Posted on 07/09/2010 7:19:17 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
WASHINGTON — An earmark placed in a war spending bill by a Texas Democrat would provide a processing center for Fort Hood soldiers preparing for overseas duty, replacing the one that became the site of a lone gunman's rampage last year.
The Nov. 5 shooting left 12 soldiers and a civilian dead and 32 people wounded before police felled the alleged gunman.
“We will never forget that tragic day or those who give so much every day to defend our nation,” said Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco.
But Edwards said “it would not be right to ask Fort Hood soldiers deploying or returning home from overseas to process their papers at the site of a terrible tragedy.”
The new Soldier Readiness Center on the Texas Army installation would be built with $16.5 million tucked into a war supplemental spending bill that is making its way to the president.
Money to build the center was placed into the House version of the bill by Edwards, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs.
The House passed the bill last week.
A Senate version of the bill also has been approved. Differences in the two pieces of legislation will be reconciled when Congress returns next week.
Both bills include funds for the 30,000 troops that President Barack Obama has ordered deployed to Afghanistan.
Many of those soldiers are coming from Fort Hood, a sprawling Texas post that is headquarters for the Army's III Corps.
Fort Hood soldiers were processing for deployment to Afghanistan when they came under attack by a lone gunman who opened fire with two pistols.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was charged in the deaths.
Hasan was shot in the attack and remains paralyzed from the chest down. His lawyers last month won a delay in a Fort Hood hearing that could lead to his court-marshal.
Witnesses are expected to be called to the hearing in October.
The processing center where the massacre took place has not been in use because of the ongoing investigation into the shooting. Soldiers are currently forced to go to multiple locations at the post to have their papers processed.
The Army supports the building of a new center, which would be able to process more efficiently and effectively than the old center.
Edwards disclosed the earmark for the new Fort Hood center in a news release. There has been no public Democratic or Republican opposition to the project.
He said funds for the center would be offset by savings achieved through competitive bids for other overseas military construction projects.
The continued deployment of Fort Hood soldiers to Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with the mobilization of Army Reserve units at the installation, makes the project timely and necessary, Edwards said.
Hassan is still wasting precious oxygen.
And they haven’t done anything about all of the other jihadis that are in the armed services.
SO, they’re going to bulldoze the site of the tragedy.
Will this drive off any demons or evil spirits?
Perhaps a shaman should consecrate the ground, or maybe a priest should perform an exorcism?
So much for not forgetting.
Do we bulldoze EVERY tragic site?
I wish they would quit calling this a tragedy! The correct word for what happened at Fort Hood is a Travesty. There is no way that it should have been possible for that to happen.
FGS! why on earth weren’t at least the military police on base armed? A lot of lives could have been saved........
I wonder if anyone in authority learned anything from this?
Hey, let them bulldoze that site.
Just please - for the love of God! - don’t let them replace it with a fricken mosque like they want to do on the WTC site.
And it will be shaped as a crescent moon in honor of Muslims.
replacing the one that became the site of a lone gunman's terrorist's rampage last year.
The Nov. 5 shooting left 12 soldiers and a TWO civilian[s] dead and 32 people wounded before police felled the alleged gunman known terrorist.
“We will never forget have already forgotten that tragic day or and those who give so much every day to defend our nation,”
Fort Hood soldiers were processing for deployment to Afghanistan when they came under attack by a lone gunman known terrorist who opened fire with two pistols.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and Soldier of Allah, was charged in the deaths.
Hasan was shot in the attack and remains paralyzed from the chest down, sucking up valuable oxygen that should be used for human beings in the United States. His lawyers last month won a delay in a Fort Hood hearing that could lead to his court-marshal.
COULD? Could lead to his court-marshal??? [sic]
It SHOULD lead to his immediate execution!!!
As always they do nothing to correct the mindset/policies that allowed the perpetrator to be in the military, but they do find an excuse to spend money unnecessarily. Maybe a better idea would be to bulldoze this representatives house to honor the fallen. I’m all for finding an offset to finance that.
I prefer atrocity.
The whole point of replacing the site is so people will forget.
16.5 Million dollars.. Have we lost the ability to be shocked? And in truth, this building should be a mandatory stop on the road to deployment.
Kind of a “why we fight” thing.
BTW,, Chet Edwards is about TO LOSE HIS JOB. That low life stood by Pelosi. Pelosi actually wanted him for Veep. He is hated like never before in central Texas.
Typical Democrat. Surrender territory to the enemy because it is “too painful”. Real soldiers would want to hold that ground, not concede it.
And it’s just more money we don’t have to build a new processing center.
lone gunman?
Try islamic terrorist.
Atrocity works for me, too!
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