This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Military issues

  • Suspicious package and note found at Ft Benning

    There’s a link on Drudge to a short article on Breitbart about a suspicious note and a package that were discovered at Fort Benning yesterday.

    Bob Purtiman says a soldier found the note and package Thursday morning in an outdoor gazebo. The soldier immediately told a supervisor, who called 911.

    Purtiman would not say what was in the note or what was in the package.

    He said authorities are investigating whether there is a viable threat against Fort Benning. He says security measures have been heightened in the meantime.

    UPI quotes an unidentified source;

    The unidentified source said the box, with 20 bullets, and a handwritten note were found in a motor pool area on the Army base Thursday, the Times reported Saturday.

    “The note said, ‘Tell the commanding general to call off all charges or there will be a re-enactment of Fort Hood,’” the witness told the newspaper.

    The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer says General Petraeus is in town, too;

    Discovery of the package came on the same day Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command, was in Columbus for Fort Benning’s Officer Candidate School graduation of 152 new second lieutenants at the Columbus Convention Center.

    Of course, this also happens to be the weekend that School of the Americas Watch has camped outside the gates of Benning to protest the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as “School of the Americas”.

    The members of SOAW are the biggest freaking liars on the face of this planet along with all of the rest of the sheep who buy into their lies. I don’t put it past the little drama queens to make threats against soldiers stationed at Benning to cultivate a little attention. The IVAW is also known to participate with these protests at Benning along with the Geezers for Sitting on Our Hands.

  • Levin; it might have been terrorism

    The Washington Post reports that the lights might be coming on in the Capitol Building finally as Democrat Senator Carl Levin admits that the Fort hood massacre might have been terrorism;

    Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said Friday that he would investigate the handling of the e-mails — 18 or 19 in all — and why military officials were not aware of them before the deadly attack. Levin told reporters after a briefing from Pentagon staff members that “there are some who are reluctant to call it terrorism, but there is significant evidence that it is.”

    The emails to which Levin refers are the growing number of messages that Hasan sent to Yemeni radical cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi which we were told were few and called innocuous. The opposite is becoming apparent;

    “He [Hasan] clearly became more radicalized toward the end, and was having discussions related to the transfer of money and finances . . .,” said the source, who spoke at length in part because he was concerned the public accounting of the events has been incomplete. “It became very clear toward the end of those e-mails he was interested in taking action.”

    So basically, the FBI, and DoD just ignored the evidence before AND AFTER the shootings;

    The sources said the e-mail correspondence is particularly troubling because Aulaqi, who has been on the law enforcement radar for years, is considered by U.S. officials to be an al-Qaeda supporter who has inspired terrorism suspects in Britain, Canada and the United States. Lawmakers and counterterrorism experts have questioned why no one in the government interceded earlier given Aulaqi’s history and Hasan’s military position.

    The disclosures came as investigators in the FBI and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division continue to interview witnesses and execute search warrants in and around the Army’s largest post, in Killeen, Tex., and elsewhere.

    Elsewhere, indeed.

  • I have no confidence in the Army’s investigation

    Fox News reports on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates naming lead panelists to investigate the events leading up to the Fort Hood massacre to see if they can find a way to prevent a repeat of the incident;

    Army Secretary Togo West and former chief of naval operations Adm. Vernon Clark will head the 45-day review.

    “The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers,” Gates told a Pentagon news conference. He said the review would seek to ensure the health and safety of military members and their families.

    Yeah, I really don’t think DoD is interested in the facts. I get the impression that the military is more interested in covering up than investigating. Why? Well, someday I’ll tell you – let’s just say that investigators thus far have been more interested in ancillary bullshit than the facts of the murders.

  • Army keeps media from Palin book signing at Bragg

    Um, huh?

    Fort Bragg spokesman Tom McCollum told The Associated Press that Bragg’s garrison commander and other Army officials had decided to keep media away from Palin’s book promotion. He said the Army did not want the Monday event to become a platform to express political opinions “directed against the commander in chief.”

    “The main reason is to stop this from turning into a political platform,” he said. “There are Army regulations that basically prohibit military reservations from becoming political platforms by politicians.”

