President and Michelle Obama Attend Fort Hood Memorial

david-sessions

David Sessions

Washington Reporter
Posted:
11/10/09
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attended Tuesday's memorial service for 13 U.S. soldiers gunned down last week at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. As the suspected shooter recovers from gunshot wounds, the president assured the grieving military base that the person responsible for the murders would be held accountable.

"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy," Obama told the crowd, according to the Washington Post. "But this much we do know: no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. For what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice -- in this world, and the next . . . We are a nation of laws whose commitment to justice is so enduring that we would treat a gunman and give him due process, just as surely as we will see that he pays for his crimes."

The president mentioned each of the fallen by name and made brief remarks about all of them. He laid out 13 commander-in-chief coins, and Michelle Obama paused to study photos of the fallen soldiers. Above each photo, the soldier's combat helmet rested on a machine gun held upright by the soldier's boots.

The suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, remains in stable condition at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio, about 150 miles southwest of Fort Hood. He was taken off a ventilator Saturday and is able to talk, according to the Associated Press. Authorities say Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a processing center Thursday, killing 13 and wounding 29.