When I took shooting classes with Jeff Cooper back in the 80’s he dismissively referred to female LEO’s as “copchicks.” Today, many look at the women who serve in harm’s way in the military and police forces questioning their ability to perform in extremis.
Well, we’ve written about female soldiers in combat before, but today’s news brings us this:
(photo:
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16 thoughts on “Yesterday’s Heroes”
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That’s a heroine.
Science hasn’t shown beneficial effects from praying for others’ health, but we shouldn’t let that stop us.
Also, remember Sgt. Mark Todd. He doesn’t need prayers, but he should get respect. (link)
“Fort Hood shooter tried to contact Al Qaeda”:http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fort-hood-shooter-contact-al-qaeda-terrorists-officials/story?id=9030873 before terror attack.
Yes, and we know that because The Daily Telegraph broke the story. Thank God they still have a free press in Britain.
mark –
I should have said the Telegraph, not the Daily Telegraph. “Here is the story,”:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6511591/Fort-Hood-shooting-Nidal-Malik-Hasan-said-Muslims-should-rise-up.html which is acknowledged in the ABC story that Tim Oren linked.
Telegraph:”http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6521758/Fort-Hood-shooting-Texas-army-killer-linked-to-September-11-terrorists.html”
“Suspect awake and talking”:http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9BS65780&show_article=1
If this guy starts spewing extremist AQ rhetoric, there are going to be a lot of people with even more egg on their face. This is looking to be an object lesson in political correctness run amuck. Everyone involved with this guy was apparently afraid to deal with him for fear of being called a muslim basher. The media jumps on the story with both boots claiming (with no facts) that the man was a victim of anti-muslim hazing and mentally disturbed in fear of going to Iraq. Janet Napolitano is out trying to preempt yet more phantom muslim backlash, assumedly instead of looking for actual extremists like Hasan.
At the end of the day, this _is_ tragic. I understand the impulse here to avoid attaching stigma to the Muslim community at virtually any cost- but are we actually doing them any favors in the long run? It would be one thing if there wasnt a nasty thread of extremism, but _there is._ The longer the community itself can be allowed to ignore it, the more it can spread it evil. Look at something like the KKK- it didnt whither until polite society put a stop to it. The Klan flourished when the rest of the south turned its eyes, and began to die when they refused to do so any more. The American Muslim community is the only thing that can stomp out this extremism peacefully and fairly. If it gets too much worse, the remedies will be _much_ worse. The apologists are doing no favors.
The first para of the ABC story seems to make it clear that they were themselves sourcing the AQ contact story, from ‘officials briefed on classified material’.
My speculation only: One or more agencies had some serious information on Hasan and had passed it up the line. They are now leaking to make sure both that the information can’t be suppressed and that it’s clear decision makers did have relevant information in hand before the attack. IOW, don’t blame us. There could easily be some sources & methods disclosure issues as well.
“NY Times now has the story”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/us/10inquire.html – cites unnamed ‘government officials’.
“…federal authorities dropped an inquiry into the matter after deciding that the messages warranted no further action, government officials said on Monday.”
Yup, CYA time.
_”Speaking of no facts, Mark. Where do you come up with the first sentence? “How do you know that everyone involved with the guy was afraid of being called a muslim basher? That’s pure speculation (I want to say wishful thinking) on your part, isn’t it?”_
No, not “really”:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6526030/Fort-Hood-gunman-had-told-US-military-colleagues-that-infidels-should-have-their-throats-cut.html
_”Fellow doctors have recounted how they were repeatedly harangued by Hasan about religion and that he openly claimed to be a “Muslim first and American second.”_
_One Army doctor who knew him said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim soldier had stopped fellow officers from filing formal complaints._
_Another, Dr Val Finnell, who took a course with him in 2007 at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland, did complain about Hasan’s “anti-American rants.” He said: “The system is not doing what it’s supposed to do. He at least should have been confronted about these beliefs, told to cease and desist, and to shape up or ship out. I really questioned his loyalty.”_
Framing Munley as a “diversity” show pony is exactly wrong.
“Diversity” has become a pseudo-holy goal that’s worth allowing the betrayal and death of soldiers. It’s become a shield of jihad, as well as a reason to dismiss and marginalize people who don’t have the “diversity” halo. I agree with Diana West (link):
Kimberly Munley is a heroine: bright, shiny and golden, and worthy of all prayers, support, help and rewards.
But that is entirely to her credit. She’s a heroine because of her choices, her acts, her character, her competence.
In itself, the “diversity” halo equally belongs to Nidal Malik Hasan, SoA (SWT).
mark:
What sort of evidence do we need in order to reach conclusions about Hasan, or are we forbidden from forming conclusions? If we are not allowed to reach conclusions that some people find uncomfortable, then political correctness is to blame right now.
The White House certainly reached some conclusions. They didn’t have to jump to them, of course, because they have them permanently impacted in their brains. Obama exhorted the Congress to honor the dead by standing up to extremists – not Islamist extremists, Heaven forfend, but “anti-government teabag people”.
Napolitano’s crew is fanning out to protect Muslims from extremist backlash, perhaps by shielding Mosques with a wall of government-fed cellulite.
The “shit-for-brains media”:http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/11/07/cringe-mass-killer-muslim-it-inflames-right-wing-makes-it-much-worse is having no trouble reaching conclusions, so long as those conclusions point at dangerous right wingers.
Hasan completed an MD in Psychiatry while in uniform, and was trained as a counselor for battle-scarred troops. I find it impossible to believe that nobody noticed that the guy was freaking insane. Somebody certainly noticed, since he was given a devastating POOR rating for his work at Walter Reed, where many people – not just one – saw him antagonizing the troops he was supposed to be helping.
Whoever let this guy slide past all of this deserves to be court martialed alongside of him, as does whoever decided to deploy him overseas. Unconscionable. Inexcusable.
Give me a plausible reason why they did it. We know why Hasan did what he did.