Obama Promises "Justice" At Fort Hood Memorial Service

Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and wounded 30 in the tragic event. He strode into the Center with two handguns, and started shooting, reportedly shouting Allahu Akbar (God is Great in Arabic).

President Barack Obama on Tuesday called “twisted logic” at the heart of the killing of 13 men and women at Fort Hood. He said that “no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice — in this world, and the next.”

Obama took time to speak about each of the individuals killed, eulogizing each of them separately. As he said, “these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here, on American soil, in the heart of this great American community. It is this fact that makes the tragedy even more painful and even more incomprehensible.“

The President was joined at the memorial with First Lady Michelle Obama. They began the afternoon by meeting privately with family members of those killed last week. The Obamas also planned to meet with those who were wounded in the attack, after the memorial service.

As noted during the ceremony, Fort Hood’s service personnel have suffered 545 lost in the wars in the Afghanistan and Iraq. Add to that the 13 lost on U.S. soil. The dead came from 11 different states, and ranged in age from 19 to 62. Three of them were women, and the 13 had 19 children, with one more, belonging to 21-year-old Pvt. Francheska Velez, on the way.

Obama is now faced with the task of healing a nation and an armed service staggered by recent events. At the same time, he is weighing sending more troops to Afghanistan.

The President added this much: there will be justice. There will be justice for the gunman, as well as for the dead: "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."