Victims Want Fort Hood Shooting Deemed Terror Act
Victims Want Fort Hood Shooting Deemed Terror Act - seattlepi.com
If Hassan Nidal was exchanging letters with Awlaki, this is terrorism in my book too - why the DOD is calling this workplace violence is beyond me.
Nearly three years after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, many of those affected are urging the government to declare it a terrorist attack, saying wounded soldiers and victims’ relatives otherwise won’t receive the same benefits as those in a combat zone.
About 160 people, including relatives of the 13 people killed at the Texas Army post and some of the more than two dozen wounded and their families, released a video Thursday expressing their frustration.
They say soldiers injured or killed deserve fair benefits and Purple Heart eligibility.
“The victims are being forgotten and it’s frustrating,” Kimberly Munley, one of the first two officers who arrived at the shooting scene on Nov. 5, 2009, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The soldiers injured or killed have not received certain benefits and are not eligible for the Purple Heart, because the defense secretary has not declared it a terrorist attack, said John Stone, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Carter. The Texas Republican has sponsored a bill that would make those provisions available for the Fort Hood victims.