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 proactively prepared Purple Heart nomination packages after 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 U.S.
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.
