Lawmakers Urge Caution on Fort Hood

Committee Chairman Wants Army, FBI to Complete Investigations Before Considering Launching Congressional Inquiry

(CBS)  Launching a congressional investigation now into Thursday's deadly shooting at Fort Hood would be premature, Missouri Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.

"The Army has its investigators, the FBI is investigating, and, Bob, the truth will come out," Skelton told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer. "Let's give them a few days to find out just where the ball was dropped if that's the case."

However, if he's not pleased with what the respective investigatory agencies do, Skelton said his committee would look into the shooting.

"I'm going to wait and see what they do," Skelton said. "If they are not thorough, we will, of course, have additional hearings, briefings on this. It's a tragedy of the first order. It's a tragedy not just for the soldiers and their families that were there. It's a tragedy for all of the families that wear the uniform."

Special Section: Tragedy at Fort Hood

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed his fellow Democrat's caution.

"We do have to look closely at what the Army has done, what the whole armed services has done," Reed said. "But Chairman Skeleton has put it in the right context. We have to wait for their careful deliberations. There's a criminal investigation going on."

Reed added that the tragedy at Fort Hood opens up "broader issues" about U.S. troops and their psychological treatment.

"We have to look at the broader issues, not just this incident, but are we taking adequate care of these soldiers?" Reed asked. "Are we providing the adequate support systems for the families? … These are issues that go beyond this incident and responsible for the Congress to look at them."

Skelton linked the shooting to the health care reform bill the House narrowly passed late Saturday night, saying that the bill increased mental health providers for military families.

Another member of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., agreed.

"We've put more medical personnel on the front lines of evaluating people," Graham said.

He added that jumping to conclusions about suspected shooter, Army psychologist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could be dangerous. It's been reported that Hasan considered the U.S. war on terror to be a war on Islam.

"Every soldier who shows discontent with the war and every soldier that has a bad performance report - what are we going to do with those folks?" Graham asked. "So, at the end of the day, let's see what the evidence trail suggests here and not overreact because we live in a free and open society. You can be in the military and disagree with policy."

Authorities accuse Hasan of killing 13 and wounding 29 others in the worst mass shooting at a military facility in the United States.

"At the end of the day, maybe this is just about him," Graham said about Hasan. "It's certainly not about his religion, Islam. It's not about the Army; it's not about the war. At the end of the day, I think it's going to be about him."

Reports have also said that Hasan was conflicted over what to tell fellow soldiers about fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Do you think the fact that he was a Muslim may have caused the military to kind of step back and be reluctant to challenge him on some of this stuff for fear that they'd be accused of discrimination or something like that?" Schieffer asked.

"Don't take this to a level that we should not," Graham said. "Don't accuse people of basically giving him a pass because he's a Muslim because I don't think there's any evidence of that."

"This is not about theology," Reed said. "This is about doing your duty as a soldier, and also I think we have to be careful not to leap beyond the current investigation."

[lwilli201]

Ike Skelton is a Democrat from a conservative district. To this point he has pretty much catered to the conservative base. But his moving farther to the left will hurt him in 2010. I live in his district and I plan to actively work to get him out of congress.

[edmundsingleton]

Since 911 it has never been ok to be an American Muslim in the US armed forces or black in the 1950's. One would think that a nation of immigrants would be more tolerate of others since everyone came from some place else, the ugly American is not dead yet...

[hermitdave]

But Republican Joe Lieberman says he is going to have ZEE FADDERLAND SECURITY committee investigate. Of course we all know that there is not a single thing in the world more useless to humans as an investigation by congress. Lets just watch this play out, once they realize the scare the sheep factor is over, it will just fade away. Then back to another CIA audio, direct from his grave, by Osama Bin Laden. The only importance any of this has is to keep the ignorant masses in top FEAR mode.

[Rexaholic]

Skelton is a coward as most of the media is! This was an act of terrorism. We have brave Americans dead. Discharge all Muslims in our Armed Sevices now!

[velma179]

by Rexaholic November 8, 2009 11:06 PM EST

I guess you don't comprehend that America has, at it's foundation, the freedom of religion.

An American who is also a Muslim should never be treated any different than an American who is a Jew or a Christian, or Hindu, Buddhist... et cetera.

You don't even know that -- oh, but YOU are such a wise and thoughtful person, you can tell us all exactly what kind of act was committed at Ft Hood.

No. You can't.

It was murder. Murder is NOT terrorism just because the murderer has a certain last name or prays at a certain place. Get that straight.

Period.

[Virgil-1]

This investigation will be similar to the warren report on Kennedy.Coverups all over the place.Also remember OJ!
America get ready for the bull.Bull droppings everwhere.

[nowhiningallowed]

The Army and the FBI, which was tracking this guy, knew of his danger, yet political correctness took precedent over the safety of our nation. Too many are more concerned about offending. So what, go ahead and offend. If wrong, then apologize. I'm also not buying the bit about this guy being ridiculed for his "religious" beliefs and those about the two wars. This guy supposedly was a trained head specialist and he evidently had major issues of self-esteem. If he couldn't handle the ridiculing, he should have resigned his post. And was he in fact qualified for the promotion to Major, or was this yet another act of political correctness and affirmative action?

[dhague]

Probably more a matter of time in grade and having no significant black marks on his record.

[love2ridend]

Political correctness. If someone had pointed out they felt he might be a problem. Would have been accused of being a racist. Just like liberals accuse anybody who did not vote for Obama as members of the KKK

[jsd330]

Yes!

[Lickedy]

I like that attitude....not all muslims, just only the psychologist muslims I guess ? Amazing, within two weeks after another incident involving a visit to the local Imam, manages to flip out and kill people ?
(ding dongs blow themselves-up at the U.N. in Afghanistan.)

[Virgil-1]

Kinda like Oswald?

[bradkt1]

While this has many of the trademarks of a terrorist act, it also has some the trademarks of a workplace violence incident...like what happened in Orlando, Florida yesterday. Was the religious issue the real motivation or was it a convient cover for a man who was a marginal performer in his chosen profession and who became frustrated to the point where he just snapped. I suspect that it was a bit of both.

It does appear...so far...that this was a lone gunman.

[dhague]

"Every soldier who shows discontent with the war and every soldier that has a bad performance report - what are we going to do with those folks?" Graham asked. "So, at the end of the day, let's see what the evidence trail suggests here and not overreact because we live in a free and open society. You can be in the military and disagree with policy."

Some of the first sane words I've read about this.