You Mean Someone is Going to die? - The Ornery American
You Mean Someone is Going to die?
| By Russ Wood |
August 6, 2004 |
Normandy Beach, June 6, 1944: The first wave of troops hits the beach amid the
blistering sounds of Nazi gunfire. One young soldier, a private, takes a bullet to the head, ending
his life instantly.
"Whoa! Pull back, everyone! Looks like they've got us beat!"
The American troops turn and board their amphibious vehicles and return home to live in
a future where you need not be embarrassed for sporting an Oliver Hardy-style mustache.
Revisionist history by today's standards of warfare.
I am surprised at the Philippine Government for acting so hastily and pulling their troops
out of Iraq. One man is taken hostage and the fight is over.
Well, isn't that an effective little tactic for the terrorists to use? Isn't this exactly how
terrorism works? A nation is threatened with deaths of innocents, and is forced to coerce
themselves into meeting extremist's demands.
I once heard a speech from a man named Charles Wiley, who is a speaker affiliated with
the group AIM (Accuracy In Media), and he stated that one of the main problems with today's
world is that nobody is willing to give other's lives for a better cause, even though the others
may be perfectly willing to do so. While aboard a battleship in WWII, he and the other sailors on
board were told, "Do not fall off the ship. If you do, we are not turning around to get you. We
have a war to get to."
And that was the way it was.
But in today's world, we are saturated with the idea of "no man left behind" from
Hollywood and the press. America's military, to some extent, has accepted the call to duty with
all of its implications. Some people might die.
And while no death is desirable, in times of war it happens to those who engage in
combat. But as a former Marine, I can say that I would be proud to give my life in the defense of
freedom. And regardless of what stories the media tend to highlight to show the soldiers disdain
for the war they are fighting, I can assure you personally that the majority of military men and
women do not feel that way.
I may be inclined to write here of another thing that Mr.Wiley pointed out; namely the
180 degree slander with which Vietnam vets are constantly depicted in the media. Unlike my
previous mistaken idea, in a poll of Vietnam vets living today, 90 percent of them said they
would do it again in a heartbeat.
And now the media is trying to paint the current war and soldiers with the same tint of
rose they see through their glasses.
The Philippine's decision to give into terrorist demands equates to a victory for the
terrorists that will inevitably lead to more videotapes of hostages who are threatened to be
beheaded. Heck, it worked on one nation!
And I think the point of whether or not Saddam had ties with Al Qaeda is quite moot by
now. If beheadings, car bombings, and suicide bombings are not evidence enough that Iraq
harbors terrorists, I don't know what is.
Perhaps we should be remorse that we only have 800 lives to give for our nation, and for
other nations, if the outcome of the election swings Michael Moore's way. In three years we may
have lost 800 who were willing to die, but in one day we lost 2700 who weren't.
All because it proved effective before on those passive Americans who were scared of
losing one life.
Copyright © 2004 by Russ Wood
http://www.ornery.org/essays/2004-08-06-1.html
