Remarks by the President on the Shooting at Fort Hood

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Chicago Cut Steakhouse Chicago, Illinois

6:46 P.M. CDT

April 02, 2014

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  I just got off the phone with Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Sandy Winnefeld to get the latest report on the situation in Fort Hood.  Obviously we’re following it closely.  The situation is fluid right now.  But my national security team is in close contact with not just the Defense Department but the FBI.  They are working with folks on the ground to determine exactly what happened to make sure that everybody is secure.  And I want to just assure all of us that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. 

Any shooting is troubling.  Obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago.  We know these families.  We know their incredible service to our country and the sacrifices that they make.  Obviously our thoughts and prayers were -- are with the entire community.  And we are going to do everything we can to make sure that the community at Fort Hood has what it needs to deal with the current situation, but also any potential aftermath.

We're heartbroken that something like this might have happened again.  And I don't want to comment on the facts until I know exactly what has happened, but for now, I would just hope that everybody across the country is keeping the families and the community at Fort Hood in our thoughts and in our prayers.  The folks there have sacrificed so much on behalf of our freedom.  Many of the people there have been on multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They serve with valor; they serve with distinction. And when they’re at their home base they need to feel safe.  We don't yet know what happened tonight, but obviously that sense of safety has been broken once again.  And we're going to have to find out exactly what happened.

The Pentagon will undoubtedly have further briefings for you as we get more details [about what happened.]

Thanks, everybody.

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Afghanistan: Soldier Killed Civilians. Defund The Army, End The War Now

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

From Denny:  With Republicans so fond of pleasing their puppeteer war profiteers, they now find themselves in a quandary.  You see, the Republicans have boxed themselves into a corner, and, with it being an election year, they are cooked.

Republicans are big on deficit plans no matter how unrealistic.  Now they are faced with reducing the size of the active Army troops to the point the military can no longer run a two-front - or soon to be multi-front - war.  Another 100,000 ground troops will have to be slashed to meet the criteria of the $1.2 trillion budget cuts.

Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno whined to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about his situation.  However can he secure his status to retire at a high pension and then acquire that all-coveted position of newly found wealth with his handler lobbyists and crappy think tanks?

Supposedly, it is the failure of the lawmaker supercommittee to agree on a deficit-reduction plan that caused this hardship for the Army.  But is it really?