Administration Responses to Benghazi and Ft. Hood Demonstrate Pattern of Denial

(ROUND ROCK, TX) – A pattern of denial that begin with the Obama Administration’s refusal to acknowledge the 2009 attack on Fort Hood, Texas that left 13 adults and one unborn child dead and 32 wounded has been continued with the Administration’s botched response to the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, according to Congressman John Carter, who represents the Fort Hood area in the House.

“Nearly three years after the 2009 terror attack on Fort Hood the Obama Administration has still refused to acknowledge the facts for partisan political reasons,” says Carter.  “That same bent towards placing the political protection of the Administration above the national security of the United States apparently produced the false report that the Benghazi attack was a spontaneous demonstration, rather than an organized terror attack.”

Carter, Co-Chairman of the House Army Caucus, says he believes the overwhelming public evidence of the terror attack in Benghazi forced the Administration to recant in that case, but the casualties of the Fort Hood attack are still being denied justice.

“The survivors and the families of those who lost their lives on November 5, 2009 deserve the same recognition, status, and benefits of the casualties at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001,” says the former Texas judge.  “The Administration can and should grant them that status, including eligibility for the Purple Heart, and no action of Congress is necessary for the President to take action.  Because the President has refused, I will continue to push legislation to grant our heroes the status they deserve.”

Carter introduced legislation to grant combat casualty status in the 111^th Congress shortly after the 2009 attack when it became clear the Administration was reluctant to admit a terror attack had succeeded on a major military installation on U.S. soil.   Carter reintroduced the bill in the 112^th Congress as H.R.625, the Fort Hood Victims and Families Benefits Protection Act.

###