In the wake of the Chattanooga, TN shootings last Thursday, the White House didn't order flags to be flown at half-staff at government buildings across the nation, nor did President Obama's administration offered any explanation for the decision. The administration reversed course just after noon on Monday and the flags are now at half-staff
President Obama previously ordered flags to be lowered after the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard, Fort Hood in Texas, and Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut and President George W. Bush ordered flags to be lowered for six days after 32 people were murdered in an attack at Virginia Tech in April 2007.
Five service members were killed by 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, who first fired into an Army recruiting office in a strip mall and then attacked a Navy and Marine Corps recruiting center just a few miles away
President Obama did offer condolences before the fifth service member died: “My main message right now is, obviously, the deepest sympathies of the American people to the four Marines that have been killed,” he said. “It is a heartbreaking circumstance for these individuals who have served our country with great valor to be killed in this fashion."
The president is speaking later today at the National VFW Convention in Pittsburgh before flying to New York to appear on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, so perhaps he'll offer some insight today.
Here's the question, though: is there any possible reason for not lowering the flag in honor of service members killed on American soil? Or should the White House be condemned for not showing respect for the fallen? Does the decision to lower the flags today fix the problem? Sound off!
