Obama Congressional Ft. Hood Investigation Political Theater: Hoekstra vs White House

Barack Obama has asked Congress not to investigate Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood killer.  Citing the possibility of turning the Fort Hood assassinations into "political theatre" and "political stagecraft," he wants the results of his own investigation, before Congress steps-in. Rep. Pete Hoekstra has exposed the lack of forthcoming requested information from the White House. It will be interesting to see if Hoekstra's House investigation is shut-down by ranking Democrats.

Pete Hoekstra vs White House

The first question: does Congress have any power, at all anymore - what happened to separation of powers? The second: how do we trust an investigation Obama oversees?

To think that the President will not head the oversight once the intelligence is all in, is to be naive. We trusted the FBI and the Military to separate the terrorists from patriots, and now funerals are underway for 14 dead.

Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft.

This week, the ranking member of the the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) asked for documents related to the Fort Hood killings:

...the administration is in possession of critical information related to the attack that they are refusing to release to Congress or the American people," Hoekstra said.

But Obama said he [Hoekstra] and other intelligence committee members had been "briefed," Hoekstra says that is not true. So, were the Democrats briefed, and Republicans not?  Afterall, Congress is nothing but closed-doors to Republicans these days.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is blasting President Obama for withholding from the Congressional intelligence committees information on the Fort Hood killings suspect, while at the same time acknowledging the leaders of those panels -- including Hoekstra himself -- have indeed been briefed on Nidal Malik Hasan.

House Democrats dismissed Hoekstra's concerns. Of course they did. In February 2008, Hoekstra spoke at the Heritage Foundation about the importance of "recognizing the threat of terrorism, but the Democrat leadership told him "the threat is not real." See that short video clip here.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder thinks Hoekstra "compromised a sensitive National Security Agency collection program" when he released the information that Hasan had email contact with an American-born Muslim jihadist now operating out of Yemen. While some intelligence agencies are concerned about Hoekstra's interview with the Washington Post, a Hoekstra spokesman confirmed "the congressman had not received any classified briefings about the Ft. Hood attack."

It has to be embarrassing to the entire intelligence community - that soldiers and civilians are dead because they put political correctness ahead of safety. I hope it hurts their hearts, as well. If Hoekstra had not spilled the beans, we might never have known of a Hasan-al-Qaeda contact.

Congress makes a hobby of leaking information that should not be leaked, but...was Hoekstra briefed or not? National security is not a partisan issue. If Republicans are being shut-out of briefings, it needs to stop. Hoekstra's comments are obviously inconvenient for Liberals, who want the Muslim-jihad angle hushed. Hoekstra needs to keep pounding, or we will never know the truth.

Related and background:

Democrat Congress defends CIA on Ft. Hood: Hoekstra Accuses Obama of Withholding Info