Who's exploiting Fort Hood?
Liberals and conservatives accuse each other of using the massacre to score political points
A soldier at Fort Hood salutes the victims of Maj. Nidal Hasan
(Courtney Perry/Dallas Morning News/Corbis)
In the aftermath of the Fort Hood killings, the left and the right are accusing each other of politicizing the tragedy. Liberals say conservatives use Fort Hood to bash President Obama and Muslims; conservatives say liberals are spinning Fort Hood as a cautionary tale about war and guns. Who's really exploiting Fort Hood? (Watch a round up of commentators talking about Islam's role in the Fort Hood attacks)
Conservatives are trying to smear Obama: Right-wingers are "exploiting the Fort Hood horror," says David Corn in Politics Daily. The American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, called for barring Muslims from military service. On Fox News, Sean Hannity accused the government of ignoring red flags about Nidal Hasan because of that conservative bugaboo, political correctness, and Rush Limbaugh simply blamed the massacre on Obama.
"How right-wing talkers crassly exploited Ft. Hood tragedy"
Liberals are the ones trying to score points: The liberal media is spinning the Fort Hood killings, says Rich Lowry in National Review, as a case of post-traumatic stress disorder—not terrorism—to support its "favorite narrative of soldiers as victims." Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times—they all suggested Nidal Hasan cracked because he counseled combat-traumatized soldiers. Forget it: the real source of his stress was mixed loyalties, with Islam trumping his uniform.
"The PTSD evasion"
The right's holding an orgy of Muslim bashing: Thirteen people are dead, says Mohammad Anwar in Examiner.com, and all some people care about is "spreading hate" by linking this tragedy to Islam. The truth is that the military has a long list of horrible incidents in which soldiers have lost it and killed their comrades. But since Nidal Hasan is a Muslim, the "hate mongers" couldn't wait to huff that any offense committed by a Muslim is jihad.
"Exploiting the Fort Hood Army base shooting incident"
The worst offenders? Gun-control fanatics: The most contrived argument, says Jacob Sullum in Reason, came from gun-control advocates, who said if a "heavily fortified army base" is vulnerable, arming more people doesn’t reduce gun violence. But soldiers can't carry weapons at U.S. bases—armed civilian police officers finally stopped the slaughter. See? "Having a gun is better than not having one when you are confronted by a homicidal maniac."
"The folly of unilateral disarmament"
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SEE THE WEEK'S LATEST COVERAGE OF FORT HOOD:
• Obama's speech at Fort Hood
• Fort Hood: The Al Qaeda question
• Who is Anwar al-Awlaki: What's known about Hasan's Al-Qaeda's connection
• Fort Hood: What the world is saying
• Red flags at Fort Hood
• Sunday Talk Show Briefing: Religion's role in Fort Hood (Video)
• Fort Hood: Obama's "flippant" speech
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13 Comments
Posted by Parah Salin, Thursday, November 12, 2009, 2:03 pm As usual, Rich Lowry is completely wrong on this issue: the latest reports are that Hasan was a loner, fitting the typical massmurderer personality, and not a terrorist acting alone. The stress of his counselling soldiers probably added to it his Muslim faith, not so much.
Posted by Usual suspect, Thursday, November 12, 2009, 2:28 pm Eyewitness shooting victims described Hasan as cold and calculated killer who recited jihadist and terrorist slogans during the killing. He contacted terrorists before the killings. Etc, etc. Some people are too PC to say it, but this guy was a terrorist through and through. The sad part? HE WON. Obama changed his plans for Afghanistan. Forcing change through terror is the very design and purpose of terrorism, whether acting alone or not. This guy WON, America lost. Horrible.
Posted by drew. c., Thursday, November 12, 2009, 2:49 pm The silence and commendable 'no backlash' against muslims, can, and will make muslims believe that Hasan did the right thing against the infidels, because the silence and no backlash, will be seen by many muslims to mean that it is Allah's will and protection of muslims from angered infidels. Remember, muslim silence is also working for the muslims into C.A.I.R. and other areas of antiWestern underhandedness even as they choose to live amongst us in the West and in many cases enjoy biting the hand that feeds them and gives them refuge.
Posted by Drewc., Thursday, November 12, 2009, 3:01 pm Long before the 1970's days of trendy Marxist 'political correctness', Winston Churchill had a clandestine unit of hitmen that went about their business to render harmless killers at large in Europe, circa 1946 and focussed on Nazi SS men on the run / at large /in hiding. Frodo failed, the ring has now passed from G W Bush to Ahmedinajad.
Posted by Freddy, Thursday, November 12, 2009, 5:31 pm if you care to read a comment by a muslim you may want to read Dimensions of Fort Hood on a Pakistan News. t is outrageous nonsense by a an allegefd Pakistan author, since it attributes all sort of crimes to an alleged IndianIsraeli plot !
Posted by Michael Kirk, Thursday, November 12, 2009, 7:52 pm Who's foolin' Who?
Posted by nem0.n00ne, Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:21 pm May I point out to BOTH sides, that wacko nutjob and terrorist are NOT mutually exclusive.
Posted by mjira, Saturday, November 14, 2009, 9:52 pm to the usual: Obama did not chasnge any policy in afghanistan , what are you talkin about ?how twisted can you be, he had not make a decision yet. he told his people to go back to the drawing board due to the afghanistan government being corrupt and en abling the taliband, because of the president of afghanistans brother owns a drug cartel...gesh listen to the news, read a paper
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