Obama salutes Fort Hood victims, promises justice

World

Obama salutes Fort Hood victims, promises justice

Close

11 November,2009 10:14 am

Somberly reciting 13 names and 13 stories, US President Barack Obama saluted the Americans killed at Fort Hood, Texas Army post as heroes who died for their country and promised a nation demanding answers that the killer will be met with justice.Addressing a hushed crowd of thousands of soldiers Tuesday, the president spoke forcefully if indirectly of the alleged shooter's motives in last week's massacre. It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy, Obama said. But this much we do know: No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts.The president's remarks at a memorial service were personal, more about how the victims lived than how they died. The president spent more time meeting privately with the wounded and with loved ones of those killed than speaking in public.His tone stern, Obama pledged to the crowd that the killer will be met with justice in this world, and the next. Even as Obama honored the dead, there was fingerpointing back in Washington about what the military knew of Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, before the shooting rampage.Two US officials said a Washington-based joint terrorism task force overseen by the FBI was notified of communications between Hasan and a radical imam overseas and the information was turned over to a Defense Criminal Investigative Service employee assigned to the group. But a military official denied prior knowledge of the Army psychiatrist's contacts with any Muslim extremists.All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the case on the record.Obama, in his public remarks, spoke of the tranquility and liberty enjoyed by most Americans, and said the 13 fallen gave their lives for it.That is their legacy, he said. As much as the president made the moment about the gunman's victims, the ceremony also was about him. Presidents inevitably must take the lead in times of tragedy, and this was Obama's moment to offer himself as consoler in chief. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama devoted considerable time to three private meetings with those affected by the shooting rampage, meeting first with families of those killed, then with some of those wounded and their families, and later with those still hospitalized.