November 19, 2009 10:17 AM
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Giuliani: Political Correctness to Blame for Fort Hood Rampage
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said red flags in the Fort Hood shooting suspect's past were ignored out of officials' fear of being labeled as bias against Muslims.
Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others in an attack at an on-base medical facility earlier this month. In the wake of the shooting, a host of potential warning signs that were never acted upon were uncovered.
Among them:
• A joint terrorism task force was aware of e-mail exchanges between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam who espoused hostility against U.S. soldiers overseas. Investigators didn't follow up because they said the communications contained no references to terrorism.
• Supervisors at Walter Reed Medical Center expressed concerns that Hasan could be . And according to a 2007 evaluation letter published by NPR Wednesday, Hasan exhibited a
• Hasan also delivered a lecture at Walter Reed on the . He advised the military to grant conscientious objector status in such cases.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Tragedy at Fort Hood
Aside from his questionable relationship with al-Awlaki and his habit of carrying on religious debates with colleagues and patients, Hasan was also characterized by supervisors as lazy. But Hasan graduated from medical school and rose to the rank of major anyway before being transferred to Fort Hood over the summer – a move superiors hoped would reduce his workload and relieve whatever stress he was experiencing.
But in the wake of the attack, many have questioned how everyone – the Army, Walter Reed personnel, the FBI – could have failed to more vigorously pursue Hasan as a potential threat. Giuliani chalks it up to an over-reliance on political correctness.
"I think there's a tremendous thrust, particularly in these areas, not to do it. Because I think there's a fear that you'll accused of discriminating against people of the Islamic religion," Giuliani said on CBS "The Early Show" Thursday.
"There are wonderful people of the Islamic religion, most of them. Then there are Islamic terrorists. And they are committing these crimes, not for some abstract reason, not for some unconnected reason, they're committing the crimes in the name of jihad."
Giuliani laid particular blame at the feet of the Obama administration.
"It comes with the administration saying you can't use the term war on terror. You can't talk about Islamic extremism terrorism. You have to call it something else."
However, "Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith pointed out that many of the warning signs, including the 2007 evaluation letter, took place under the Bush administration.
The White House has ordered all intelligence pertaining to Hasan . The Pentagon also announced a into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others in an attack at an on-base medical facility earlier this month. In the wake of the shooting, a host of potential warning signs that were never acted upon were uncovered.
Among them:
• A joint terrorism task force was aware of e-mail exchanges between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam who espoused hostility against U.S. soldiers overseas. Investigators didn't follow up because they said the communications contained no references to terrorism.
• Supervisors at Walter Reed Medical Center expressed concerns that Hasan could be . And according to a 2007 evaluation letter published by NPR Wednesday, Hasan exhibited a
• Hasan also delivered a lecture at Walter Reed on the . He advised the military to grant conscientious objector status in such cases.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Tragedy at Fort Hood
Aside from his questionable relationship with al-Awlaki and his habit of carrying on religious debates with colleagues and patients, Hasan was also characterized by supervisors as lazy. But Hasan graduated from medical school and rose to the rank of major anyway before being transferred to Fort Hood over the summer – a move superiors hoped would reduce his workload and relieve whatever stress he was experiencing.
But in the wake of the attack, many have questioned how everyone – the Army, Walter Reed personnel, the FBI – could have failed to more vigorously pursue Hasan as a potential threat. Giuliani chalks it up to an over-reliance on political correctness.
"I think there's a tremendous thrust, particularly in these areas, not to do it. Because I think there's a fear that you'll accused of discriminating against people of the Islamic religion," Giuliani said on CBS "The Early Show" Thursday.
"There are wonderful people of the Islamic religion, most of them. Then there are Islamic terrorists. And they are committing these crimes, not for some abstract reason, not for some unconnected reason, they're committing the crimes in the name of jihad."
Giuliani laid particular blame at the feet of the Obama administration.
"It comes with the administration saying you can't use the term war on terror. You can't talk about Islamic extremism terrorism. You have to call it something else."
However, "Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith pointed out that many of the warning signs, including the 2007 evaluation letter, took place under the Bush administration.
The White House has ordered all intelligence pertaining to Hasan . The Pentagon also announced a into the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
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