Obama Warns Against 'Jumping to Conclusions' in Fort Hood Massacre
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
06 November 2009
The U.S. Army is dispatching dozens of trauma and grief counselors and military chaplains to Fort Hood in Texas, where a gunman killed 13 people in a shooting rampage on Thursday. The alleged shooter was an Army officer, a psychiatrist and a Muslim, but officials, including President Barack Obama, are cautioning against jumping to conclusions about the motive for the shooting.
President Obama met with the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other senior officials Friday morning to discuss the case. Then he stepped into the White House Rose Garden, to again express condolences to the families of those killed in the attack, and to urge people to wait for the results of the investigation.
"We don't know all the answers yet and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts," said President Obama. "What we do know is that there are families, friends and an entire nation grieving right now for the valiant men and women who came under attack yesterday, in one of the worst mass shootings ever to take place on an American military base."
The president ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half staff as what he called "a modest tribute" to people who he said lost their lives as they were preparing to risk their lives for their country.
"We honor their service," said Mr. Obama. "We stand in awe of their sacrifice. And we pray for the safety of those who fight and for the families of those who have fallen."
The president also promised continuing updates as the investigation proceeds.
At Ft. Hood Friday, officials say investigators continued to interview people and use scientific techniques to try to piece together the exact series of events when Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire with two handguns at a center where soldiers were preparing for deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. Hasan, who is 39 years old, is recovering from four gunshot wounds inflicted by a female civilian police officer.
A Ft. Hood spokesman, Colonel John Rossi, says the other main focus is on the survivors.
"We continue to focus on casualty assistance efforts," said Colonel Rossi. "This includes notification of family members and grief counseling. The notification process is underway, and we ask that all fully support and respect the privacy of families that have been affected by this tragedy."
Here at the Pentagon, the chief Army spokesman, Major General Kevin Bergner, confirmed that the alleged gunman had been informed he would soon be deployed to one of the war zones.
"He was in a 'deployment window,' and was part of a request for forces," said General Bergner.
General Bergner could not comment on reports that Major Hasan has made some Internet postings that were supportive of suicide bombers, but he said that is part of the joint Army and civilian investigation. Hasan is a psychiatrist who specializes in trauma counseling, and he has been working with wounded and traumatized troops returning from the wars since he began his psychiatric training in 2003. Some friends have told reporters he has expressed opposition to the wars and was concerned about his own pending deployment. There are also reports that he complained of being teased by other soldiers due to his Muslim faith, and wanted to get out of the Army, and that he received at least one less than excellent performance evaluation. But Hasan, who has been in the army for 12 years, most of that time in medical training, was promoted to major just six months ago.
General Bergner says there has been no order to increase security at U.S. Army bases, but commanders have been told to look at the issue.
"Each installation was asked to look at their specific force protection procedures, and they are doing that," he said. "They are constantly changing their force protection procedures randomly to keep from being too much of a pattern. That is very much what we are doing in this case."
Bergner says senior Army leaders traveled to Ft. Hood Friday morning.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
