[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.

                          ____________________