Will the soldiers whom Hasan killed or injured in this latest terrorist assault receive the Purple Heart?
In my view, they should. But whether they do depends on how the Obama administration decides to spin the episode. If it determines that the soldiers were victims of criminal assault, the answer is No: they do not get this most somber military decoration.
But if the Obama administration determines that those soldiers were injured or killed in the line of duty, then they are eligible for the Purple Heart. [UPDATE: the always excellent Diana West beat me to the punch with this insightful column about Ft. Hood and the Purple Heart.]
It’s tricky for Obama. His administration is devoted to transforming the jihadist war against the West into a civilian conflict. Hence the heavy odor of political correctness that has hung about Ft. Hood since November 5 when Maj. Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire.
Kimball points to Diana West’s brief, but cogent, post. She says, “Witholding medals to these war dead and wounded is the ultimate act of submission”. It’s an act of submission, alright, but far from the ultimate one.
Worse than the President bowing to foreign potentates, to be sure, but there’s a long hard fall even beyond this, with plenty of bumps and breaks on the way down.Terrible precedent.
Tags: Ft. Hood, Obama, Purple Heart