Purple Hearts for Victims of Fort Hood 'Workplace Violence'

This government will never be able to cleanse the shame of classifying the Fort Hood jihad attack as “workplace violence,” but at long last, after five years of bureaucratic battle, Purple Hearts have finally been awarded to the soldiers killed and injured by the traitorous Major Nidal Hasan.

Additionally, the former police officer who brought Hasan down, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, and civilian Michael Cahill were honored with Defense of Freedom Medals.

“For years the survivors have fought to get the military to recognize the shooting by Maj. Nidal Hasan as a terrorist attack, which would make them eligible for the Purple Hearts and other combat-related benefit,” explains ABC News. “But the military pushed back, likening the attack to workplace violence.”

ABC found documents in 2013 showing that the Pentagon worried that awarding Purple Hearts to the Fort Hood soldiers could “irrevocably alter the fundamental character of this time-honored decoration” and “undermine the prosecution of Major Nidal Hasan by materially and directly compromising Major Hasan’s ability to receive a fair trial.”

Congress got involved, breaking the bureaucratic logjam by passing legislation that broadened the definition of attacks by “foreign terrorist organizations” to cover the level of connection Hasan described with the Taliban. He has said during trial that he saw himself as an agent of the Taliban, killing U.S. troops before they could be deployed to Afghanistan. He was ultimately convicted and sentenced to death.

Under the new legislation, an event such as the Ft. Hood shooting is considered an attack by a terrorist organization if the perpetrator “was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack,” and “the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization,” reports USA Today.  The Army concluded there was enough evidence to show Hasan was involved in such communication with foreign terrorists before carrying out the attack.

It took five years, plus new legislation, to recognize what was obvious to nearly everyone in America, and probably the entire world. Ft. Hood survivors and families have expressed much anger and disappointment about their treatment by the Obama Administration. Kimberly Munley has said she felt personally “betrayed” by the President, as victims of the shooting have been “neglected.”  CBS News reports that “many of the Purple Heart recipients have sued the federal government over the attack and are seeking damages.”

The story is not over yet, even with the long-delayed awarding of Purple Hearts to these men and women. Fox News reported on Friday that former Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning received a Purple Heart even as his injuries were somehow deemed “non-combat-related.” He took six bullets from Hasan, and still has two of them lodged in his body.

USA Today has remarkable quotes from several of the honorees, who describe recovering from their injuries with determination, faith, and the loving support of family and friends. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Martin’s words are particularly moving. He was about to deploy to Iraq with the 716th Quartermaster Company when he took four bullets from Hasan in his arms, back, and thigh.  He worked for two years to return to duty, but still regrets being unable to deploy with his troops out of Ft. Hood: “I was a leader and I couldn’t be there for my soldiers. I struggled with leaving my soldiers hanging. That was hard. I felt I let them down.”