[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 169 (Monday, November 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12990-H12993]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING THE EVENTS OF NOVEMBER 5, 2009, AT FORT HOOD, TEXAS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, tonight we rise during this leadership
hour to remember the events of November 5, 2009, one of the largest
attacks that was perpetrated at our U.S. military installation at Fort
Hood, Texas, just north of my district, a very solemn occasion.
Thirteen people were killed, over 30 people wounded, and an unborn
child was killed that day. I went to the memorial service, thirteen
pairs of combat boots put together with a rifle and a helmet on top,
and the pictures of the victims who were killed in cold blood that day
by a deranged gunman who, unfortunately, served in the United States
military.
In my view, simply put, it was an act of treason. Look, in a time of
war, soldiers are killed. But when I visited Fort Hood for the memorial
service, they said, Congressman, we never dreamed that they would be
killed in our home. This is our home. This man killed his fellow
comrades at our home. Very disturbing. And the words that he said as he
pointblank shot them one by one, as 100 rounds went off from his semi-
automatic pistol, 100 rounds into a crowd of defenseless soldiers and a
few civilians, were ``Allahu Akbar, God is great.'' That's one of the
most disturbing reports that we got from that tragic day.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
November 16, 2009 on Page H12990 the following appeared: few
civilians, were ``Allah Akbar, God
The online version should be corrected to read: few civilians,
were ``Allahu Akbar, God
========================= END NOTE =========================
Well, I submit that that is not our God. That's not the God of our
Founding Fathers. As the President said so eloquently at the memorial
service, no religion condones the killing of innocent people. No
religion condones that kind of violence. And he went on to say that he
will face his punishment here on Earth and in the next world. The
President is right.
We went to Veterans Day services the following day and went all
across our districts paying tribute to the great veterans, the men and
women who have served this country with honor and distinction, to thank
them for their service; but the whole day, one could not help but to
stop and think about what had just occurred at Fort Hood, these tragic,
tragic events. Mr. Hasan will pay for this tragic event. He will be
brought to justice. And it is my sincere hope, as the President said,
that he will be taken to the next world.
And I want to, at the beginning, pay tribute to the 13, the 13 who
were killed in cold blood that day, who died while serving their
country admirably and nobly: Private Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago,
Illinois; Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman, 55, from Maryland; Major
Libardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Virginia; Captain John Gaffney of
San Diego, California; Captain Russell Seager, 41, of Racine,
Wisconsin; Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow, 32, of Plymouth, Indiana;
Sergeant Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wisconsin; Specialist Jason Hunt,
22, of Tillman Oklahoma; Specialist Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain
City, Tennessee; Private 1st Class Aaron Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan,
Utah; Private 1st Class, Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbroke, Illinois;
Specialist Kham Xiong, of Saint Paul, Minnesota, just 23 years old;
and, finally, Mr. Michael Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas, where he was a
civilian employee.
Fort Hood has a special connotation for many of us in Texas. It's the
largest military installation in the world. The fact that it was
attacked, the fact that these soldiers were killed at home, in my view,
is the greatest act of treason and the greatest tragedy of November 5.
But there were heroes that day. There were many heroes that day.
Sergeant Kim Munley, the civilian cop employed by the base, described
by fellow officers as a tough cookie, pretty much fearless, born and
bred to be a police officer, and a very good shot. She was nicknamed
``Mighty Mouse'' because of her size long before the Fort Hood
shooting. Three minutes after Mr. Hasan began shooting, Munley tracked
him down outside of the predeployment facility and unloaded on him at
close range. Munley was hit in both legs and a wrist during the gun
battle, but stayed on her feet bravely
[[Page H12991]]
and kept firing at the charging gunman. Hasan was eventually
apprehended by Sergeant Mark Todd, Sergeant Mark Todd of the Killeen
Police Department, who arrived shortly after the scene, and finally
brought this man who perpetrated this great act of treason on his
fellow officers, his fellow soldiers, to bring him to justice.
I want to talk briefly about my good friend, Congressman John Carter.
He represents Fort Hood. He introduced a bill of which I was proud to
be an original cosponsor. And this bill will grant combatant status to
those wounded and those families who lost loved ones. It will also
allow military personnel to receive the Purple Heart. Civilians will
receive the Secretary of Defense Medal of Freedom, and beneficiaries of
all military personnel who lost their lives in this horrendous attack
will receive the maximum life insurance benefit available. Just today
it was announced by the Department of Defense that they will receive
the full maximum amount of $100,000.
