[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 12, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S NEGLIGENCE OF FORT HOOD VICTIMS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I submit a report that will air on ABC News 
tonight about the Obama Administration's negligence of the Fort Hood 
survivors and their families.
  This was clearly a terrorist attack and while the administration has 
designated this attack as ``workplace violence,'' the survivors cannot 
access assistance. We are not treating these people fairly.

                     [From ABC News, Feb. 12, 2013]

        Fort Hood Hero Says Obama `Betrayed' Her, Other Victims

                   (By Ned Berkowitz and Brian Ross)

       Three years after the White House arranged a hero's welcome 
     at the State of the Union address for the Fort Hood police 
     sergeant and her partner who stopped the deadly shooting 
     there, Kimberly Munley says President Obama broke the promise 
     he made to her that the victims would be well taken care of.
       ``Betrayed is a good word,'' former Sgt. Munley told ABC 
     News in a tearful interview to be broadcast tonight on 
     ``World News with Diane Sawyer'' and ``Nightline.''
       ``Not to the least little bit have the victims been taken 
     care of,'' she said. ``In fact they've been neglected.''
       There was no immediate comment from the White House about 
     Munley's allegations.
       Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier, 
     and 32 others shot in the November 2009 rampage by the 
     accused shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, who now awaits a military 
     trial on charges of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
       Tonight's broadcast report also includes dramatic new 
     video, obtained by ABC News, taken in the immediate aftermath 
     of the shooting, capturing the chaos and terror of the day.
       Munley, since laid off from her job with the base's 
     civilian police force, was shot three times as she and her 
     partner, Sgt. Mark Todd, confronted Hasan, who witnesses said 
     had shouted ``Allahu Akbar'' as he opened fire on soldiers 
     being processed for deployment to Afghanistan.
       As Munley lay wounded, Todd fired the five bullets credited 
     with bringing Hasan down.
       Despite extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication 
     with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the 
     military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is 
     treating the incident as ``workplace violence'' instead of 
     ``combat related'' or terrorism.
       Al-Awlaki has since been killed in a U.S. drone attack in 
     Yemen, in what was termed a major victory in the U.S. efforts 
     against al Qaeda.
       Munley and dozens of other victims have now filed a lawsuit 
     against the military alleging the ``workplace violence'' 
     designation means the Fort Hood victims are receiving lower 
     priority access to medical care as veterans, and a loss of 
     financial benefits available to those who injuries are 
     classified as ``combat related.''
       Some of the victims ``had to find civilian doctors to get 
     proper medical treatment'' and the military has not assigned 
     liaison officers to help them coordinate their recovery, said 
     the group's lawyer, Reed Rubenstein. ``There's a substantial 
     number of very serious, crippling cases of post-traumatic 
     stress disorder exacerbated, frankly, by what the Army and 
     the Defense Department did in this case,'' said Rubenstein. 
     ``We have a couple of cases in which the soldiers' command 
     accused the soldiers of malingering, and would say things to 
     them that Fort Hood really wasn't so bad, it wasn't combat.''
       A spokesperson for the Army said its policy is not to 
     comment on pending litigation, but that it is ``not true'' 
     any of the military victims have been neglected and that it 
     has no control over the guidelines of the Veterans 
     Administration. Secretary of the Army John McHugh told ABC 
     News he was unaware of any specific complaints from the Fort 
     Hood victims, even though he is a named defendant in the 
     lawsuit filed last November which specifically details the 
     plight of many of them.
       ``If a soldier feels ignored, then we need to know about it 
     on a case by case basis,'' McHugh told ABC News. ``It is not 
     our intent to have two levels of care for people who are 
     wounded by whatever means in uniform.''
       Some of the victims in the lawsuit believe the Army 
     Secretary and others are purposely ignoring their cases out 
     of political correctness.
       ``These guys play stupid every time they're asked a 
     question about it, they pretend like they have no clue,'' 
     said Shawn Manning, who was shot six times that day at Fort 
     Hood. Two of the bullets remain in his leg and spine, he 
     said.
       ``It was no different than an insurgent in Iraq or 
     Afghanistan trying to kill us,'' said Manning, who was twice 
     deployed to Iraq and had to retire from the military because 
     of his injuries.
       An Army review board initially classified Manning's 
     injuries as ``combat related,'' but that finding was later 
     overruled by higher-ups in the Army.
       Manning says the ``workplace violence'' designation has 
     cost him almost $70,000 in benefits that would have been 
     available if his injuries were classified as ``combat 
     related.''
       ``Basically, they're treating us like I was downtown and I 
     got hit by a car,'' he told ABC News.
       For Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times at Fort Hood 
     and blinded in one eye, the military's treatment is deeply 
     hurtful.
       ``It's a slap in the face, not only for me but for all of 
     the 32 that wore the uniform that day,'' he told ABC News.
       Lunsford's medical records show his injuries were 
     determined to be ``in the line of duty'' but neither he nor 
     any of the other soldiers shot or killed at Fort Hood is 
     eligible for the Purple Heart under the Department of 
     Defense's current policy for decorations and awards.
       Army Secretary McHugh says awarding Purple Hearts could 
     adversely affect the trial of Major Hasan.
       ``To award a Purple Heart, it has to be done by a foreign 
     terrorist element,'' said McHugh. ``So to declare that 
     soldier a foreign terrorist, we are told, I'm not an attorney 
     and I don't run the Justice Department, but we're told would 
     have a profound effect on the ability to conduct the trial.''
       Members of Congress, including the chairman of the House 
     Homeland Security committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, 
     say they will introduce legislation to force the military and 
     the Obama administration to give the wounded and dead the 
     recognition and honors they deserve.
       ``It was clearly an act of terrorism that occurred that 
     day, there's no question in my mind,'' McCaul told ABC News. 
     ``I think the victims should be treated as such.''
       Former Sgt. Munley says she now believes the White House 
     used her for political advantage in arranging for her to sit 
     next to Michelle Obama during the President's State of the 
     Union address in 2010.
       Munley says she has no hesitation now speaking out against 
     the President or taking part in the lawsuit, because she 
     wants to help the others who were shot that day and continue 
     to suffer.
       ``We got tired of being neglected. So this was our last 
     resort and I'm not ashamed of it a bit,'' she said.

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