Fort Hood victims set to receive
Purple Hearts and combat status
Congress is set to make victims of the 2009 Fort Hood shootings eligible for Purple Hearts and combat injury benefits after the Obama administration has denied them the status for the past five years. House Republicans, working with the Democratic-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee, added a provision to the defense authorization bill that would give recognition for the victims of the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in U.S. history. It passed on a voice vote with strong bipartisan support. The measure, which is expected to pass Congress next week, also would end a five-year effort by Texas GOP Reps. John Carter, Michael Conaway and Roger Williams to give the victims the status, the Military Times first reported. Texas GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn introduced the bill in the Senate.The new language in the defense bill says Purple Heart medals can be awarded to "members of the armed forces killed or wounded in domestic attacks inspired by foreign terrorist organizations," according to the Military Times.
Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 in the assault on the army post in Killeen, Texas. Survivors, many who suffered from multiple bullet wounds, have spent the past five years trying to rehabilitate their bodies and rebuild their lives. Many have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills out of pocket and the new benefits provided through legislation would be a windfall for them. The victims point out that Hasan had several email exchanges with top al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki about the attack and whether the attack was justified to “protect our brothers,” and followed Awlaki’s advice to scream “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Great”) to invoke fear before starting to shoot. Until his death by a drone airstrike in 2011, Yemen-based Awlaki was one of the United States’ top enemies.
In August, victims of the Fort Hood shooting also pointed to news of a letter from Hasan to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as further evidence that the 2009 attack was a terrorism attack. In the undated two-page letter, Hasan asked to become a member of the extremist Islamic group and said it would be an honor to become an “obedient citizen soldier” for Islamic State and signed the missive with his name and the abbreviation “SoA,” or “Soldier of Allah” — the same identification he used on business cards before the shooting.
In a speech on the House floor Wednesday, Carter said the FBI and the Defense Department were aware of Hasan's radicalization as early as 2005 but dismissed concerns about him "in the name of political correctness." Five years ago, Carter said, Obama promised to protect the victims of the shooting, personally assuring them he would at a memorial service for those who died in the attack. "Our communities have suffered long enough in the name of political correctness," he said. "I'm very proud that my colleagues in the House and Sens. Cornyn and Cruz have not dropped the ball." "We have stood for the Fort Hood community and the victims of this terrorist act even when the president failed to act," he added.
Williams argued that the Obama administration's "negligence" has cost some of the victims to pay hundreds of thousands of out-of-pocket costs for medical treatment. One victim, he said, was pulled off active duty and her paycheck was reduced from $1,400 a month to $200 a month and she lost her military health insurance. Others, he said, scraped by on disability payments. Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times, was turned away when he tried to check into an army post-traumatic-stress-disorder clinic because he was not injured in combat, according to Williams.
"This is not the definition of taking care of our nation's heroes," he said. "The [defense authorization bill] gives the Obama administration yet another opportunity to honor his pledge to provide for these men and women who were victims of terrorism."
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