But let us focus on this man, Mr. Hasan, the gunman. When I was at
Fort Hood for the ceremony and viewing the 18 combat boots with the
rifles and the helmets on top, I looked at the wounded soldiers. I
talked to them, who were actually shot by this man, as they saluted
their comrades, their friends, at that memorial service, and I said,
what did he say as he shot you in cold blood and killed 13 others?
``Allahu Akbar, God is great.''
=========================== NOTE ===========================
November 16, 2009 on Page H12991 the following appeared: and
killed 13 others? ``Allah Akbar, world to say ``Allah Akbar''
before you
The online version should be corrected to read: and killed 13
others? ``Allahu Akbar, world to say ``Allahu Akbar'' before you
========================= END NOTE =========================
When that news was reported to me and when I got that information
firsthand by our soldiers serving in uniform, the hair went up on the
back of my spine, the back of my head. I knew at that point that we
weren't dealing with an ordinary person, obviously a deranged man. Yet
this man was on a mission, on a mission that he believed was from his
God, a jihadist mission. It is a common terminology in the jihad world
to say ``Allahu Akbar'' before you shoot and kill others. I think he
fully expected to die that day. He gave away his material possessions.
He was seen wearing Pakistani garb at the 7-11 that morning. He was
preparing himself. He was premeditating the death of others and
preparing himself for his own death.
This man was born of Jordanian immigrants. He was shot many times. He
has survived. It is my sincere hope that we can get inside this man's
head to answer the question, What was your intent, what was your
motivation? Because there have been so many flags raised about this
case. It was reported that he said his allegiance was not to the
Constitution of the United States but rather to the Koran. He received
poor performance reviews at Walter Reed because he was conflicted in
the mission. He didn't believe in the mission. He didn't believe in the
war on terror. He didn't believe in what we were doing in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
ABC News reported just this evening that Hasan tried to get his
bosses to prosecute some of his patients as war criminals, soldiers
serving in the United States Army, to get them prosecuted as war
criminals because they were killing his fellow Muslims. He regularly
described the war on terrorism as a war against Islam. This is a man
serving in the United States military counseling as a psychiatrist for
PTSD soldiers coming out of that theater, a man who was transferred to
the largest military installation, United States military installation,
in the world.
And while studying for a master's degree in public health in 2007,
Hasan used a presentation for environmental health class to argue that
Muslims were being targeted by U.S. anti-terror campaigns. A former
classmate said he was very vocal about the war, very upfront about
being a Muslim first and an American second. He was always concerned
that Muslims in the military were being persecuted, a self-proclaimed
soldier of Allah on his own business cards. A man who wore traditional
Pakistani garb, a man who attended the mosque in Falls Church,
Virginia, with the imam who also preached to two of the hijackers from
9/11, a man convicted of providing material support to al Qaeda and
conspiring to assassinate President Bush.
Then we found out that the Joint Terrorism Task Force got information
that Mr. Hasan, 6 months ago, was contacting this imam in Yemen. We
don't know what those communications were. But why in the world would a
major in the United States military, at one of the greatest bases in
the world, be talking to an al Qaeda recruiter in Yemen? And yet this
information was not shared with Fort Hood.
That is why we are asking for hearings. But this President has said,
No, Congress, you will not have hearings on this matter. We need to
deal with this issue. Well, I'm not going to stand back and watch this
matter being swept under the rug and not allow the American people
access to the truth. And the last time I checked, under the
Constitution, the Congress is a separate branch of government and the
Congress has the power under the Constitution to exercise that
oversight authority, and Congress should do that. Congress needs to
have hearings in this case.
And we will continue the drumbeat until the truth comes out on this
man, Mr. Hasan, and who he was talking to before this happened, and his
friend, the imam, who the day of the shootings congratulated him for
what he did, congratulated him for killing 13 American soldiers.
{time} 2045
With that, I would love to yield to my good friend from Indiana, Mr.
Burton.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. First of all, let me say thank you for taking
this Special Order tonight.
You know, this should never have happened. There are 13 Americans
that are dead, their families are suffering tonight, and it need not
have happened. This man issued so many warning signs, it wasn't even
funny. And, for some reason, his superiors did not investigate this
man, call him on the carpet and find out why he was talking about these
acts of violence and anti-American sentiments, and because they didn't,
and they decided to unload him and send him down to Fort Hood, all
those people are suffering--the families--and those people are dead
that you alluded to just a few minutes ago.
