The video also shows a clip of Sen. Joe Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, detailing red flags the Army ignored: “At one point, for instance, he stated in front of a group of [soldiers], that he thought a Muslim American solider would be justified in killing his comrades in defense of Islam. Rather than reporting that immediately, they kept quiet, and Maj. Hasan was actually promoted after making statements like that!”
The government has referred to the attack as a “shooting” and “murder,” and as a result of “extremism,” but President Barack Obama and his administration has never described the an act of “terror” or as “terrorism.”
U.S. law defines a terrorist act as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.”
One of the survivors featured in the video is Army Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning, who was shot six times, including once in the chest. Manning sought combat status for his injuries, a request that was denied by David Turban, director of the United States Army Physical Disability Agency (USAPDA).
In a letter to the Manning family, Turban reportedly stated “the fact that Major Hasan’s attack on fellow soldiers may have created an element of fear or terror in the mind of the attacked soldiers does not, in and of itself, make any assault on a soldier a ‘terrorist attack’ within the meaning of a ‘direct result of armed conflict.’”
Turban, who also concluded there was “not a preponderance of evidence that [Mannings'] injuries were a direct result of armed combat,” went on to say there is “no evidence that Major Hasan is a part of an established terrorist group, nor is the fact that he is a practicing Muslim make him any more likely to be a terrorist than any other individual.”
In the video, Manning says, “it is disgraceful that they don’t want to recognize soldiers for their sacrifice.” He continues, “They were fighting a domestic enemy. They were killed and wounded by a domestic enemy. He was somebody who was there that day to kill soldiers to prevent them from deploying. If that’s not an act of war or act of terror, I don’t know what is.”
Spc. Logan Michael Burrnett adds,”That’s not workplace violence, that’s terrorism. And I pray every night that somebody will finally care enough to make it what it really is.”
