u.s. congressman Mac Thornberry.com serving the people of the 13th district of texas

Washington, Nov 16, 2009 - Editorial

It is time to look closely at a lot of elements associated with the Fort Hood tragedy - and it will be time in due course to make those findings public.

A leading member of two key U.S. House committees, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, believes correctly that the government needs to deal squarely with Americans on what happened and why.

U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of 13 counts of murder in connection with the shooting rampage at the installation near Killeen. He faces a possible death sentence.
Thornberry said in a wide-ranging interview in Amarillo this past week that he believes the event was a "cold-blooded murder based on someone's religious beliefs."

All the factors that went into the shooting need to be released, said Thornberry, who sits on the House Armed Services and Select Intelligence committees.

Yes, some of it must be kept secret. Anything that deals directly with national security issues need not be disclosed to the public. But the tragedy compels answers to at least one critical question. Paraphasing a famous query from another era: What did the Pentagon brass know - and when did it know it?

Thornberry said he plans to "advocate strongly for release" of pertinent facts to an inquiring public.

As a senior Republican on both panels, Thornberry is in position to apply considerable muscle in this regard. He should use it.

What's more, Thornberry argues correctly that the public examination must include whether the Army or the Pentagon dismissed warning signs simply because the man accused of the horrific crimes is a Muslim. "Would we have been so reluctant to question (Hasan) if he were a Christian or a Jew?" Thornberry asked rhetorically.

The government, Thornberry said, "owes it to the families of those affected" by this tragedy. It also owes it to citizens who assumed - wrongly, it appears - that soldiers serving on a heavily fortified military reservation at home were in the safest place imaginable.