This is not just an issue about this man committing these terrible
atrocities, this terrorist attack. This is about making sure that the
people in positions of leadership in the military and in other areas of
our government are made aware when people start talking like he did and
advocating terrorist attacks on the United States of America.
Now I understand that people are very concerned about the religious
attitude that people have and trampling on their rights as far as their
religious beliefs are concerned. But when you're talking about a war on
terror--terrorist attacks where they kill almost 3,000 people at the
World Trade Center, they blew up embassies over in Africa, they
attacked the USS Cole and killed a bunch of Navy personnel--when we
know they do that, and that's their goal, to destroy America, these
fanatics, then, by golly, when we have somebody in the military or
anyplace else in government that's talking like that, they need to be
investigated and they need to be removed from a position where they can
perpetrate those terrorist attacks.
And this is a tragedy not just because those young people gave their
lives down there unnecessarily because of this terrorist, but because
the superiors of his did not do their duty in responding to this man
and reporting on what he was talking about prior to this thing taking
place. If they had stood up and said, This guy's a threat to his fellow
soldiers, we might have been able to avoid this.
And so I'd just like to say to my colleague once again, I'm very
happy that you have taken this Special Order. I hope you will add me,
along with our colleague from Texas, to this bill. I'd like to be a
cosponsor. And I just say to any of the military personnel and
leadership over at the Pentagon or the people at any of our military
bases, if you hear anybody talking like this man did, advocating a
terrorist attack on America, then, by golly, tell the people of this
country about it and tell your superiors and get them out of there.
Not only should they be removed from the service; they should be
watched so they don't perpetrate a terrorist attack once they're
removed from the service. But they certainly should not be in a
position of leadership in any branch of the service in any part of this
country.
[[Page H12992]]
We're in a war against terrorism, and we need to make sure that we
are vigilant. Thomas Jefferson said, The price of freedom is eternal
vigilance. And we need to be that way right now, because this is not
something that's just going to go away because we don't want it to
happen. We are in a war against people that want to destroy America,
want to destroy our way of life and force upon the rest of the world
their religious fanatic beliefs. And we can't allow that to happen and
go unchallenged.
We have an awful lot of people in all religions that would cringe at
thinking that that person was in their church or in their synagogue or
in their mosque and shared some of their beliefs, because it casts a
pall over every one of them. It makes every one of them feel like they
share in this terrible tragedy that took place, this act of terrorism.
And it's unfortunate because there are a lot of people that believe in
the Muslim faith that are just horrified that this happened and because
of the way that they're looked upon in this country.
And so if we're talking tonight not just about people in the
military, but if we're talking to people in mosques around this
country, who love this country, they should tell the authorities if
there's somebody that's acting like that--that threatens the security
of this country and threatens the possibility of a terrorist attack in
any part of our society.
With that, let me just say to my colleague once again, thank you very
much for taking this Special Order. I really appreciate it. I'm sure
people across this country share your views. And I yield back.
Mr. McCAUL. I thank the gentleman from Indiana and your great
comments. And you're a true patriot to this country. I mean that very
heartfelt.
We've gotten so wrapped up in this political correctness, we're
prohibited from calling this the war on terror. That's been taken out
of the vernacular. And you wonder how a man like this could be
transferred and then promoted. And with all the flags and contacts with
al Qaeda recruiters, how did this happen? Why wasn't that information
shared? Why, when these flags went up, weren't we able to act upon it?
We know for years that al Qaeda has been targeting bases both in the
United States and abroad. It's a homeland security threat, it's a
national security threat abroad. They tried to do that with Fort Dix,
and we stopped it with good intelligence. They tried to do it with
other military installations in the United States.
So when this evidence got out there, the real question I think we in
the Congress need to ask is: Why didn't his superiors know about this?
Or, when his colleagues heard the ranting and raving by him, having a
business card saying he is a soldier of Allah, saying that his loyalty
is first and foremost to the Koran, not the Constitution.
And the gentleman from Indiana is right. I worked in the Justice
Department, a Federal prosecutor at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
The National Intelligence Estimate says the most effective weapon we
have is a moderate Muslim--the Muslim who will come forward and help us
in the mosque to say there is an individual out here that we believe to
be a threat to the security of the United States. Obviously, this man
was. But, for whatever reason, nothing was done about it, and 13
soldiers are dead and 30 more are wounded.
We in the Congress have a role, an oversight role to get to the
answers, to fix the problem, to make sure it didn't happen. The whole
point after 9/11 was to make sure that we shared intelligence and
information to better protect the American people. And I see no greater
homeland security issue than protecting our bases right here in the
United States.
