The Commander In Chief And Today’s Disaster In Texas
As I watched the first news reports of the Fort Hood Military Base shootings, I wondered what the right response from the Commander In Chief should be to this disaster. At around 2:00PM, we all witnessed the actual response from the sitting President, but what would you have done?
Twelve members of America’s troops are dead, and at least another 31 have been wounded. These 42 soldiers and their comrades were preparing for deployment to the front. This is major calamity, not just because it occurred on American soil, but this crime was committed, it appears, by one some of their own, on an American base. The shock to hundreds of individuals comprising the related families will last a lifetime.
The priority for the Commander In Chief, IMHO, would be to bypass any planned speech and immediately fly to Austin, Texas, act like a Commander In Chief, go to the site of the shootings, meet with senior staff, assess the situation and events that led to the shootings, speak to the troops, particularly the injured, demonstrate concern and take action based on the findings of your assessment. Such actions should include addressing the families of the fallen and the injured. Assure the American people that their military bases and the security of the bases are not compromised and all possible measures will be taken to tighten what already has been established to safeguard the safety of soldiers.
Once satisfied that orders have been issued on all potential fronts of the follow-up, fly back to the White House, and get on with the addressing the challenges of the Nation.
Would you have remained in Washington, and while giving a speech, mentioned the killings in a “by the way,” addendum? Perhaps not.
James Raider writes The Pacific Gate Post
Entrepreneur - High Tech and Venture Capital Writes: http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/ | More from James J. Raider
Stumble It!
November 5th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
How many times have we heard about an estranged husband who inexplicably commits murder by shooting his wife and children and then turns the gun on himself only to hear it reported by the media, (as if it were incidental) that the man was “also going through a divorce”.
The media said that there were indications that the man didn’t want to be deployed to Iraq. I wonder how much more there is to this story that hasn’t been reported. I’m not saying I think he was going through a divorce, I just think there may be more to the story than we’ve heard to this point. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.
Obama’s reaction doesn’t matter. The treasury department should start printing a three dollar bill with his picture on it.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Now now, we all know that the commander in chief can not be bothered to go to Ft Hood. He is tired from going to Denver to save a tree or to Denmark to push for the Chicago mob who would have made millions had the Windy president been able to be sucessful for the Windy city.
He can fly all around to help his friends…but not to do his…JOB!
November 6th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I am revolted by the way they dance around the issue of his Muslim religion. By they way they talk all concerned about the stress he was under and the overall stress of troops that are deploying, etc.
I hope, after 8 years of this crap, that everybody understand that we aren’t going to go bashing Muslim’s and rounding them up and putting them in relocation centers, etc. But this politically correct soft wash of the issue is galling!
The fact is the shooter was a Muslim. He never went to war, so he didn’t have PTSD. The high operations tempo of today’s military played no role in this. He was under no stress significant enought to justify slaughtering so many of his comrades and injuring the others.
He is a traitor. He committed acts of treason against the United States of America in his deeds, and also in his heart. He violated the trust that this Nation and his comrades placed in him. He deserves execution, preferably by hanging, as befits a criminal of his ilk.
I don’t want to play up the fact that he is a Muslim, I just want the reporters to stop pussy-footing around the isse. It is a well know tactic of terrorists to do something so heinous and painful that it evokes an over-reaction by the host nation. That is exactly what they want, and they gain power when we over react. But showing nauseating amounts of empathy for this murdering bastard is even worse in my opinion. It dishonors the real victims, and their families and loved ones.
I had a wonderful lunch today with another Muslim Soldier. He is a true American hero and he expressed regret about how this man’s actions reflected poorly on the religion. He pointed out that the other shooter today was of Hispanic origin, we didn’t know if he was also a US citizen, but we assumed he was.
What difference does it make? I told him that Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kazinski were also American citizens. But I don’t see any bleeding hearts crying for them. Just stop it! Stop being afraid to state the obvious facts for fear that average American citizens will start committing hate crimes against our fellow citizens! Give us a little credit.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Now, now folks. Let’s not rush to judgment until all the facts are in. Obama acted stupidly!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Bo needs be tossed out of office for one, and the muslim need be rounded up..they just scum plain and simple and 90% of them belive whole heartedly that killing “infedels” is what yet another made up god wants. religoin has no place in the world any more it only used as a excuse to hide crimes and make the guilty feel better bout themselves