism
Rep. Buck McKeon (R) of California on Wednesday called the report’s failure to mention Islamic extremism a “strange silence.” To 9/11 commission member John Lehman, the administration's position “shows you how deeply entrenched the values of political correctness have become,” he told Time magazine earlier this week.
Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee suggested that Americans are increasingly concerned that political correctness is undermining national security.
“The American people recognize that the 9/11 Commission was correct when it said we have an enemy and it’s Islamist extremists – their words – and the concern is that we may not be paying attention to the fact that the alleged perpetrator was in fact an Islamist extremist,” said Rep. John Kline (R) of Minnesota. “There’s frustration that we seem to be overlooking the 800 pound gorilla and that this is something more than just a random act of violence with an alleged perpetrator, and that it’s certainly more than just an incident.”
