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Fiorina: Obama ‘pallid’ on Chattanooga shooting

by Mark Hensch - 07/17/15 2:53 PM ET

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has been underwhelmed so far by President Obama’s response to Thursday’s mass shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Fiorina argued Friday that Obama is not treating the attack with the dignity it deserves.

“I think the president’s response, as usual, has been a bit pallid,” Fiorina told host Dana Loesch on The Blaze’s “Dana.” “This is an unbelievable tragedy.”

{mosads}“Whether this guy turns out to be ISIS-inspired or not, it’s clearly an attack on the homeland and an American military installation, and not the first, as you point out,” she added.

Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, killed four Marines by opening fire on two military facilities in Chattanooga on Thursday morning.

Police confirmed later that evening he also died during the attack.

Fiorina on Friday said arming personnel at U.S. military installations would prevent future incidents from claiming innocent lives.

“Of course we need to permit these fighting men and women to defend themselves,” she said.

“I mean, think about it — these are Marines, who stormed battlefields in Ramadi and Afghanistan,” she said.

“And they’re killed by a coward driving by in his car and they have no way of defending themselves,” Fiorina added. “It is outrageous.”

“I would change the policy immediately, and I am very disappointed from the lack of action from this president.”

Fiorina said the ban on arming U.S. military facility personnel is outdated because of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

“Immediately this policy should have been changed when we learned that ISIS was going to target military facilities, military men and women and their families,” she said.

Reports emerged Thursday night that Abdulazeez had blogged about Islam before striking two locations in Chattanooga.

He first targeted a recruitment center on Lee Highway before next setting his sights on the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway.

Abdulazeez was a naturalized Kuwaiti who reportedly lived in Hixson, Tenn., mere miles from the scene of the crime.

Tags Carly Fiorina