11-12-2009, 17:55
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: America, the Beautiful
Posts: 3,193
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Army Officer's Outrage Over Fort Hood
November 12, 2009
An Officer's Outrage Over Fort Hood
By Major Shawn Keller
As an officer in the United States Army, I'm angry for so many reasons over what happened at Ft. Hood. I'm angry that twelve of my fellow soldiers and a contractor were murdered. I'm angry that over thirty people have suffered life altering injuries from which they will never fully recover. I'm angry that the lives of so many families have been forever ruined. I'm angry that this happened on an Army post on American soil where soldiers should be safe. And I'm angry that the murderer was a terrorist who masqueraded as an Army officer for half a dozen years.
But as angry as I am at what happened, I'm even angrier that it was allowed to happen. Apparently, there was no shortage of warning signs that Hasan identified more with Islamic Jihadists than he did with the US Army. From speeches, writings, conversations, affiliations and postings on Jihadist websites, there were more than enough dots to connect that should have exposed Hasan as someone inclined to attack innocent people in the furtherance of a political, religious and ideological agenda. There were more than enough red flags raised that, at a minimum, should have gotten Hasan kicked out of the Army.
But just like September 11, those agencies and individuals charged with keeping America and Americans safe failed to connect the dots that would have saved lives. Jihadist rhetoric espoused by Hasan was categorically dismissed out of submissiveness to the concepts of tolerance and diversity. The Army as an institution has been neutered by decades of political correctness and the leaders in Hasan's chain-of-command failed to act accordingly out of fear of being labeled anti-Muslim and receiving a negative evaluation report. The counter-terrorism agencies knew Hasan was communicating with Al-Qaeda and dismissed it as academic research instead of delving deeper into the probability that a terrorist had infiltrated the ranks.
Even four hours after Hasan stood on a desk yelling Allahu Akbar! and opened fire, the FBI stated that they were not investigating the attack as an act of terrorism even as there were still reports of other gunmen on the loose. Meanwhile, the Army continues to dismiss it as a "tragedy" and an "isolated incident by a lone gunman" while the media has invented the psychological condition of post-traumatic stress disorder by proxy. There is more concern for promoting the appropriate information operation campaign and maintaining the illusion of safety than there is for actually exposing the weaknesses and faults in the system that allowed this to happen. We're even being told that damage to the Army's efforts at diversity would be a greater tragedy than the murder of the twelve soldiers -- how ironic the week of Veterans' Day.
This has nothing to do with being anti-Islamic. After numerous tours to Iraq and working with countless cultural advisors on Ft. Bragg, I know dozens of Muslims who I respect and admire greatly. This has everything to do with force protection and security being trumped by the concepts of political correctness and diversity.
This has everything to do with a hypocritical system and culture that breeds timidity and dismissiveness in the interest of career advancement. If I preached a white-supremacist ideology or described Timothy McVeigh as a hero to the cause of freedom and liberty, how long do you think I would still be in the military drawing a salary, receiving educational benefits and getting promoted like Hasan did?
Hasan's radical ideology grew to the point that he committed mass murder because too many leaders were too afraid to lead out of fear of harming their career or the image of the Army. If those leaders don't have the intestinal fortitude, moral conviction or personal courage to stand up, speak up and protect soldiers, then retire, resign or get out of the way and let somebody else do it for you.
Shawn Keller is a Major in the United States Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
FROM HERE:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art..._am_angry.html
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Warrior-Mentor is offline
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11-12-2009, 18:20
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#2
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Guest
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Connecting the dots will forever be modulated by the political environment. We will find some break-downs in communication, many occurring in the previous administration. We will pretend to build new bridges. We will again become complacent.
Teaching SA and providing those who wish to, the legal right to defend themselves is the only enduring solution to personal safety.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LT. COL. DAVE GROSSMAN, U.S. Army (Ret.)
The Angel of the Night
Fear not the night.
Fear that which walks the night.
And *I* am that which walks the night.
But only evil need fear me …
and gentle souls sleep safe in their beds…
because I walk the night.
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11-12-2009, 19:50
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#3
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Bladesmith to the Quiet Professionals
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Oregon, Land of the Silver Grey Sunsets
Posts: 3,880
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Simple math:
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, flies like a duck, eats like a duck, poops like a duck, has feathers like a duck, breeds with other ducks, makes baby ducks...
it might be a duck.
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Bill Harsey is offline
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11-12-2009, 20:17
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#4
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: NorCal
Posts: 15,370
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And then again...it might be a swan or something similar...and then what?
Richard's $.02
__________________
“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)… There are just some kind of men who – who’re so busy worrying about the next world they’ve never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” - To Kill A Mockingbird (Atticus Finch)
“Almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.” - Robert Heinlein
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Richard is offline
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11-12-2009, 20:20
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#5
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Bladesmith to the Quiet Professionals
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Oregon, Land of the Silver Grey Sunsets
Posts: 3,880
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
And then again...it might be a swan or something similar...and then what?
