Ret. Lt. Allen West's Letter: Tragedy at Ft. Hood

This bad boy's been floating around the internets and inboxes all over the place. Allen West is running for congress in Florida. I find the letter unfocused and misguided, but think it needs to be read in its entirety for what it is. Let me know your thoughts.

Tragedy at Ft Hood
by Allen West
11/09/2009

Last Thursday, 13 American Soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded at a horrific mass shooting at US Army installation, Ft Hood Texas. As I watched in horror and then anger I recalled my two years of final service in the Army as a Battalion Commander at Ft Hood.

My wife and two daughters were stunned at the incident having lived on the post in family housing. A military installation, whether it is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, or Coast Guard, is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for our warriors and their families. It is intended to provide a home whereby our “Band of Brothers and Sisters” can find solace and bond beyond just the foxhole but as family units.

A military installation is supposed to be a place where our warriors train for war, to serve and protect our nation. On Thursday, 5 November 2009 Ft Hood became a part of the battlefield in the war against Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism. There may be those who feel threatened by my words and would even recommend they not be uttered. To those individuals I say step aside because now is not the time for cowardice. Our country has become so paralyzed by political correctness that we have allowed a vile and determined enemy to breach what should be the safest place in America, an Army post.

We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about the pre-shooting stress on the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable. The fact that there are some who have now created an entire new classification called, “pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” is unconscionable.

This is not a “man caused disaster”. It is what it is: an Islamic jihadist attack.We have seen this before in March 2003 when a SGT Hasan of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) threw hand grenades and opened fire into his Commanding Officer’s tent in Kuwait. We have seen the foiled attempt of Albanian Muslims who sought to attack Ft Dix, NJ.

Recently we saw a young convert to Islam named Carlos Bledsoe travel to Yemen, receive terrorist training, and return to gun down two US soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas Army recruiting station. We thwarted another Islamic terrorist plot in North Carolina which had US Marine Corps Base, Quantico as a target.

What have we seen done with all these prevalent trends? Nothing.
What we see are leaders paralyzed and refusing to confront the issue, Islamic terrorist infiltration into America, and possibly further into our Armed Services. Instead we have a multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on steroids.

Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood. Moreover, he should have been administratively discharged from the Army. His previous statements, poor evaluation reports, and the fact that the FBI had him under investigation for jihadist website posting should have been sufficient proof. However, what we have is a typical liberal approach to find a victim, not the 13 and 30 but rather the poor shooter. A shooter who we hear was a great American, who loved the Army and serving his nation, and CAIR stating that his actions had nothing to do with religious belief.

We know that Major Hasan deliberately planned this episode; he did give away his possessions. He stood atop a table in the confined space of the Soldier Readiness Center shouting “Allahu Akhbar,” the same chant as the 9-11 terrorists and those we fight against overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of operation.

No one in leadership seems willing to sound the alarm for the American people. Our Congress should suspend further action on the preposterous and unconstitutional healthcare bill and resolve the issue of “protecting the American people”.

The recent incidents in Dearborn Michigan, Boston Massachusetts, Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois should bear witness to the fact that we have an Islamic terrorism issue in America. And don’t have CAIR call me and try to issue a vanilla press statement: they are terrorist apologists, not a civil rights organization.

We have Saudi Arabia funding close to 80% of the mosques in the United States, one right here in South Florida, Pompano Beach. Are we building churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia? Of course not. Because they aren’t allowed by the Saudi government. So much for peaceful coexistence.

Saudi Arabia is sponsoring radical Imams who enter into our prisons and convert young men into a virulent ideology….one resulting in four individuals wanting to destroy synagogues in New York with plastic explosives. Thank God the explosives were dummy. They are sponsoring textbooks which present Islamic centric revisionist history in our schools.
We must recognize that there is an urgent need to separate the theo-political radical Islamic ideology out of our American society. We must begin to demand surveillance of suspected Imams and mosques that are spreading hate and preaching the overthrow of our Constitutional Republic……that speech is not protected under First Amendment, it is sedition and if done by an American treason.

I make no apologies for these words, and anyone angered by them, please, go to Ft Hood and look into the eyes of the real victims. The tragedy at Ft Hood Texas did not have to happen. Consider now the feelings of those there and on every military installation in the world. Consider the feelings of the Warriors deployed into combat zones who now are concerned that their loved ones at home are in a combat zone.

Ft Hood suffered an Islamic jihadist attack, stop the denial and realize a simple point.

The reality of your enemy must become your own.

Steadfast and Loyal,
Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)

Van Mural Wednesday? On Wednesday? I Know!

And we'll give you two again because I love you all so much.

There's really nothing to say while basking in the glory of this mural and the rolled up pack of cigs in the short sleeve of that black shirt. No tells here, but the the place I found this named the van Bessie. Of course it is.




And this second one is more of a warning - specifically to Calvin - that the evil, tentacled sea monsters have now mounted a road campaign. Though when this picture was taken is anyone's guess.



Have a great tomorrow!

Mr. Brightside A Cappella

The Killers (kinda) Thank you Calvin:

I Have Seen Hell. It is a Cube.

As many of you know, in the real world I am a web designer/expert running my own business. And since business is not exactly eating up my time and aiding in the paying of the bills, I spent today interviewing for what looks to be a "real" job. I haven't worked in an office proper for about 2 1/2 years.

The interview itself was fine; I didn't know all the techy answers, but no one ever does. I seem to have wowed them with my knowledge and ability to elucidate my experience and skills.

And then it turned weird. I took the tour.



We walked through a very large facility of over 400 employees. It would be the largest company I ever worked for. Cubes everywhere. Cube-y's Cube-y's everywhere, but not a thought to think. I just kept spouting um-hmmm's and okay's as we walked through and more cubes and more cubes with signs above them and every job I've had since college flashed through my mind. Small cube farms, large cube farms, policy binders on shelves, the guy with all his personal crap in his cube, sanctimonious bosses spouting bullshit teamwork rhetoric, team playing, posters of SUCCESS and clever phrases and the HR tourguide lady occasionally glanced at me with a micro emotion of a sneer, behind the look was the true face of a demon and I was getting a tour of my hell.

I was sweating, my stomach sinking, my breathing quickening, and I felt like I was on acid, speeding towards the edge of a panic attack. I kept it together through the rest of it but breathed like I hadn't in a week as soon as I walked out the door. But it lingered - as dusk fell and I drove home, I recalled the temperature and the dimming light and the driving as past lives and jobs and the commute home and the knot in my stomach would not disappear but even tightened and floated around this surreal world that was the second half of my day. I was so wrapped in emotion and fear-control that I got on the highway the wrong way and didn't realize it for 10 miles. It is truly only now, only after a couple beers, that I'm starting to seriously calm.

And writing this helps.

Worst thing is: if I'm offered the position, I really have to take it. Financially, I don't have much choice. Good news is I have a week until they decide and 10 days after that to drum up as much business as possible.

I have never been more motivated in my life.

Positive thoughts and prayers welcome. I'm running the Tommy Boy stretch from here on out.

I have seen hell. It is a cube. A whole series of cubes. With managers' offices along the walls and a common kitchen area with a microwave and fridge. I only pray I need never return but as a visitor.