As I said at the outset, when I visited the soldiers at Fort Hood for
the memorial service, they say, Congressman, we see this in Iraq and
Afghanistan, but we don't expect that to happen at home. Not in our
home. Not on our base. This was not supposed to happen. And the
question is: Is this man--did he infiltrate or was he a ``lone wolf''
acting on his own without any outside influence?
We don't know the answer to those questions. We have been told that
from the very day after this occurred that he was a lone wolf acting on
his own. There's a term ``rush to judgment.'' In my view, I think that
was a rush to judgment, the idea that he was acting as a lone wolf
before we got all the evidence in front of us.
All we are asking in the Congress is that we review the matter. I
have great hope that the majority will work with us in a bipartisan way
to provide that oversight that this body, this distinguished body, by
the Constitution has the authority to: To get to the real answers for
the American people as to whether this man had radicalized on his own,
which he clearly did--he radicalized--or whether he is being
facilitated by people on the outside, and whether al Qaeda had
something to do with this. Because they got a playbook, and they go
back to the playbook.
They had the World Trade Center bomber. They went back to the World
Trade Center. They tried to hit the Capitol. That's their playbook.
They will, in my view, try to hit the Capitol again. Chemical
explosives. Ramzi Yousef, when he was arrested in Islamabad, a very
chilling story. He had multiple baby dolls that he had stuffed with
chemical explosives. He was going to take those baby dolls onto
airplanes, known as the Bojinka Plot, and blow up 12 commercial
airliners simultaneously. They go back to that playbook. We've seen
chemical explosives come up over and over again.
Military installations are in their playbook. And we need to take the
protection of our military installations both here in the United States
and abroad very, very seriously. And when a man like this gets in and
gets promoted and perpetrates what he did, one of the greatest acts of
violence on a military base since Pearl Harbor, then we need the
answers to these questions.
There are so many flags in this case. Not only this individual, but
what was he doing with Pakistan. What influence did Pakistan have on
this individual. The American people need to know the truth. We need to
know it not as a ``gotcha'' exercise, but as a way to look forward and
say, How can we better protect the American people from individuals
like this and our soldiers from people like this? How can we better
protect bases here in the United States?
We know he contacted many radical Web sites, posted very radical
thoughts on these Web sites. It's time for us to stand up and have
hearings on this matter and answer these fundamental questions.
Tonight, to the families of the victims, our heart goes out. We hear
the cries. As we saw the 13 combat boots, the rifle, and the helmet
portrayed in that picture, it was one of the saddest days and darkest
chapters, I think, in American history. As we go forward, I believe we
need to get the answers to these many, many questions that are out
there.
Probably the hardest thing we have to do as Members of Congress is to
comfort families who have lost their loved ones. I will never forget
that day at Fort Hood at the memorial service, talking to the
survivors, particularly some of the spouses who lost their husbands
that day, to the mothers, fathers, and brothers and sisters; talking to
the wounded victims who were shot by this man.
As we comfort these families, as we have with soldiers coming back
from Iraq and Afghanistan and those who died, it is one of the most
difficult things as Members of Congress, one of the most solemn
responsibilities that we have. We know that words cannot give them back
what they lost. We grieve their loss in the Congress. We stand by the
families of the victims. With that, let me say God bless them.
I know we have another colleague from Texas who I know is here. When
he is ready to speak, I'd like to yield to my good friend from Texas.
Then I will reclaim my time and yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I just hope that all of our colleagues who are
in their offices tonight or may be watching this Special Order on
television will join with you and the other sponsor of the bill from
Texas, our colleague, and push as hard as possible for hearings here in
the Congress of the United States.
We have in this body subpoena authority. The only thing that can't be
brought before a committee is something that's top secret, classified,
and
[[Page H12993]]
if that is not the case, then we have the authority to subpoena
documents and evidence to bring this issue before the Congress, a
number of committees here.
I think it's important that people like you and all of our colleagues
ask the White House to relent and let us have these hearings, which I
think are extremely important, because the American people want to know
about this, because everybody is concerned about the terrorist threat
that we face in this country.
So the President can't claim executive privilege. If he does that,
then of course they can block us from having a hearing. But even if he
does that, they have to prove that there's a reason for executive
privilege. And we have subpoena power here in the Congress of the
United States. And so the committee chairmen, chairmen of these various
committees, if it isn't something that's top secret or highly
classified, they can subpoena this information and bring it before the
Congress.
