Purple Hearts in '09 LR case still up in air

Changes to medal’s criteria now in ’15 defense budget

WASHINGTON -- As a light mist fell over Arlington National Cemetery early Thursday morning, an Army bugler played taps in remembrance of the shooting at a Little Rock Army recruiting office in 2009.

Five years after the shooting, the U.S. House and Senate still are debating whether to give Purple Hearts to the men killed and injured that day.

The two servicemen aren't eligible because the shooting took place in the United States, rather than overseas, and because their attacker worked alone.

On June 1, 2009, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, a radical convert to Islam, attacked the Little Rock Army-Navy Career Center in the Ashley Square Shopping Center on Rodney Parham Road. Muhammad is serving a life sentence in prison and has said that he attacked the soldiers in retaliation for U.S. military actions in the Middle East.

Pvt. William Long, 23, of Conway, who had enlisted in the infantry in January 2009, died. Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula, then 18, of Jacksonville was wounded but survived. He enlisted in October 2008 as a heavy construction equipment operator.

U.S. Sens. Mark Pryor and John Boozman and U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin have tried repeatedly to change the Purple Heart eligibility standards but encountered opposition from the White House.

The Purple Heart, which shows George Washington's profile on a purple background and surrounded by a quarter-inch bronze border, is awarded by the president to military members killed or wounded in action, including in a terrorist attack, according to the Veterans Administration.

Efforts to attach the provision to large pieces of legislation in the past sparked opposition.

In a 2012 policy statement, the Obama administration opposed its inclusion in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2013 because the acts were prosecuted as state-level crimes, rather than as acts of terrorism. In a 2013 policy statement about the fiscal 2014 act, the administration said the proposal was "inconsistent with the award criteria for the Purple Heart."

Both times, the statement said the president's staff would urge Obama to veto the entire defense budget if the change to the Purple Heart criteria -- and several other sections of the bill -- weren't removed.

This year, the Senate and House Armed Services Committees included language in the 2015 fiscal year National Defense Authorization Act language to change the criteria for awarding the Purple Heart to include circumstances where a service member is killed or wounded in an attack "inspired or motivated by" a foreign terrorist organization.

It would apply retroactively to those affected by the Arkansas shooting and to the 13 people killed and 32 people wounded in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood Army base in Killeen, Texas.

Pryor spokesman Lucy Speed said the Democrat from Little Rock thinks the change has a good chance of passing this year because it is included in both the House and Senate versions.

"I don't see this issue as a problem going forward," Speed said in an email. "It's in the base bill of the Senate and House versions, which is a very good sign. At this point, it would take an amendment to strike the language out."

The bill passed the House on May 22 but hasn't been considered yet by the Senate. The two versions still differ in other ways and the two chambers would have to have a conference to reconcile the differences.

Griffin said that is where the language has been removed in the past.

"I have no way of knowing whether the folks who killed it before will expend the energy [this time]," the Little Rock Republican said. "My gut feeling would be we've had this battle before and their objections probably still stand. Do I think they will win this time? I don't know."

In a May 19 policy statement on the bill, the Obama administration does not mention the changes to the Purple Heart criteria but states the president has other concerns with how the overall legislation would restrict military spending.

"The question is whether or not that is significant," Griffin said.

A Congressional Budget Office review of the act notes that the change would cost $1 million between 2015 and 2024 because more people would be eligible for Combat-Related Special Compensation of about $400 per month.

Griffin said they aren't giving up even if the language is removed again.

Moments after the cemetery opened Thursday, Pryor laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as Pryor and Boozman's staff members looked on. None of the dozens of tourists streaming into the cemetery had wound their way up the hill to the memorial by the time the short ceremony ended.

"Our men and women in uniform should be always recognized for acts of valor whether they occur at home or abroad. I'll continue to highlight Long and Ezeagwula's service and work with Senator Boozman and Congressman Griffin to ensure these Arkansas soldiers receive the recognition they are due," Pryor said in a statement.

Wreath-laying ceremonies frequently occur at Arlington and often have to be requested more than a year in advance, cemetery spokesman Sonya Goines said.

Five other wreath-laying ceremonies were scheduled at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Thursday, she said, most of which were done by visiting groups of middle school students.

Pryor's 2014 opponent, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, was a platoon leader with the unit that guards the Tomb of the Unknowns. The Dardanelle Republican did not guard the tomb himself but assisted with military funerals.

Metro on 06/06/2014

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