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After wars abroad, Obama confronts the new one at home At Fort Hood service, Obama calls for renewed attention to wars’ toll on those who served
(about 9 hours later)
FORT HOOD, Tex. —Less than a year into his administration, President Obama flew to this vast army post with his first message of public condolence as a wartime commander in chief. It had suddenly become, over the course of an afternoon, a domestic extension of the battlefields abroad. FORT HOOD, Tex. — President Obama arrived here again Wednesday to console a mourning military community that has carried the burden of the nation’s post-Sept. 11 conflicts, marking a turn from the wars abroad to the one now looming at home.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist embittered by America’s wars in Muslim countries, had opened fire on a Thursday afternoon at a medical center on the post where troops are checked out before deployment. He killed 13 people — soldiers and caregivers, retired and active duty, some home from combat tours and some simply making their way through another taxing day supporting those wars here at home. As a dry wind blew across this vast Army post, Obama eulogized three soldiers, all Iraq war veterans, who were killed last week by Spec. Ivan Lopez, a fellow Iraq veteran being treated for mental illness.
“This,” Obama said in memorializing the dead, “is a time of war.” His words were hopeful, drawing on Scripture. But they also included a call to better receive the millions of troops returning from the post-Sept. 11 wars, many of them suffering in unseen ways from their tours.
He arrives here again Wednesday with another message of condolence, this one delivered at a much different time in his presidency and in America’s post-Sept. 11 history. It is now a battlefield in its own right, an enclave capturing the grave challenge of the next war America will fight. “We must honor these men by doing more to care for our fellow Americans living with mental illness, civilian and military,” Obama said. “As commander in chief, I’m determined that we will continue to step up our efforts to reach our troops and veterans who are hurting, to deliver to them the care that they need and to make sure we never stigmatize those who have the courage to seek help.”
Obama was able to frame Hasan’s attack as part of America’s hot wars, given that its motivation was rooted in the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the killings carried out here last week by Army Spec. Ivan Lopez, the Iraq veteran who fatally shot three people and himself, represents the next conflict. The visit was a grim return for Obama. Less than a year into his administration, he flew here with his first message of public condolence as a wartime commander-in-chief. It had suddenly become, over the course of that November afternoon, a domestic extension of the battlefields abroad.
Lopez was under treatment for depression, and in committing suicide at the end of his shooting spree that wounded 16 others, he became one of 22 veterans who kill themselves on average every day. It is an epidemic, veterans’ advocates warn, that is falling hardest on the generation that Obama described in 2009 as those who “signed up to serve in the shadow of 9/11.” Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist embittered by America’s wars in Muslim countries, had opened fire at a medical center on the post where troops are checked out before deployment. He killed 13 people — soldiers and caregivers, retired and active duty, some home from combat tours and some simply making their way through another taxing day supporting those wars at home.
This next war, administration officials say, is the one Obama will attempt to define at the memorial service here on Wednesday. It is the one being fought at home in the scattered aftermath of a dozen years of combat abroad, conducted by a relatively small segment of an American public. “This,” Obama said in memorializing the dead then, “is a time of war.”
Speaking about the Fort Hood shooting last week, Obama said that “to see unspeakable, senseless violence happen in a place where they are suppose to feel safe, home base, is tragic.” On Wednesday, accompanied by the first lady, Obama arrived at a much different time in his presidency and in America’s post-Sept. 11 history. The post is now a battlefield in its own right, an enclave capturing the grave challenge of the next war the United States will fight.
“They’ve done their duty, and they’re an inspiration,” he added. “They put on the uniform, and then they take care of us. And we have to make sure that when they come home, we take care of them.” Obama was able to frame Hasan’s attack as part of America’s hot wars, given that its motivation was rooted in the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 576 soldiers from this post have died. But the killings carried out last week by Lopez represent the next conflict.
White House officials said Obama’s remarks Wednesday would not be overtly political, echoing in spirit the solemn speech he delivered during his November 2009 visit to Fort Hood when he listed each victim’s name, described briefly the defining features of their lives, and called their deaths “incomprehensible.” Lopez was under treatment for depression. In committing suicide at the end of his shooting rampage, which wounded 16 others, he became one of 22 veterans who kill themselves on average every day.
At that time, the politics were in some ways more complicated for Obama than they are now, as he unwinds the last of the post-9/11 wars and focuses public attention on the plight of those struggling with the mental anguish that often lingers after combat ends. It is an epidemic, veterans’ advocates warn, that is falling hard on the generation that Obama described in 2009 as those who “signed up to serve in the shadow of 9/11.” The suicide rate is rising as more and more troops return.
