“...the military has denied the victims a Purple Heart and is treating the incident as ‘workplace violence’ instead of ‘combat related’ or terrorism.”
I cannot TELL you how glad I am to be OUT of today’s military. Effing PC BS!
These people were killed in cold blood by a TERRORIST waging jihad! A TERRORIST PAID BY THE US TAXPAYER!
While the workplace violence designation is ludicrous the award of the Purple Heart to civilians was specifically banned by the Army before 9-11.I left in 2006 and unless there have been changes the following remains true:
Several civilians , especially AMC Project manager Saudi Arabian National Guard who were injured in the 1995 terrorist attack received the Purple Heart for injuries incurred. in that event on 13 November 1995, a 220-pound car bomb exploded in a parking lot adjacent to an office building housing the Office of the Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard, in Riyadh, causing five U.S. and two Indian fatalities.
I think several others were awarded for injuries incurred in Former Yugoslavia. Uniformed service personnel and such veterans groups as the VFW became irate over the ‘degrading’ of the decoration by awarding it to some civilian feds. Before the events of 9-11 the Army specifically banned the award of the Purple Heart to any government or other civilian. There was a discussion of establishing a ‘civilian purple heart’ but the Army leadership had no interest in this and it went no where. I am no fan of the Mahdi, but this bit of contemptible behavior has more to do with petty jealousy within the Army family than anything else.