GETTING THE FACTS ON FORT HOOD – AT 7:29 P.M. ET:  It hasn't been easy.  The Ford Hood shootings on November 5th, 2009, in which an Army major with ties to Islamic extremists murdered 13 Americans, was a major terror event.  You'd never know it by some of the reaction.

At first the usual suspects in the media played it down, preferring the "narrative" that this was an "isolated incident," like the other several dozen "isolated incidents" involving Islamic extremists that have occurred in the United States since 9-11.  Amazing how isolated these people are.

Then President Obama, in another expression of his great compassion, brilliance, and wisdom, cautioned us not to "jump to conclusions," even though the conclusions didn't require much jumping. 

And then the administration started stonewalling Congress.  Washington Post reports:

Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) issued the first congressional subpoenas of the Obama administration Monday for witnesses and documents about the Fort Hood shootings.

The senators, the chairman and ranking minority member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, have accused the White House of stonewalling their demand for five months. The Nov. 5 shootings at the largest Army base in the United States left 13 dead.

The senators want documents including the personnel file of the alleged shooter, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, and his communications with Yemeni cleric and suspected terrorist Anwar al-Aulaqi.

In a letter accompanying the subpoena letter, delivered Monday, the senators gave the Justice and Defense departments one week, until April 26, to respond, or face a committee vote to take the administration to court, sources said.

Now we're getting serious.  The Democratic Party tried to destroy Joe Lieberman.  Fortunately, they failed.  And Susan Collins has been stalwart on this. 

"Given the warning signs of Major Nidal Malik Hasan's extremist radicalization and growing hostility toward the U.S. military and the United States generally, why was he not stopped before he took thirteen American lives, and how can we prevent such a tragedy from happening again?" Lieberman and Collins wrote in the letter, one that they said followed four other formal letters to the Pentagon and two to the Justice Department. "Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to avoid reaching the conclusion that the departments simply do not want to cooperate with our investigation," they wrote.

Of course they don't.  Getting at the facts might "offend" the wrong people, with their delicate sensitivities.

April 19, 2010