John Hinderaker of Powerline reminds us of another brave individual's remarkable battle and amazing almost complete recovery from a bullet in the head following a mass shooting and updates us on his condition.
Major Nidal Hassan (remember him?) shot Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler four times, including once in the head, during his mass murder spree at Fort Hood 15 months ago. Thirteen people died that horrific day, 32 were injured; many, like Zeigler, quite severely. From then until now Zeigler has had eight operations; eventually he was able to leave the Mayo Clinic and marry his fiancee, a remarkable woman who on her own blog of the ordeal, "Turning Tragedy Into a Love Story," wrote
All politics aside, November 5th was an act of war. It was an attack on U.S. soldiers in uniform on a military base. It was the harsh reality of the world we live in and of the Global War on Terror (or the "Overseas Contingency Operation" as some prefer to call it). I don't mean to cause controversy or persuade anyone of anything... not with this post, anyway. But that's just the mindset we have about November 5th, it wasn't one man, it is a global war that we are fighting.
After puzzlingIt is hard not to compare the press coverage of Jared Loughner's Tucson rampage with that of Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood. Hasan killed and wounded twice as many as Loughner, and the fact that he was an officer in the United States Army would seem to give his attack a particular significance as well as a unique horror. Moreover, Loughner was just a nut, while Hasan was part of a worldwide movement. Yet, for whatever reason, the press has been far more interested in the Tucson shootings and in the fate of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords than in the servicemen and women who were shot by Major Hasan.
It's nice to get daily updates on the condition of Ms. Giffords, but I don't believe I had even heard of Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler until today.
Hinderacker comments
[I]t is a little hard to see why Major Hasan's Fort Hood attack, and the havoc it wreaked on Sgt. Zeigler and many others, has been of so little interest to the liberal press.
Not hard at all--those killed and injured were proudly serving in the American Armed Forces, an alien and somewhat hostile institution to most in the liberal media while the alleged shooter was part of the liberal politically correct protected class, a Muslim who allegedly committed his murderous act following his religious philosophy. Because Hasan was immediately identified as the shooter those in liberal media couldn't blame right wing vitriol spouters for the crime; instead they immediately began babbling how all Muslims couldn't be blamed for Hasan's act--true--but then insisted his actions weren't condoned by Islam--not so true. To mention Ziegler's case, a person not in the public eye, would invalidate the liberals' core narrative.
Best wishes to the Zeigler family and all those injured at Fort Hood and Tucson.
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