On the recordMay 25, 2011
I would point out to my friend that 13 American soldiers died, 13 people died, 12 American soldiers and one civilian, and 43 people were wounded by an individual whose ideological preaching was well-known in the medical community, in the school community where he studied and at Fort Hood. To almost every soldier that he talked to, he preached his ideological belief about the wrongness of the American action. But it's clear that each of these servicemembers were concerned enough to talk to other servicemembers about it, but they were afraid to go up the chain of command strictly because of the nature of the environment we function in today, and we need to make it clear to them. It doesn't matter what the ideological bent of anybody is, if they are talking about things that are detrimental to the American serviceman, they have a duty to report that--and know that the Whistleblower Act will protect them. They knew about the Whistleblower Act, but they were afraid it would not protect them because there happened to be a politically correct, if you will, faction in this whole issue that they were afraid would change the view of their superior officers on their promotions. I don't like the idea of having to do it this way either, but I also don't like the idea that there are dozens--and I would say more than dozens of American soldiers--that could have prevented this if they had stepped forward.…
