The Obama administration's actions on Nidal Malik Hasan and Khalid Shiekh Mohammed confuse our men and women in uniform.

At a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing chaired by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I. RI.), Mr. Walid Phares, an expert on Islamic jihad at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, regarding whether Hasan was a terrorist or not, testified; "It will be 'terrorism' per Obama's team only if it is proven that there was a terror organization or a regime involved." Apparently, Hisan's emails to al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki are not sufficient to demonstrate Hasan's desire to become a member of al-Qaeda.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Attorney General Eric Holder, “Can you give me a case in United States history where an enemy combatant caught on a battlefield was tried in civilian court?” Holder responded, “I don't know. I'd have to look at that. I think that, you know, the determination I've made . . .” Before Holder could finish his sentence Graham interjected, “We're making history here, Mr. Attorney General. I'll answer it for you. The answer is no.”

Graham went on to tell Holder that his policy was confusing our soldiers on the ground. What were they supposed to do when they captured another terrorist on the battlefield, question him for intelligence information or read him his Miranda rights.

Has the Obama administration really thought through their policies with regard to the Fort Hood shootings and punishing the people behind the 9/11 attacks? You'd have thought that Eric Holder should have known the answer to Sen. Graham's question; and you'd think they'd understand that Hasan is a terrorist. Their actions in both cases only confuse our men and women in uniform who fight terrorism and embolden our terrorist enemies.

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This Veterans Day, the victims and heroes of the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5 will be much on the minds of those who take time to think about and honor American veterans. We understand and appreciate the risks they take in combat zones, but we don't expect them to come under attack on a secure military base in the United States. We certainly don't expect the attack to come from one of their own.

If there is anything positive to reflect on in this tragedy, its the way our military personnel and their civilian counterparts reacted to it. Despite the large number of casualties at Fort Hood, it appears that the number could have been much higher. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is reported to have fired more than 100 rounds from his semi automatic pistol into a crowd of 500 soldiers. The quick reactions of Department of the Army police officer Kim Munley and her partner Sgt. Mark Todd and their close-range gun battle with Hasan prevented him for killing and wounding more than he did. Speaking of Munley, LTG Robert Cone, the senior commanding general at Fort Hood, said "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer."

Munley and Todd weren't the only heroes. LTG Cone cited numerous other acts of heroism by soldiers who used their combat life-saving skills on wounded soldiers until the first ambulances arrived. Other soldiers responded instinctively, leading their buddies out of the danger zone.

We've come to expect this kind of behavior from our brave men and women in uniform, but we should never take it for granted. Since 9/11 we seen all too often the great sacrifices our military veterans and civilian first responders so often are called upon to make. As they in the past and will in the future, at Fort Hood the worked side by side to stop the killing and save lives.

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Amidst the heated ongoing national debate over healthcare reform, the Obama administration last week took aim at the CIA and pulled the trigger. Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to review cases involving CIA contractors; and President Obama relieved the CIA of responsibility for high-value detainee interrogations and gave it to a multi-agency task force reporting to the National Security Council (NSC). In doing so, they seriously wounded the Agency and reenergized the national debate over how it interrogated high-value terrorists after 9/11. If this is about America’s moral compass, as the president has often phrased it, is he and are we reading it correctly?

For a while it appeared that Democrats would resist the overwhelming desire of those on the far left of their party to investigate members of the George W. Bush administration, including the president, the vice president, and the CIA. President Obama quickly realized what a bad idea that was when he saw the reaction to his release of top secret Bush administration memos on CIA interrogation techniques. He said he wanted to look forward, not backward.

Apparently, however, the temptation has proven too great. Now, Democrats want to investigate Cheney and the CIA over a statement by current CIA Director Leon Panetta that Cheney directed the CIA not to brief Congress on a program to assassinate al-Qaeda leaders after 9/11 that credible sources say was never operationalized. At the same time, Attorney General Eric Holder is seriously considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate CIA personnel who may have gone “too far” in their interrogations of terrorist detainees. Like all special prosecutors, once empowered, he won’t stop there.

Wise heads in both the Democratic and Republican parties understand that pursuing these investigations might satisfy those who believe Bush, Cheney, and many people in their administration are war criminals, but it will do more damage to Democrats than to Republicans. Those who suffer from Bush/Cheney-derangement syndrome already think that way. They don’t need an investigation to confirm what they believe.

Fair-minded Americans, however, don’t what to see any US presidential administration prosecute its predecessor for what amounts to policy and political differences. President Obama is already losing airspeed and altitude with his out-of-control spending that isn’t curbing unemployment. Investigations of Bush, Cheney, and the CIA will only drive his approval numbers lower and lose more seats for Democrats in the House and Senate in 2010.

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