I hope that you and the rest of our colleagues will do everything
possible--I know you will--everything possible to make sure the
American people know everything that happened and everything that led
up to this tragedy.
Once again, thank you very, very much for taking this Special Order.
{time} 2100
Mr. McCAUL. I thank the gentleman from Indiana.
Again, reclaiming my time, I think I speak for most Americans, we do
not want to see this thing swept under the rug. We don't want to see
the rush to judgment that it was the act of one man--and perhaps it
was--but the American people need to know the truth, and they need to
know who he was talking to. And when the reporting came out that he was
talking to the top al Qaeda recruiter in Yemen by emails and that there
were communications in Pakistan, that raises big flags in this case. We
cannot ignore that.
It is our constitutional duty to ask the tough questions to get to
the bottom of this case so that the American people, through their
representatives, can find out what really happened that tragic day on
November 5. And if we don't do that, and if the majority does not want
to do that and bows to the President and his request, I think we are
being derelict in our responsibilities.
Again, this is a man who places allegiance more to the Koran than the
Constitution, in his own words. ``Son of Allah'' on his business cards,
dressed in the Pakistan garb, classic of the suicide bomber techniques
to will your possessions away, wear the dress the morning of. I think
he fully expected not to survive the incident. He did. And the best
evidence we have is inside his head.
Of course the first thing he did was ask for an attorney, and he is
not speaking. That is the same thing Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked for.
When he first got arrested, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked for two
things: I want a lawyer, and I want to be taken to New York City. And
unfortunately, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed got his wish that day because
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is going to be brought to New York now under the
President's new guidelines.
I think getting to the bigger picture of all this, as we've taken
``war on terror'' out of the vernacular, we are moving back to this
Clinton era where these terrorists are treated not as enemies of war
but as criminal defendants. We are in a war, like it or not. We are in
a war. We need to treat these people who mean to do us harm as enemies
of war. The military tribunals are the best way to prosecute. We are
going to bring Mr. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into the United States to the
very city where 3,000 people were killed at his hands.
I was a Federal prosecutor. The Southern District of New York is one
of the finest U.S. Attorney's offices and is probably best equipped to
handle that prosecution, but the Federal rules of evidence are very
different from the military tribunals. It's going to withhold evidence
from trial. It will not protect classified information. It will turn to
a showcase. And as in the case of Moussaoui, whose computer records
were ruled inadmissible, he got life imprisonment. Ramsey Yousef, the
perpetrator of the '93 World Trade Center got life imprisonment. Khalid
Sheikh Mohammed deserves the death penalty. It was an act of war.
Now, I don't know if the administration is saying, you know,
basically that the war on terror is over, it's over so let's just go
ahead and bring these people in and treat them like criminal
defendants, but I think they are making a serious mistake, not only
compromising the prosecutions of these terrorists but bringing them
into a city that has been a target for quite some time. It's only going
to heighten the state of alertness in New York City and become a mecca
for jihadists around the world to come to New York to see the spectacle
of a show trial. They ought to be tried in Guantanamo. Guantanamo never
should have been closed or the order should never have been sent out to
close it, and a military tribunal is best equipped to prosecute these
individuals.
Just let me say in closing, we've been dealing with the health care
legislation. It is very important for the Nation, but we were struck by
a heavy blow last week, November 5, at Fort Hood. We never expected it
to be one of our own. We never expected an act of treason on that
level, killing 13 soldiers and wounding 30 others, firing off 100
rounds, yelling out ``Allahu Akbar,'' talking to known al Qaeda
operatives in Yemen and possibly Pakistan. There are too many questions
in this case, too many red flags, and the American people deserve the
answer. We in the Congress--and I know my good friend from Indiana
stands with me--we're not going to sit back and follow the orders of
this President to stand down and not exercise our constitutional
responsibility.
There is a separation of branches of government under the
Constitution for a good reason. The executive branch can't sweep things
under the rug. The American people, through their representatives, need
to find out what really happened. The American people deserve the truth
in this case. They deserve hearings, a full investigation and the truth
to come out.
I commend our great fighting men and women. I have had so many
constituents who have gone through Fort Hood on their missions to Iraq
and Afghanistan. They were serving very bravely and nobly in a very,
very important struggle between radical Islam and freedom, between the
jihadists and democracy. We will eventually win that struggle. We pray
for the victims' families, and we pray that God holds their loved ones
in the palms of his hands.
____________________