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Heads must roll at Virginia Tech

By John E. Carey - posted Wednesday, 18 April 2007


The entire nation will now collectively mourn one of the great tragedies one can endure: the death of so many of our children.

But a detailed analysis of the facts will also be ongoing. There are many questions from all observers.

It just seems to me, when law enforcement agents find two dead bodies on a sleepy university campus in the 7am hour, they should immediately slam the “Red Alert” button.

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I know I am going to get hate mail and I may be rushing to make a judgment. Monday morning quarterbacks aren’t always very welcome. But this essay is about executive decision-making and accountablility.

Yesterday there were some lame remarks about getting out an email (two hours late) and that there wasn’t time to get the word to both lock down the campus and stop the influx of tens of thousands of commuters.

We aren’t thinking big here. Hokie people are telling me there is no way to lock down a 26,000 person (or more) city. Well I do not buy it. If a hurricane is bearing down on a US Naval Station we execute a pre-planned emergency evacuation system. We use the TV, radio and all our assets. We get most of the ships out to sea and most of the sailors and their families into safe locations.

Don’t they have radio and TV in Blacksburg, Virginia? If, at 7am, a tornado was announced heading for that campus, what would have happened? How about a snowstorm? We had high winds in Washington D.C. this week and the schools were closed three hours early. It was on every radio and TV station in seconds. With that huge force of law enforcement, a good police commander could have closed every road into that campus in no time.

They have radios, cars and flashing lights, don’t they?

Did anyone notice that a bunch of those law enforcement officers were, ahem, chubby?

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Law enforcement officers at Virginia Tech didn’t save one life. They didn’t waste one bullet doing it either. Somebody should be ashamed: law enforcement agents didn’t fire a shot. The only shooter on that campus got tired after all the mayhem he made.

If my kid was dead and killed in the classroom after 9am I’d be one angry parent.

When is the last time law enforcement found two dead students, murdered students, on that campus at 7am? And no murder weapon, no certain motive and no suspect.

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First published in Peace and Freedom on April 17, 2007.



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About the Author

John E. Carey has been a military analyst for 30 years.

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