Saturday, February 20, 2016

WHY REVISIT THE VIRGINIA TECH TRAGEDY?


People ask me why keep reviewing and analyzing the Virginia Tech tragedy? It is now almost nine years later; what is the point? The answer is really quite simple. A cover up of massive proportions took place; the shooting was investigated with an idea of preventing litigation; and the law has been broken in connection with the lawsuit filed by the parents of two of the dead students.
            
To paraphrase a high-level retired CIA official’s response to the question of why the Agency continues to go over past mistakes: Because we are looking to the future and need to understand the past. If we are going to prevent these shootings, we need to know what went wrong, what went right, where the missed signals were, what the pressures were like, and how people’s biases, prejudices, and desire to protect their careers played into what happened. If you do not know where you have been, you cannot know how you got to where you are. And you cannot prevent future mistakes or rampages.

There is another reason for revisiting the Tech tragedy; to help the friends and families of those killed or wounded to find the truth. It is impossible for anyone to begin healing from one of these school shootings when he or she knows the truth is shrouded in lies.

How can any parent or spouse move on from the murder of a child or mate, when people in positions of trust and authority spout half-truths and gloss over the incompetence that led to the deaths of 32 people and wounding of 17 others?

The Virginia Tech cover-up has been of such monumental proportions that it may take a lifetime to get at the truth.

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