Hasan, inspired by the radical teachings of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, opened fire here just five months after Obama asked the Muslim world for a “new beginning” in a speech at Cairo University. Obama attempted to define the outlines of this next war — the one being fought at home in the scattered aftermath of a dozen years of combat abroad, conducted by a relatively small segment of the American public.
The address was designed to close the gulf between the United States and Islamic communities after 9/11 and the wars that followed — an approach many conservatives viewed skeptically given the enduring threat from al-Qaeda and affiliated groups. “In an era when fewer Americans know someone in uniform, every American must see these men and these women, our 9/11 generation, as the extraordinary citizens that they are,” he said. “And when we truly welcome our veterans home, when we show them that we need them not just to fight in other countries but to build up our own, then our schools and our businesses, our communities and our nation will be more successful, and America will be stronger and more united for decades to come.”
Hasan’s call of “Allahu Akbar” before he opened fire shattered some of the administration’s early optimism that followed the Cairo speech, which had been generally well-received abroad. Obama had to speak carefully here about Islam and the shooter’s motivations, and in his remarks, he never mentioned Hasan by name. The service was held on what most days is an open grass field — a training course on one edge and a U.S. flag, on this day fluttering at half staff, nearby.
“It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy,” Obama said then. “But this much we do know — no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts, no just and loving God looks upon them with favor.” Security preparations turned the area where Obama spoke into a bunker. Shipping containers stacked two and three high broke the breeze available for several hundred family members, friends, military officers and elected officials who attended the service.
In the intervening years, Hasan has been sentenced to death for his crimes. Awlaqi, whose teachings helped turn the soldier against his country, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011, becoming the first American citizen to be targeted in such a way. In spirit, Obama’s remarks echoed the solemn speech he delivered during his November 2009 visit, when he mentioned each victim by name, described briefly the defining features of their lives and called their deaths “incomprehensible.”
The wars have also ebbed. U.S. troops have left Iraq, even if Iraq’s conflict has yet to resolve itself. The American military involvement in Afghanistan — the longest in U.S. history — is scheduled to conclude in its current form at the end of the year. He did so again Wednesday, while telling the families present that “no words are equal to your loss.”
Obama’s wartime policies now include far more space for returning troops, many of whom are seeking work at a time of economic uncertainty and a place in a society with little sense of what they have endured. Then he remembered Sgt. 1st Class Danny Ferguson, 39, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan; Staff Sgt. Carlos A. Lazaney Rodriguez, 38, an Iraq veteran just months from retirement; and Sgt. Timothy Owens, 37, an Iraq veteran who enlisted after the 9/11 attacks and recently married.
In memorializing Hasan’s victims, Obama celebrated the Army and this representative post as the essence of what is best about the country — the diversity and self-sacrifice, the courage and respect, the resilience of its citizens. “In moments such as this, we summon once more what we’ve learned in these hard years of war,” he said. “We reach within our wounded hearts. We lean on each other. We hold each other up, we carry on, and with God’s amazing grace, we somehow bear what seems unbearable.”
“In a time of cynicism, they remind us of who we are as Americans,” he said. At the time of Hasan’s attack, the politics were in some ways more complicated for Obama than they are now, as he unwinds the last of the post-9/11 wars and focuses public attention on the plight of those struggling with the mental anguish that often lingers after combat ends.
This time, amid the flags and stoicism and tears, Obama is likely to do something similar. But he may also ask for help for a place, its people, and others around the country like them now looking for peace after long years at war. Hasan, inspired by the radical teachings of Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, opened fire here just five months after Obama had asked the Muslim world for a “new beginning” in a speech at Cairo University. The address was designed to close the gulf between the United States and Islamic communities after Sept. 11 and the wars that followed — an approach many conservatives viewed skeptically given the enduring threat from al-Qaeda and affiliated groups.
In his remarks last week, he said, “We’re going to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to keep our troops safe and to keep our troops strong, not just on the battlefield but also when they come home.” Hasan’s call of “Allahu Akbar” before he opened fire shattered some of the administration’s early optimism that followed the Cairo speech, which had been generally well received abroad. Obama had to speak carefully here about Islam and the gunman’s motivations; in his remarks, he never mentioned Hasan by name.
He also did not name Lopez on Wednesday, although he included him tacitly among the victims in declaring that “four soldiers are dead.”
In the intervening years, Hasan has been sentenced to death for his crimes. Awlaki, whose teachings helped turn the soldier against his country, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011, becoming the first American citizen to be targeted that way.
The wars have also ebbed. U.S. troops have left Iraq, even if that country’s conflict has yet to resolve itself. The American military involvement in Afghanistan — the longest in U.S. history — is scheduled to conclude in its current form at the end of the year.
“We must honor their lives not in word or talk, but in deed and in truth,” Obama said. “We must honor these men with a renewed commitment to keep our troops safe, not just in battle, but on the home front as well.”