Richard's $.02
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Some folks know the difference between a duck and a swan.
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Bill Harsey is offline
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11-12-2009, 21:04
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#6
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: N.E.WA
Posts: 1,137
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Thank You Major Keller...........
__________________
"Most of us here can attest that we never took the easy way. Easy just is............easy. Life is a work in progress, and most of the time its a struggle." ~ Me
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)
"A Government that is losing to an insurgency is not being outfought, it is being out governed." Bernard B. Fall
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LongWire is offline
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11-12-2009, 22:13
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#7
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BANNED USER
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,751
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Harsey
Some folks know the difference between a duck and a swan.
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Sure. . . after it opens fire. Then it's really easy to list all the signs that it's a duck
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Dozer523 is offline
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11-12-2009, 21:20
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#8
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Colorado
Posts: 581
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
And then again...it might be a swan or something similar...and then what?
Richard's $.02
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Either way I'll bet its not a peace loving dove....
__________________
v/r
MDP
"May God be with you and may the devil be crushed underfoot as you march for peace on the skulls of our enemies, for goodwill, security and a quality of life that comes only with democracy, " - Ted Nugent
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mffjm8509 is offline
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11-12-2009, 21:26
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#9
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DFW Texas Area
Posts: 4,741
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
And then again...it might be a swan or something similar...and then what?
Richard's $.02
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Simple....................Just Shoot IT!!!
__________________
Martin sends.
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Ambush Master is offline
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11-12-2009, 21:43
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#10
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Area Commander
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Pacific NorthWet
Posts: 1,495
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
And then again...it might be a swan or something similar...and then what?
Richard's $.02
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He is from around U 0f O, he knows his Ducks...........
Go Beavs!!
Our laws are set up that we can not do anything until the person does something. We would hope that agencies have better communications with other agencies so that the dots are connect and action can be taken when there is sufficient probably cause or violation of the law.
The only person who could have actually prevented this was the perp. Only thing I want to know about the perp, he was executed.
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HOLLiS is offline
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11-12-2009, 21:28
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#11
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Guest
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor
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How many others are gonna step up and step off?
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11-13-2009, 05:38
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#12
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Near Water
Posts: 560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor
...system and culture that breeds timidity and dismissiveness...
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Social Cancer
__________________
Keep a forward momentum.
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Go Devil is offline
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11-13-2009, 05:47
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#13
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Area Commander
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Northeast Utah
Posts: 1,712
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Go Devil
Social Cancer
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You know how we fight cancer?
1) Cut it out (surgery).
2) If we can't cut it out or are worried something was left behind, we poison and nuke the hell outta it (chemotherapy and radiation).
3) If that doesn't work we train the host to fight it off (immunotherapy).
4) If we can't get the host to kill it we bring in someone else to do the job (bone marrow transplant).
Seems pretty simple to me.
(Note - I don'ty endorse the poisoning and nukes for social cancers (at least not at the moment.)
__________________
"The dignity of man is not shattered in a single blow, but slowly softened, bent, and eventually neutered. Men are seldom forced to act, but are constantly restrained from acting. Such power does not destroy outright, but prevents genuine existence. It does not tyrannize immediately, but it dampens, weakens, and ultimately suffocates, until the entire population is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid, uninspired animals, of which the government is shepherd." - Alexis de Tocqueville
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PedOncoDoc is offline
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11-13-2009, 07:40
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#14
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Guerrilla
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Jersey Shore.
Posts: 133
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We are going to "PC" ourselves right out of existance. We are at war with Islam.....I do not make the distinction between Islam and radical Islam and I will not do so until the so-called "Good" Muslims stand up and unitedly denounce radical Islam for what it is. Until that happens they are all suspect. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot quietly denounce radical Islam and then go home and write them a check, provide a refuge for their operators, support the anti-Christian speaking clerics, or be a member of a sleeper cell. If these are your true beliefs then go home to the dust-bowl. You do not need to live in OUR country. Normally, I would say that a Muslim joining the US military is in fact making the statement of denouncing RI, but recent events puts that even into question. We'd better wake up. I've seen enough videos of beheadings, I saw the towers fall and still smelled the stench 6 months later, I've lost friends....the enemy lives and works among us under the shroud of complacency. It amazes me that we become so appalled when something occurs. Am I profiling? Am I being a bigot? Am I being narrow-minded and anti-muslim? Yes.....but then again, I didn't pick this fight, so I really don't care who I upset.
__________________
Mac
"What they think we aren't.....we are!"
Confederate Bushwhacker 1863
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mac117 is offline
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