Fort Hood victims to get Purple Hearts

The Army will award the Purple Heart and its civilian equivalent to victims of the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting.

The decision comes after lawmakers inserted a provision into the fiscal 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that expanded eligibility for the Purple Heart by broadening what should be considered an attack by a “foreign terrorist organization.”

“The Purple Heart’s strict eligibility criteria has prevented us from awarding it to victims of the horrific attack at Fort Hood,” Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement on Friday.

{mosads}”Now that Congress has changed the criteria, we believe here is sufficient reason to allow these men and women to be awarded and recognized with either the Purple Heart or, in the case of civilians, the Defense of Freedom medal,” he added.

The move is “an appropriate recognition of their service and sacrifice,” according to McHugh, a former Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Based on the new language, an event should now be considered an attack by a terror group if the person who carries it out “was in communication with the foreign terrorist organization before the attack” and “the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization,” according to the Army.

The Senate’s No. 2 Republican released a statement commending the decision.

“We can never repay what was lost that day, but today’s news brings long-awaited justice to the victims, especially those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice on November 5, 2009,” Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.

The Defense Department originally classified the shooting, in which Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others, as workplace violence, rather than an act of terrorism.

Hasan had been in touch with al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki; victims have argued that they should be eligible for extra combat benefits and recognition.

He was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he was “pleased” by the announcement.

“I appreciate the Army’s determination to award these most-deserving men and women and look forward to fully honoring their service, for which they will always be remembered,” he said in a statement.

Republican lawmakers long have pushed for legislation that would declare the shooting took place in a combat zone and was a terrorist attack, mandating Purple Hearts for soldiers killed or wounded.

The years-long effort culminated with the language in the NDAA, which President Obama signed into law in December.

That same month, a trio of Arkansas lawmakers asked McHugh to award the Purple Heart to two soldiers shot by a radicalized Muslim in 2009 at a recruiting center in Little Rock. 

— Updated at 3:02 p.m.