    He said only one politician can use that platform, “and that person does it as our commander in chief.”

    I seem to remember;

    obama-in-afghanistan

    The military seems to be overcompensating these days in order to overcome the perception that they dislike Obama (whether that perception is true or not, I’ll leave for another discussion).

  • Purple Heart for Fort Hood Victims?

    You may have heard that Representative John Carter of Texas, the Congressman of the Fort Hood district has introduced a bill to Congress which would award the Purple Heart to the victims of Major Hasan’s shooting spree a few weeks ago. The bill reads;

    For purposes of the laws specified below, a member of the Armed Forces or civilian employee of the Department of Defense who was killed or wounded by gunfire in the shootings that occurred at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, shall be deemed—

    (1) in the case of a member, to have been killed or wounded in a combat zone as the result of an act of an enemy of the United States; and

    (2) in the case of a civilian employee of the Department of Defense, to have been killed or wounded while serving with the Armed Forces in a contingency operation or to have been killed or wounded in a terrorist attack.

    Covered Laws

    1) Would make the military service members injured by gunfire on November 5, 2009 eligible for the award of the Purple Heart (Executive Order 11016).

    Well, some guy named MOTHAX at The Burn Pit has too much time on his hands and explored the legal issues involved in honoring those casualties. I personally believe that they should be awarded the Purple Heart because it’s becoming more clear with every moment that the shooting was related to the war on terror.

    However, it is my considered opinion that Representative Carter should include Privates William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula who were victims of a similar crime outside of a Little Rock recruiting station on June 1st in his bill.

  • Veteran’s remains stolen

    Norbert Otto Schmidt, a Korean War veteran who died this last summer, was being transported by his family to Arlington National Cemetery a few days ago, when someone stole the carry-on bag which contained the urn with his remains;
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  • Army seeking panelists with keen eye for the obvious

    The Washington Post reports this morning that the Army is forming a panel of experts to investigate Nidal Hasan’s career and to recommend ways to avoid the massacre at Fort Hood getting a repeat performance;

    “Casey is looking at a panel that will look longitudinally across Hasan’s entire career to figure out how did this happen and what can we do to stop it from happening again,” said the Army official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the announcement of such a group remains pending.

    Now, I’m not privy to any special information, but I’m pretty sure there are some missed signs here (unless emailing radical imams with the full knowledge of the FBI has a meaning I don’t understand) and I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to point out how the Army, and the Feds in general, could have avoided the 13 counts of premeditated murder.

    The Dallas Morning News reports that Hasan had approached his superiors about prosecuting some of his patients for war crimes;

    Fort Hood massacre suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sought to have some of his patients prosecuted for war crimes based on statements they made during psychiatric sessions with him, a captain who served on the base said Monday.

    I’m torn on that – while I agree that war crimes should be prosecuted, it’s disturbing that Hasan was willing to surrender his patients’ rights to do so. That will probably prevent a lot of patients from being honest with their counselors. The Dallas paper uses it as a excuse to be lenient with the thirteen-time murderer;

    The revelations add to a portrait of Hasan as a man at odds with many of those around him — emotionally, religiously and ideologically.

    I still stick to my original theory that Hasan was a malingerer who’ll use religion and PTSD as an excuse in his trial. I just know a malingerer when I see one.

    Claymore sent us a link to a Democratic Underground thread in which the DUmmies are more than willing to take away returning veterans’ guns until they prove themselves worthy of owning a gun. Of course, the strongest proponents of relieving veterans of their rights claim to be veterans themselves.

  • The two faces of Matthew Alexander

    Matthew Alexander published his book last year entitled “How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq”. The book has it’s roots in a Mark Bowden article in the Atlantic. Alexander parlayed the Atlantic article into a book deal. After he wrote it, with some help from a renowned co-author, he went on a book tour making the rounds of all of the farthest Left news programs that would have him. Alexander didn’t use his real name to author the book or do his book tour. According to Alexander, his name was sealed in a court order for his protection. Of course, a puny DC District court order doesn’t affect the crack research staff of This Ain’t Hell. Here’s his DD214;
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