Hasan… Shot!

Not that it ultimately matters because I’m sure both sergeants and the the folks at Ft. Hood are just glad Hasan got shot, but it is very interesting given the Politically Correct causes of this incident that political correctness might be rearing its head in the post mortem.

From The New York Times:

But the story of how the petite police officer and the accused gunman went down in an exchange of gunfire does not agree with the account of an eyewitness who had gone to the base’s processing center, where the shooting occurred, to conduct business before being deployed.

The witness, who asked not to be identified, said Major Hasan wheeled on Sergeant Munley as she rounded the corner of a building and shot her, putting her on the ground. Then Major Hasan turned his back on her and started putting another magazine into his semiautomatic pistol.

It was at that moment that Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, a veteran police officer, rounded another corner of the building, found Major Hasan fumbling with his weapon and shot him.

How the authorities came to issue the original version of the story, which made Sergeant Munley a national hero for several days and obscured Sergeant Todd’s role, remains unclear. (Military officials also said for several hours after the shooting that Major Hasan had been killed, although he had survived.)

Six days after the deadly shooting rampage at a center where soldiers were preparing for deployment, the military has yet to put out a full account of what happened.

At a news conference outside the post on Wednesday, Lt. Col. John Rossi refused to take questions about who shot Major Hasan or why the initial reports said it had been Sergeant Munley rather than Sergeant Todd.

“These questions are specific to the investigation and I am not going to address that,” Colonel Rossi said.

Public affairs officials also declined to make Chuck Medley, the director of emergency services at the post, available for questions. It was Mr. Medley, who oversees the post’s civilian police and fire departments, who gave the first account of how Sergeant Munley stopped the gunman.

On Tuesday night, Lt. Col. Lee Packnett, of the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs at the Pentagon, declined to say whether it was Sergeant Todd who had shot Major Hasan. “It could have been, but the final outcome will be determined by the results of the ballistics tests.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Sergeant Todd’s wife, Lisa, said he had asked the Army to protect his identity in the immediate aftermath of the shootings. Her husband did not consider himself to be the real hero of the day, she said. “They were in this together,” she said.

One of the real evils of PC is that Sgt. Munley — who acted heroically whether or not she shot Hasan — is now put in an awkward position as if she somehow is less of an officer. The case can be made that whichever officer turned the corner first — by engaging Hasan — enabled the second officer to drop him. By jumping to conclusions (where they not listening to their commander in chief?) the authorities here have made stuff up that calls into question the investigation. If they lie immediately as to who dropped the suspect how can that person testify in court? I would rip them up on cross-examination. I’m not saying it would work, but why risk a case by fibbing about heroics?

The author also raises the specter of Jessica Lynch and the initial pumped stories of here case which turned out to be just so much bunkum — again not her fault and it put her in an awkward position.

Munley received the call — drove to the scene — RAN to the gunfire and engaged an active shooter. By any definition that is heroism at its finest in the highest traditions of valor. By gilding the lily because she’s a woman the authorities imply that she (and women in general?) needs their help burnishing her credentials? It’s ludicrous in this instance and in general. There’s glory enough for both and it looks like Sgt. Todd has Munley’s back both then and now. They both are heroes. Thank God they were there to engage and dump Hasan. Their only fault can be summed up in two words: HEAD SHOT. But that’s just being nit-picky.

Count this as reason #698,409 to hate political correctness. Now instead of celebrating these two heroes one is left trying to explain his role and one is left minimizing her role. Neither should have to do that.

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