Call it what you like — it deserves a complete investigation. (afp)
Any reporter worth their salt knows that when government decides to investigate itself, exonerations tend to follow. That’s why it’s so perplexing that the Obama administration is giving the arms-length treatment to any independent, congressional probe of the Fort Hood massacre, and instead putting faith in a Pentagon-led review.
Dana Milbank tackled the subject today in the Washington Post, puzzling over how often President Obama follows the more secretive example of former President Bush — after running on promises of transparency and accountability:
The transparency tension has become particularly pronounced over the Fort Hood investigations. Obama, in his radio address last Saturday, cautioned that “all of us should resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater.”
In that same radio address, Obama outlined his own plans to investigate the incident — summoning the FBI, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon, intelligence and other officials to figure out whether the tragedy could have been averted. That’s good — but is it enough?
Democrats capitulated to White House pressure to hold off on their own investigations, canceling hearings and drawing the scorn of Republicans. Milbank notes the administration declined to send anyone to a rogue congressional hearing on the matter Thursday. Sen. Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, noted that —
“it will be very difficult to fulfill our committee’s responsibility without the cooperation of the executive branch.”
Meanwhile, the (somewhat pointless) debate of whether to label the incident a “terrorist attack” continues. Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is also ignoring the White House and participating with the Senate homeland security probe, said he thinks it can be called terrorism. Lieberman agreed.
A new Fox News poll found 49 percent believe “killing spree” is the proper term, while 44 percent said it should be called an “act of terrorism.” Thirteen people were killed and 29 wounded when Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan fired on troops Nov. 5 at Fort Hood in Texas.
