“We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die.” —George Washington (1776)
Today is a place marker, the 10th anniversary of a terrorist attack in our community.
On 16 July 2015, a 24-year-old radicalized Islamist murdered five military personnel and wounded others at the Navy Operational Support Center here in Chattanooga after wounding three Marines at a nearby recruiting center. Our city had never been ground zero for a terrorist attack.
Earlier that same day, my daily White House briefing email included this statement from Barack Obama:
Michelle and I would like to extend our warmest wishes to Muslims in the United States and around the world celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. As Muslims mark the end of [Ramadan], they are reminded that [it] is a time to reflect spiritually, build communally, and aid those in need. While Eid marks the end of Ramadan, it marks a new beginning for each individual — a reason to celebrate and express gratitude on this holiday. … As Muslim Americans celebrate Eid across America, the holiday is a reminder to every American of the importance of respecting those of all faiths and beliefs. … Michelle and I hope today brings joy to all of your homes. Eid Mubarak! [Happy Blessed Ramadan]
The irony of that statement was bitter and bloody.
What Obama did not mention is that during this “holiday,” there were 2,988 innocent men, women, and children murdered and another 3,696 wounded in Islamic terror attacks under the banner of “Allahu Akbar.”
Tag-teaming with his first-term SecState Hillary Clinton and his second-term SecState John Kerry, Obama spent eight years mastering the art of foreign policy malfeasance. His Islamic appeasement gave rise to ISIL and the Islamic State, as well as the nuclear empowerment of Iran.
Fortunately, Donald Trump just put a plug in the Iranian hole.
Obama also paved the path for the ascension of his inept VP Joe Biden to the presidency — which is to say, a continuation of Middle East policy failures. Those include Biden’s disastrous and deadly surrender and retreat from Afghanistan and the empowerment of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terrorist groups. (Don’t worry, I am sure none of their cadres crossed Biden’s open southern border during his tenure.)
Earlier this week, I was with GySgt DeMonte Cheeley, who, 10 years ago, was a 28-year-old Marine recruiter and was wounded in the jihadist attack in Chattanooga. DeMonte has kept with him through all his deployments since that day a patch with the rank insignia of each of his murdered brothers, so as never to forget. He also carries with him, like another friend who was there that day, a measure of survivor’s guilt. Any combat Veteran or LEO reading this who has survived a deadly encounter in which brothers died will understand.
But the fact is, DeMonte and those who were killed and injured that day had no legal means of defending themselves or others — because they were prohibited from having firearms. Federal military installations, like 96% of locations where mass shootings occur, are “gun-free zones” (except for the weapons being used by an assailant), and at the time, there were thousands of locations that had no security force protection, such as recruiting centers.
Thankfully, the other friend I mentioned who was there that day violated those rules by bearing a firearm.
Then-LCDR Timothy White, the senior officer at the scene, used his personal handgun to return fire, saving the lives of others while local police arrived to dispatch the assailant. Tim was in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and by law, a Navy JAG was obligated to review the case and consider charges. Fortunately, after ensuring that our congressional representatives and senators were aware of the optics these charges would create, the Navy wisely decided not to press charges. Since then, the rules regarding authorized personnel carrying weapons have changed.
For the record, in 2009, after Islamist Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad shot two Arkansas Army recruiters, and then Nidal Malik Hasan murdered 14 soldiers, security personnel and a pre-born child at Fort Hood, Texas, and wounded 29 others, The Patriot Post made the case that domestic military installations should NOT be “gun-free zones.” We insisted that Congress should immediately authorize weapons at all military installations that do not have their own security forces on station.
However, Obama and his then-Democrat-controlled House and Senate would not act. In fact, Obama refused to even acknowledge that the Fort Hood murders constituted an Islamist terrorist attack, and he denied combat death benefits or the awarding of Purple Hearts to the wounded and the families of the murdered. Obama claimed it was “workplace violence,” and before the blood of our Patriots had dried, he attempted to use that tragedy, as he always does, to further his gun-control agenda.
The assault in my hometown on that terrible day 10 years ago also lingers with me for another reason: I was a minute from being in the middle of it. I was meeting a colleague at a facility near the site of the second attack, and as he pulled into the parking space beside me, he said that while at the stoplight I had just passed by, he heard what he assumed were fireworks left over from Fourth of July celebrations. He then said, oddly, “A convertible Mustang sped by me in the median and headed our way.”
That vehicle was driven by the Islamic assailant, who had just fired on the recruiting center with an AK-47 (the “fireworks” my colleague heard), and was on his way to the Naval Ops Center to complete his well-scripted mission. I immediately called the commander of our SWAT team and asked if he had an active shooter in our area. In real time, he said, yes, they had just killed the assailant, but he asked my colleague to confirm if there was a second person in the convertible. There was no second assailant.
I regret that I had not been at that stoplight near the scene of the first shooting a minute later, as my vehicle at the time was an up-armored 4WD truck, and I would have both been able to look down into the assailant’s convertible to see his weapons and give pursuit.
The afternoon of the attacks, Obama issued a statement declaring, “I want everybody to understand that we will be thorough and prompt in figuring out exactly what happened.”
The day after the Chattanooga terrorist attack, my White House briefing email — from the commander-in-chief of the service personnel murdered — made NO MENTION of the attack. However, it did include a solicitation by Obama for Democrat National Committee funds.
Obama waited five long days before ordering flags to half-staff in honor of those killed at the Naval Center. He waited five long months before declaring the attack was “inspired by terrorist organization propaganda,” and he finally issued Purple Hearts to those killed and wounded.
The Chattanooga attack was followed by increasingly violent terrorist assaults in San Bernardino and Orlando — the progressively bloody price of the Obama/Clinton/Kerry appeasement of Islamists. All of that blood is on the hands of Obama and his cadre of Islamist appeasers.
Now, a decade later, CDR Tim White, who retired in 2022, still wonders if he should have survived. Contemplating what he might have done, he says: “I really kicked myself for not thinking about having those admin space doors closed and locked. I just wonder if maybe Petty Officer Smith would still be alive, and maybe some of the Marines would still be alive, if they would’ve had more time to get to safety.” In fact, what he DID do saved lives.
Join us in prayer for the families of those who perished that day, and those who survived.
Wisconsin native Sgt Carson Allen Louis Holmquist (USMC)
North Carolina native SSgt David Allen Wyatt (USMC)
Massachusetts native GySgt Thomas Joseph Sullivan (USMC)
Georgia native LCpl Squire “Skip” Wells (USMC)
Ohio native PO2 Randall Scott Smith (USN)
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776
Follow Mark Alexander on X/Twitter.
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