They never learn: DOD classifies Ft. Hood massacre as ‘workplace violence’

Here we go again:

Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation’s Armed Forces at home.

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam.

Thirteen people were killed and dozens more wounded at Fort Hood in 2009, and the number of alleged plots targeting the military has grown significantly since then. Lawmakers said there have been 33 plots against the U.S. military since Sept. 11, 2001, and 70 percent of those threats have been since mid-2009.Β  Major Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, who is being held for the attacks, allegedly was inspired by radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in late September. The two men exchanged as many as 20 emails, according to U.S. officials, and Awlaki declared Hasan a hero.

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the military has become a “direct target of violent Islamist extremism” within the United States.

“The stark reality is that the American service member is increasingly in the terrorists’ scope and not just overseas in a traditional war setting,” Lieberman told Fox News before the start of Wednesday’s hearing.

As I noted back in February, you had to read between the lines of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s report on the Ft. Hood murders to find out that even they concluded forced political correctness in the US military was greatly enabled Major Nidal HasanΒ to rise within the ranks and eventually murder 13 and injure 32. all in the name of “Allah.” Β At the time, Jon Ham put a finer point on the report’s conclusions:

And why did the FBI and the Army β€œfail” in their responsibilities to notify the relevant authorities that a Muslim nutjob was operating in their midsts? Because they would have been crucified on the cross of insensitivity and political incorrectness in an atmosphere encouraged by Congress and almost every other institution in American live over the past 30 years.

The real culprit in not identifying the danger of Hasan is the far left, which has preached multiculturalism and identity politics since the 1980s. Any criticism of one of their privileged minorities, racial or religious, has immediately been branded racism. The FBI and the Army, to their discredit, cowed to this insanity, and the loss of life by the likes of Hasan is the result.

I get it, he gets it, you get it, and the families of the victims get it, too:

Nov.Β 10,Β 2011:Β In what could be the first step toward a massive federal lawsuit, 83 people β€”victims of the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood and family members of those killed in the attack β€” have filed administrative claims against the U.S. government alleging willful negligence and seeking about $750 million in damages.

The claimants include family members of eight of the 13 people killed during the rampage, the worst shooting ever on an American military installation.

The claims allege that the federal agencies bowed to “political correctness” in ignoring warning signs regarding Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist facing 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the shooting. Witnesses have said Hasan, who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan shortly after the shooting, shouted “Allahu Akbar” β€” an Arabic refrain meaning “God is greatest” and something of a war cry for Muslim terrorists β€” before opening fire inside Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, killing 12 soldiers and one civilian and wounding more than 30.

The claims cite a February U.S. Senate report by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, which concluded that Hasan was a “ticking time bomb” and that federal agencies failed to take action against Hasan despite mounting evidence that the psychiatrist, born in Virginia to Palestinian parents, was embracing radical Islam.

According to officials, Hasan had been in email contact with al Qaeda leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was recently killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen. But FBI officials ultimately dismissed the communications as legitimate research and failed to inform Hasan’s superiors, the Senate report said.

“It is a sad commentary on our avowed war on terror that the government deliberately refused to take even minimal steps to neutralize the clear threat posed by Hasan,” New York attorney Neal Sher, who is representing the claimants, said in a statement. “It is a tragic irony that our government sought out and killed (Awlaki), while Hasan was promoted in the Army and put in a position to carry out his murderous terror attack.”

The question remains: When will our government get it?

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