So Mr. President, which is worth more, the lives of Americans, or the lives of Afghanis?
To most right-thinking individuals, all murders of innocent civilians are equally horrific. In Obamaland however, there’s a difference; the answer is whichever garners more political points from his Leftist base.
The recent killings in Afghanistan, apparently carried out by Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, are tragic from any perspective. While it will be some time before we ever fully learn his motive(s), at this point it appears that Bales may have snapped under pent-up frustration and the violent realities of war.
As Andrew C. McCarthy said in his excellent article at National Review Online yesterday, the situation in Afghanistan might be called a “powder keg,” except that is what one says in anticipation of a future explosion…
… In Afghanistan, the explosions are already happening, their pace and ferocity on the rise. Afghans went on a murderous rampage after some Korans were accidentally burned, Korans that jihadists had used to incite each other by adding handwritten messages reaffirming hatred of Americans. Among nearly three dozen killed when the mayhem began were two American soldiers, murdered by a treacherous Afghan “soldier” they were training.
Soon after, two more U.S. officers were shot in the back of the head by Afghan “security” personnel at the interior ministry in Kabul. A few days later, two more American soldiers were killed by Afghan “soldiers” at a base in Kandahar. In fact, our “partners” have turned their guns on scores of our troops in the last five years, killing 70, wounding many more. Those are just the U.S. casualty figures. British forces and other NATO personnel are also being assassinated with regularity.
Still, our forces are expected to trust these faithless partners. Trust them and, at the premeditated cost of American lives, protect Afghan civilians — tribal Islamists rife with Taliban and other terrorist sympathizers. There is a reason al-Qaeda was so comfortable in Afghanistan: It is nigh impossible to know who is a civilian.
Sgt. Bales, on his fourth deployment, was facing the reality of this situation on a daily basis. That in no way justifies his behavior but it does serve to illustrate the extremely stressful environment he was dealing with.
In recent years our military has increasingly been ordered to accomplish the nearly impossible. For their heroic efforts they’ve received more condemnation that support from their cowardly commander-in-chief.
Here’s what the president had to say last Tuesday in the wake of the Afghan killings:
“The United States takes this as seriously as if it was our own citizens and our own children who were murdered… I can assure the American people and the Afghan people that we will follow the facts wherever they lead us. And we will make sure that anybody who was involved is held fully accountable with the full force of the law.”
Like much of Mr. Obama’s high-minded rhetoric this proclamation may or may not come to pass. But if he’s actually serious in this case, where in the (pardon me) hell is his righteous indignation when it comes to Major Nidal Hasan?
Remember how our illustrious commander-in-chief dealt with that tragedy? Obama’s Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting.
The Fort Hood massacre took place 2 ½ years ago! Where is the “full force of the law” for the 13 Americans gunned down in cold blood, and 32 more injured? When will Hasan be held “fully accountable?” How seriously did Obama take those murders of “our own citizens?”
A cursory internet search turns up little information on this case; it’s difficult to know what’s going on. The trial date keeps getting pushed forward. Apparently it was last set for March 5th, but I can’t find anything to indicate that it ever actually got underway… (Has anybody heard anything?)
Yet as recently as July of last summer Major Hasan was still collecting a government paycheck. Of course as the Ft. Hood commander, Lieutenant General Campbell says; “It’s imperative we maintain the integrity of the court martial so he gets as fair a shot as possible defending himself with his team.”
Kind of like the “fair shot” his vicitms got?
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You know what Mr. President? How about as soon as the victims and families of the Ft. Hood tragedy get some justice, and Major Hasan is held fully accountable for his actions, then we can move on to Sgt. Bales? Let’s get our priorities in order!
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Related:
Alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan faces March 2012 trial
Fort Hood Jihad at Altas Shrugs
The massacre at Fort Hood and Muslim soldiers with attitude ~ Michelle Malkin
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