Dismiss General Casey

 

Dismiss General Casey
Ken Blackwell
Monday, November 30, 2009

We don’t yet know how bad the Ft. Hood shooter’s case was. We do not know—and we
must find out—how it was possible for an Army medical officer to openly express
treasonous statements and not be court martialed. We do not know if the shooter or
his family members were under surveillance by the FBI or other federal law
enforcement agencies. We must soon find out.

But we do know this much: Gen. George Casey, the Army Chief of Staff, raced to the
Sunday morning talk shows to express his deep concern. Gen. Casey’s concern was
not for American victory in the war on terror, not for the safety of the American
people, nor for the safety of U.S. military personnel. Gen. Casey’s greatest
concern was for diversity.

He said if diversity was a “casualty,” then it would be an even greater tragedy
than the murders of fourteen innocent Americans.

If we want to know how such an obvious terror threat was ignored, how such a mass
killer was enabled, we need look no further than the command climate created by
Gen. Casey and his politically correct subordinates.

If you are serving in a forward unit of the Army today, can you have confidence
that your fellow soldier can be trusted to “have your back?” Can you sleep soundly
in an Army barracks wondering whether your bunkmate might be a jihadist?

Unit cohesion is essential to any effective fighting force. Troops must trust one
another when their lives are on the line. By winking at treason, Gen. Casey and
his subordinates allowed Major Nidal Hasan’s conduct to unfortunately taint every
Muslim currently serving in the U.S. military.

No one has a right to serve. Service is an honor and a privilege. But it is not a
right. Color-blind people, people with heart murmurs are perfectly loyal
Americans. It casts no aspersion on them or their families to be excluded from
military service.

All military personnel in the U.S. Armed Forces must demonstrate they are loyal to
the United States of America. When they raise their right hand and take that oath
before God to protect the Constitution of the United States “from all enemies
foreign and domestic,” Americans have a right to expect that that oath will be
enforced. No one gets a pass.

This Gen. Casey has clearly failed to do. Nothing could reassure our troops more
in the wake of the worst case of domestic terrorism since 9/11 that national
security and loyalty to the United States is the first requirement for military
service than dismissing Gen. Casey.

Our all-volunteer military should know that even a four-star general is held to
the same high standard that we expect of the lowest-ranking enlisted man or woman.
 From now on, it should be understood by all our serving men and women that you
can report disloyal, insubordinate, and treasonous statements by anyone in the
military and that that report will be acted upon promptly.

Only if this lesson is forcefully made by the prompt, public dismissal for cause
of Gen. Casey will the troops have renewed confidence that they can trust all
their fellow soldiers. They must know that the United States will be loyal to them
even as they are loyal to the United States.

In this, as in so many things, George Washington said it best. In his historic
letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport in 1790, he wrote:

[The] Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to
persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection
should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their
effectual support.

Notice this strong pledge of respect for rights of religious minorities comes with
a stern requirement: All good citizens must give their “effectual support.” Can
anyone say that Major Hasan—after more than a decade of taxpayer-funded education
and special treatment—gave the United States his effectual support? Of course not.

There were warning signs aplenty. Many of the shooter’s classmates and fellow
officers raise concerns about this man’s loyalty and reliability. The command
climate created by Gen. Casey stifled those warning cries. The result is the death
of innocents. Gen. Casey must be replaced as Army chief of staff.



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