Fort Hood Hero Says Obama
‘Betrayed’ Her and Other Victims
Another broken Obama
promise?
"Not
to the least little bit have the victims been taken care of… in fact they've
been neglected."
First Lady Michelle Obama with Kimberly Munley of
Killeen, TX and Mark Todd of Killen, TX on Capitol Hill
in Washington on Jan. 27, 2010 prior to Barack Obama’s
State of the Union address.
By
NED BERKOWITZ and BRIAN ROSS
Feb.
12, 2013
Three years
after the White House arranged a hero's welcome at the State of the Union
address for the Fort Hood police sergeant and her partner who stopped the
deadly shooting there, Kimberly Munley says President
Obama broke the promise he made to her that the victims would be well taken
care of.
"Betrayed
is a good word," former Sgt. Munley told ABC News in a tearful interview
to be broadcast tonight on "World News with Diane Sawyer" and
"Nightline."
"Not to the
least little bit have the victims been taken care of," she said. "In
fact they've been neglected."
There was no
immediate comment from the White House about Munley's allegations.
Thirteen people
were killed, including a pregnant soldier, and 32 others shot in the November
2009 rampage by the accused shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, who now awaits a
military trial on charges of premeditated murder and attempted murder.
Tonight's
broadcast report also includes dramatic new video, obtained by ABC News, taken
in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, capturing the chaos and terror of
the day.
Munley, since
laid off from her job with the base's civilian police force, was shot three
times as she and her partner, Sgt. Mark Todd, confronted Hasan, who witnesses
said had shouted "Allah’u’Akbar" as he opened fire on soldiers being
processed for deployment to Afghanistan.
As Munley lay
wounded, Todd fired the five bullets credited with bringing Hasan down.
Despite
extensive evidence that Hasan was in communication with al Qaeda leader Anwar
al-Awlaki prior to the attack, the military has denied the victims a Purple
Heart and is treating the incident as "workplace violence" instead of
"combat related" or terrorism.
Al-Awlaki has
since been killed in a U.S. drone attack in Yemen, in what was termed a major
victory in the U.S. efforts against al Qaeda.
Munley and
dozens of other victims have now filed a lawsuit against the military alleging
the "workplace violence" designation means the Fort Hood victims are
receiving lower priority access to medical care as veterans, and a loss of
financial benefits available to those who injuries are classified as
"combat related."
Some of the
victims "had to find civilian doctors to get proper medical
treatment" and the military has not assigned liaison officers to help them
coordinate their recovery, said the group's lawyer, Reed Rubinstein.
"There's a
substantial number of very serious, crippling cases of post-traumatic stress
disorder exacerbated, frankly, by what the Army and the Defense Department did
in this case," said Rubinstein. "We have a couple of cases in which
the soldiers' command accused the soldiers of malingering, and would say things
to them that Fort Hood really wasn't so bad, it wasn't combat."
A spokesperson
for the Army said its policy is not to comment on pending litigation, but that
it is "not true" any of the military victims have been neglected and
that it has no control over the guidelines of the Veterans Administration.
Secretary of the
Army John McHugh told ABC News he was unaware of any specific complaints from
the Fort Hood victims, even though he is a named defendant in the lawsuit filed
last November which specifically details the plight of many of them.
"If a
soldier feels ignored, then we need to know about it on a case by case
basis," McHugh told ABC News. "It is not our intent to have two
levels of care for people who are wounded by whatever means in uniform."
Some
of the victims in the lawsuit believe the Army Secretary and others are
purposely ignoring their cases out of political correctness.
"These guys
play stupid every time they're asked a question about it, they pretend like
they have no clue," said Shawn Manning, who was shot six times that day at
Fort Hood. Two of the bullets remain in his leg and spine, he said.
"It was no
different than an insurgent in Iraq or Afghanistan trying to kill us,"
said Manning, who was twice deployed to Iraq and had to retire from the
military because of his injuries.
An Army review
board initially classified Manning's injuries as "combat related,"
but that finding was later overruled by higher-ups in the Army.
Manning says the
"workplace violence" designation has cost him almost $70,000 in
benefits that would have been available if his injuries were classified as
"combat related."
"Basically,
they're treating us like I was downtown and I got hit by a car," he told
ABC News.
For Alonzo
Lunsford, who was shot seven times at Fort Hood and blinded in one eye, the
military's treatment is deeply hurtful.
"It's a
slap in the face, not only for me but for all of the 32 that wore the uniform
that day," he told ABC News.
Lunsford's
medical records show his injuries were determined to be "in the line of
duty" but neither he nor any of the other soldiers shot or killed at Fort
Hood is eligible for the Purple Heart under the Department of Defense's current
policy for decorations and awards.
Army Secretary
McHugh says awarding Purple Hearts could adversely affect the trial of Major
Hasan.
"To award a
Purple Heart, it has to be done by a foreign terrorist element," said
McHugh. "So to declare that soldier a foreign terrorist, we are told, I'm
not an attorney and I don't run the Justice Department, but we're told would
have a profound effect on the ability to conduct the trial."
Members of
Congress, including the chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, Rep.
Michael McCaul, R-Texas, say they will introduce legislation to force the
military and the Obama administration to give the wounded and dead the
recognition and honors they deserve.
"It
was clearly an act of terrorism that occurred that day, there's no question in
my mind," McCaul told ABC News. "I think the victims should be
treated as such."
Former Sgt.
Munley says she now believes the White House used her for political advantage
in arranging for her to sit next to Michelle Obama during the President's State
of the Union address in 2010.
Munley says she
has no hesitation now speaking out against the President or taking part in the
lawsuit, because she wants to help the others who were shot that day and
continue to suffer.
"We
got tired of being neglected. So this was our last resort and I'm not ashamed
of it a bit," she said.
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