Excerpt:
The Army has announced that as a result of Congress' making victims of attacks by foreign terrorist acts eligible, the Fort Hood victims will get Purple Hearts, and civilians will get Defense of Freedom medals.
That language broadened the definition of an attack on eligible victims to include an assault by "a foreign terrorist organization." The definition includes attacks by a perpetrator or perpetrators in contact with a foreign terrorist organization or "inspired or motivated by a foreign terrorist organization" prior to the attack.
The Nov. 5, 2009, attack on Fort Hood by Maj. Nidal Hasan, in which he killed 13 and wounded 32 while shouting "Allahu Akbar!," fits the new eligibility requirements. Hasan was known to have been in contact before the attack with American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior leader in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and left a paper trail of support for and inspiration by Awlaki and AQAP.