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My heart goes out to and truly breaks for the families of the victims of the Ft Hood shooting. There are 13 dead and some 30 wounded. Without being insensitive to the gravity and horror of this tragedy there are some things that are gnawing at me about this incident.
First the way I saw the media report this incident appeared to me that they were trying to make this a case for gun control. I was sickened to watch Katie Couric without any knowledge of the gunmans motives go on and on about PTSD and make generalizations about our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan like they were nothing but a bunch of ticking time bombs who could snap any time and shoot up a bunch of innocent people, and isnt it terrible what this awful war has done to our troops etc blah, blah, blah. So in the words of the Obama administration, lets not let a good crisis go to waste thereby making this into an opportunity for both the anti war and gun control messages to go forth. It was equally sickening to see Couric completely ignore the fact that the shooter was identified as a Muslim as having anything to do with this shooting because the media doesnt want to offend anyone of the Islamic faith.
Now dont get me wrong, most Islamic people are peace loving regular folks who are what you might call secular Muslims, they were raised to be Muslims the same way many are raised to be Catholic or Baptist or Jewish. As a Christian who believes in a God that created us to have free will to accept or reject Him, love or hate Him, I cannot embrace anything but freedom of conscience, and tolerance for those who disagree with me and resist and reject any creed that enforces conformity to its tenants. In fact that was one of the cornerstone principles our country was founded upon which makes me proud to be an American, so I am not on a witch hunt here. But it does strike me as odd that in this war on Terror that all the Terrorists are Radical Islamic extremists. Therefore you would think that those embracing Sharia law, like the Taliban does, that forces outward conformity of all under penalty of death, might be on our Militarys radar so they could keep an eye out for people who subscribe to this philosophy as they might actually be the enemy infiltrating into their ranks and pulling something like this. It wouldnt be the first time. Throughout the history of warfare enemies have used spies and saboteurs to infiltrate and attack the enemy from within. Our free and tolerant society leaves us open to this. But we are so afraid as a nation to profile and be called racist or religiously intolerant that we deliberately overlook this. Clearly this guy was reported to be shouting Ali Akbar (God is Great in Arabic) as he was shooting. He was known to dress in traditional Islamic garb and to argue with others about the wrongness of the war on Terror and US having troops in Islamic Countries. Can you say Red Flag? During the Cold war the CIA would not have allowed recruitment of person known to be an openly active self proclaimed card carrying communist, (although in this current administration that might actually get you in the door.) But today you can be a radical Muslim and harbor anti- American sentiments right under the noses of the same military providing your paycheck.
If a soldier during World War II was actively displaying a swastika arm band on his uniform, that would have raised suspicion of possible treason and his activities would have been reported and investigated. How much do you want to bet that when this shooter is charged it will only be with assault and homicide and not with Treason? We have to sanitize our reporting so as not to offend anyone.
There have been many instances of soldiers trained in special forces tactics using the training we gave them to train our enemies and use that training against us. Is this not treason? There was a recent news program about a powerful Mexican drug cartel that uses ex Mexican Military Officers trained by the US Military as its enforcers. Why do we train our enemies? This gang has access to all the military hardware they can buy and the carnage is unbelievable but the Media ignores this and blames American guns on the violence. Mexico has absolute gun control and it is a mess because only the Criminals and corrupt military and police have guns leaving the people victims to this carnage. It just seems that if a police officer has to pass a background investigation before he can go to work, that we should at least check to see where the loyalties of those who receive specialized sensitive military training lie, since that affects national security. It would be better than having the airport screeners have the little old ladies take their shoes off to check them for bombs. (I could start a whole other posting on airport security don't get me started.)
Anyway back to the Ft Hood incident, this was clearly not about our Veterans PTSD problem and the need to keep them away from guns and get them psychiatric help to protect us from them. I believe the opposite is true. This man a trained psychiatrist (Ironically that would be a medically trained doctor specializing in Mental Health issues such as helping soldier with their PTSD.) The very reason he chose this location to shoot up is he knew that our troops are systematically disarmed as they return to America leaving all these men and women who are well trained in the use of small arms completely helpless and unable to defend themselves just like any school shooting. Being a military man he knew he would have the tactical advantage. If our soldiers had not been disarmed the shooter would not have managed to shoot more than one or two people before being stopped. This could not have happened to our troops in Iraq where they are free to defend themselves. I find it sadly ironic that the US Military had to turn to civilian police to stop the shooter. Probably the whole incident would not have occurred if our troops had not been disarmed as the shooter would not have chosen this as his venue preferring instead a softer target. If this had happened just off base the off duty soldiers would have had easier access to their personal firearms to stop this evil man.
Also today in the news there was a story about 2 middle school age children being arrested for bringing a .22 caliber handgun to school. The police verified that the 2 kids had no ill intentions for the gun but they kept showing the concerned parent over and over go on and on emotionally about how scared she was and this was her worst nightmare that her kids were at school where someone had a weapon. Personally I am more afraid that my kids are at a school where no one has a gun and they could be helplessly, slowly, and methodically picked off. In Israel the school teachers are all well trained and armed. They dont have school shootings and this incident would not have happened there as they dont leave their soldiers or civilians unarmed. They understand the terrorists want to kill us. My wife is a teacher in a school that used to have an indoor shooting range in the basement as part of its sports program, now they will expel you for even a cap gun. How did our society come to this? Anyway I am done venting. If anyone has any comments or criticism at least we are still free to do that. God bless America, God bless our Troops and God bless the families affected by this tragedy.
