WASHINGTON — Two weeks after the attack on military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killed five U.S. service members, the U.S. government is still grappling with whether to call the event terrorism. Potentially at stake: Purple Hearts for the service members killed and wounded, and the financial benefits that go with them.
The July 16 attack was carried out by 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who was born in Kuwait and became a naturalized American citizen. He called Muslims who waged Jihad in earlier generations “the best human beings that ever lived” other than the prophets on his blog. And he downloaded recordings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-Yemeni cleric who recruited for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula until he was killed in a 2011 airstrike, according to an NBC News report.
Those killed in the attack include four Marines and a sailor: Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, 40; Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, 35; Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist; Lance Cpl. Squire D. “Skip” Wells, 21; and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith, 26. Other service members and a Chattanooga police officer also were wounded before Abdulazeez was killed by police.
The Marine Corps has proactively prepared Purple Heart nomination packages following the attack, but is waiting to see whether the service members involved are eligible for them, said Maj. Rob Dolan, a Marine Corps spokesman in Quantico, Virginia. The service “will wait until all the facts are gathered and the FBI investigation is complete,” he said.
An FBI official, Joshua Campbell, and a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in eastern Tennessee, Sharry Dedman-Beard, declined to comment, citing the open investigation. White House spokesman Eric Schultz referred comment to the FBI and Justice Department.
Eligibility for the Purple Heart will hinge in part on what the FBI determines motivated Abdulazeez. The Navy and Marine Corps Awards manual allows for the Purple Heart to be approved in several circumstances, including:
1. In action against an enemy of the United States.
2. In action with an opposing armed force of a foreign country, in which U.S. armed forces are or have been engaged.
3. While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force, in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
4. As the result of an act of any such enemy or opposing armed force.
5. As the result of an act of any hostile foreign force.
6. As the result of friendly weapons fire while actively engaging the enemy.
7. As the indirect result of enemy action (e.g., injuries resulting from parachuting from a plane brought down by enemy or hostile fire.)
8. As the result of maltreatment inflicted by their captors while a prisoner of war.
9. After March 28, 1973, as a result of international terrorist attack against the U.S. or a foreign nation friendly to the U.S.
10. After March 28, 1973, as a result of military operations while serving outside the territory of the United States, as part of a peacekeeping force.
Those criteria are important. The service members were attacked on U.S. soil by a U.S. citizen, seemingly eliminating options 2 through 8 and 10. That leaves 1 and 9, which depend on how the U.S. government defines Abdulazeez – was he an international terrorist, or a mentally ill American? – and the attack itself.
All of this has come up before. If authorities prove that Abdulazeez was inspired by al-Awlaki or another terrorist, the Chattanooga shooting victims would appear to qualify for the Purple Heart under new criteria included in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act.
It states that troops who were wounded or killed in an attack qualify for the award if it is carried out by an individual who was in contact with a foreign terrorist organization beforehand, or “inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization.”
Before the language was approved, service members who were wounded in the Nov. 5, 2009, mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, and the June 1, 2009, ambush on an Army recruiting station in Little Rock, Arkansas, did not receive Purple Hearts, even though both attacks were initiated by men who said they were inspired by al-Qaida.
In the Fort Hood case, Maj. Nidal Hasan, a radicalized Army psychiatrist, killed 13 and wounded at least 30 more. In court testimony afterward, he said he was targeting people who were “going against the Islamic Empire.” He communicated repeatedly with the radical cleric al-Awlaki before the attack, authorities said.
In the Little Rock attack, two recruiters were shot, one fatally. The shooter, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, told authorities that he was sent to carry out the attack by Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Victims in other recent attacks on military installations without a direct terrorism tie – the 2013 mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, for example – have not qualified for Purple Hearts. The award can include hostile-fire pay for those killed or wounded, as well as faster service and financial incentives from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Marine Corps also is examining whether service members involved in the Chattanooga attack may qualify for a valor award, Dolan said. It’s unclear what that could be, however.
There is precedent for service members to receive prestigious combat valor awards like the Medal of Honor, Navy Cross or Silver Star for actions against a foreign enemy while Stateside. An obvious example is the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the military awarding at least 15 Medals of Honor.
But service members are more frequently recognized for heroism while stateside with the rare Soldier’s Medal and its approximate equivalents in the other services, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the Airman’s Medal and the Coast Guard Medal. Following the Fort Hood shooting, the Army awarded at least eight Soldier’s Medals to service members who displayed valor while attempting to repel the attack.
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