Army is mistreating victims of Fort Hood shooter

Dallas Morning News Editorial:

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An undistinguished Army psychiatrist, he also was an Islamic extremist who took public positions sympathetic to America’s enemies. He communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Qaeda leader in Yemen. He planned his attack at Fort Hood with meticulous detail. He shouted “Allahu Akbar!” before shooting down fellow American soldiers, aiming to kill as many as he could before police brought him down, alive but paralyzed.

All of this was known soon enough. Yet the Department of Defense and the Army declared the brave men and women he shot were victims of workplace violence, not terrorism. This is a distinction with a critical difference: Because their injuries are not judged combat-related, these soldiers and their families are denied many benefits and avenues of treatment a Sgt. Pasco might have received.

Members of Congress from both parties, including Texas Republicans Michael McCaul and John Carter, have implored Defense and the Army to reconsider. Carter also has tried to right this wrong through legislation. Victims have banded together to sue the government, as retired Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning recently detailed on our Viewpoints page.

Hasan, on trial for his life, does not disagree. He has admitted the shootings and explained his motivation: kill as many Americans as possible before they could go to Afghanistan and fight the Taliban. The Army psychiatrist was gone; he had become an enemy combatant.

That he fired his fatal shots on a base in Central Texas instead of somewhere in the Middle East should be immaterial. He was in combat, as were his victims. This is not how the U.S. government should treat men and women sworn to protect us.
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The Hasan shooting has been recognized as a terrorist attack by the National Counterterrorism Center, State Department and CIA director, among others.

The workplace violence designation is an “irresponsible, indefensible breach” of our nation’s pledge to service members.

It denies these victims cost-free VA health care for five years, as they would receive for combat injuries.

It denies them cost-free counseling and critical mental health services.

It denies them tax-free disability benefits and Combat-Related Special Compensation.

It denies them eligibility for the Purple Heart and its related benefits.

The Army's treatment of these victims has been nothing short of disgraceful.  Their explanations make no sense.  They seem locked into some unreal lawfare mental cage that ignores reality.  The Army commanders who have made this decision are probably the only people in the US who think it is a sound one.  One of their stated concerns is that Hasan cannot be charged as a terrorist under the UCMJ.  But that would not stop him from being charged as an unlawful enemy combatant under the military commissions at Gitmo.  It is only Obama's and Holder's resistance to this form of trial that is stopping one.