First the way I saw the media report this incident appeared to me that they were trying to make this a case for gun control. I was sickened to watch Katie Couric without any knowledge of the gunmans motives go on and on about PTSD and make generalizations about our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan like they were nothing but a bunch of ticking time bombs who could snap any time and shoot up a bunch of innocent people, and isnt it terrible what this awful war has done to our troops etc blah, blah, blah. So in the words of the Obama administration, lets not let a good crisis go to waste thereby making this into an opportunity for both the anti war and gun control messages to go forth. It was equally sickening to see Couric completely ignore the fact that the shooter was identified as a Muslim as having anything to do with this shooting because the media doesnt want to offend anyone of the Islamic faith.
Now dont get me wrong, most Islamic people are peace loving regular folks who are what you might call secular Muslims, they were raised to be Muslims the same way many are raised to be Catholic or Baptist or Jewish. As a Christian who believes in a God that created us to have free will to accept or reject Him, love or hate Him, I cannot embrace anything but freedom of conscience, and tolerance for those who disagree with me and resist and reject any creed that enforces conformity to its tenants. In fact that was one of the cornerstone principles our country was founded upon which makes me proud to be an American, so I am not on a witch hunt here. But it does strike me as odd that in this war on Terror that all the Terrorists are Radical Islamic extremists. Therefore you would think that those embracing Sharia law, like the Taliban does, that forces outward conformity of all under penalty of death, might be on our Militarys radar so they could keep an eye out for people who subscribe to this philosophy as they might actually be the enemy infiltrating into their ranks and pulling something like this. It wouldnt be the first time. Throughout the history of warfare enemies have used spies and saboteurs to infiltrate and attack the enemy from within. Our free and tolerant society leaves us open to this. But we are so afraid as a nation to profile and be called racist or religiously intolerant that we deliberately overlook this. Clearly this guy was reported to be shouting Ali Akbar (God is Great in Arabic) as he was shooting. He was known to dress in traditional Islamic garb and to argue with others about the wrongness of the war on Terror and US having troops in Islamic Countries. Can you say Red Flag? During the Cold war the CIA would not have allowed recruitment of person known to be an openly active self proclaimed card carrying communist, (although in this current administration that might actually get you in the door.) But today you can be a radical Muslim and harbor anti- American sentiments right under the noses of the same military providing your paycheck.
If a soldier during World War II was actively displaying a swastika arm band on his uniform, that would have raised suspicion of possible treason and his activities would have been reported and investigated. How much do you want to bet that when this shooter is charged it will only be with assault and homicide and not with Treason? We have to sanitize our reporting so as not to offend anyone.
There have been many instances of soldiers trained in special forces tactics using the training we gave them to train our enemies and use that training against us. Is this not treason? There was a recent news program about a powerful Mexican drug cartel that uses ex Mexican Military Officers trained by the US Military as its enforcers. Why do we train our enemies? This gang has access to all the military hardware they can buy and the carnage is unbelievable but the Media ignores this and blames American guns on the violence. Mexico has absolute gun control and it is a mess because only the Criminals and corrupt military and police have guns leaving the people victims to this carnage. It just seems that if a police officer has to pass a background investigation before he can go to work, that we should at least check to see where the loyalties of those who receive specialized sensitive military training lie, since that affects national security. It would be better than having the airport screeners have the little old ladies take their shoes off to check them for bombs. (I could start a whole other posting on airport security don't get me started.)
Anyway back to the Ft Hood incident, this was clearly not about our Veterans PTSD problem and the need to keep them away from guns and get them psychiatric help to protect us from them. I believe the opposite is true. This man a trained psychiatrist (Ironically that would be a medically trained doctor specializing in Mental Health issues such as helping soldier with their PTSD.) The very reason he chose this location to shoot up is he knew that our troops are systematically disarmed as they return to America leaving all these men and women who are well trained in the use of small arms completely helpless and unable to defend themselves just like any school shooting. Being a military man he knew he would have the tactical advantage. If our soldiers had not been disarmed the shooter would not have managed to shoot more than one or two people before being stopped. This could not have happened to our troops in Iraq where they are free to defend themselves. I find it sadly ironic that the US Military had to turn to civilian police to stop the shooter. Probably the whole incident would not have occurred if our troops had not been disarmed as the shooter would not have chosen this as his venue preferring instead a softer target. If this had happened just off base the off duty soldiers would have had easier access to their personal firearms to stop this evil man.
Also today in the news there was a story about 2 middle school age children being arrested for bringing a .22 caliber handgun to school. The police verified that the 2 kids had no ill intentions for the gun but they kept showing the concerned parent over and over go on and on emotionally about how scared she was and this was her worst nightmare that her kids were at school where someone had a weapon. Personally I am more afraid that my kids are at a school where no one has a gun and they could be helplessly, slowly, and methodically picked off. In Israel the school teachers are all well trained and armed. They dont have school shootings and this incident would not have happened there as they dont leave their soldiers or civilians unarmed. They understand the terrorists want to kill us. My wife is a teacher in a school that used to have an indoor shooting range in the basement as part of its sports program, now they will expel you for even a cap gun. How did our society come to this? Anyway I am done venting. If anyone has any comments or criticism at least we are still free to do that. God bless America, God bless our Troops and God bless the families affected by this tragedy.