I have noticed several of my friends here on the stream are very much for removing our troops out of Iraq due to a belief that we can't win and the lives lost are not worth bringing any form of democracy to the Iraqis.
I have kept quiet about this because this is a very sore subject for me as I believe that because they are fighting over there we can live our lives in a relatively normal fashion. They (our service men and women) are keeping the worst of our enemies where they belong. Over there.
I recently rewatched the life story of George Cohan. For those of you who don't know him, he wrote Over There and several other patriotic songs starting just before WWI.
He was also the first actor, performer, playwright and song writer of any station a person in show business to be awarded a medal of honor from Congress.
Our forfathers went Over There to not come home until it was over over there. Well we still have troops over there in Japan, Italy and Germany. Why? Because it is not over over there.
We can't leave Japan for if we did we would lose a stratigic launching sight. The same can be said for several places we have soldiers.
How can so many of you want our troops home now when we have the enemy on the run. The only support they have is in the media in this country.
If the state of information was available on D Day would you have demanded that the troops come home before the shores were littered with the bodies of our troops?
War is an ugly thing. People are complaining about haveing to do 7 months in Iraq before being brought home. What about all of the mothers and sisters and fathers and brothers in WWI, WWII, Korea and yes even Viet Nam? We still don't some from each war. We will always have missing in action people.
But this group of people have no right to complain about being sent into battle. They volunteered in return for money for their college and what ever it is that they do, they owe the American people that debt should they be called up. They knew the possibilities when they made that agreement and most don't want to come home until it is over over there.
My Marine nephew did three tours of more than 7 months in Afganistan and has now served two tours of Iraq and just got back before Christmas, he is going back as soon as they'll let him. He good at what he does and he wants to protect and serve this country with all of his might and being.
My Navy nephew and his wife both have served alternating six month tours on their nuclear ship (best I can say to not endanger them). Alternating so one parent can be home with their two girls.
John Kerry has a right to gripe, he was drafted.
We don't have or need a draft. We have men and women quitting jobs and volunteering just to serve and to their duty.
I have had family members in every war ever fought in this country from the Mayflower through to and including now. It is exactly what we need people who believe enough in the rights espoused in the Constitution who are willing to go over there and not come back until it is over, over there.
Beth.
Let me start to help you understand. 2001 you were 9 years old. New York City was a singular place to you, I don't remember you saying if you lived there in your bio; however if you did you would understand the war against terrorism in an entirely different light.
Terrorism is being kept out of this country by many very young, brave and valient men and women. These people were not drafted they signed an agreement with the Federal Government for a specific purpose and that was to obtain what they wanted in exchange they pledged their lives to defend this country.
If during World War I or II, the kind of anti-war sentiment were shown we would have let the Japanese over run us we would be living under the rule of Communism.
In Japan before they entered the Axis of enemies they did not a word in their vocabulary. When the Axis of World enemies was finshed with WWII they had a word added to their vocabulary and that was surrender. In their culture surrender was not an option; however the emperor understood they had no choice. They were out manned, out gunned and out of the world if they continued to fight. We leashed hell on them out of no choice.
Even after one necular bomb they fought and the pilots got younger as did their soldiers. After the second bomb they knew to live and remain a soverign country was to do the unthinkable to act in a manner no Japanese had ever done before. However had they not bombed Pearl Harbor we may never have joined the war.
Now we have a very good working relationship with Japan. We rebuilt their country. People that fought against them rebuilt them and asked for nothing in return. We also did the same to Italy and Germany.
This was done in Kuwait and in the fist run in with the now deceased dictator Saddam Hussain.
For this world to survive there must be freedom; but freedom comes with a heavy price.
300 men formed a new country and pledged all they had their lives, their industry, their families, their lands. Several survived the war and when England retreated and the time to rebuild France came to our aid as did England. Why did they do this? They knew we were a force to be reconed with and that to continue to get the items of trade from us they had to help us. Now I was not there, but in all of the wars of this country I had at least one member of my family in battle.
In the battle for our freedom of those 300 men not talked about in school anymore, over 100 died, many in the prisons of England. Another 50 or so saw their homes destroyed and their family slaughtered and died protecting them. General George Washington saw his stately home overtaken by the Englished. He gave permission to have his home destroyed to destroy the enemy.
That is war. After he became our first President he had his house rebuilt. As did many of our founding fathers. In school we are taught about the ones who lived.
Take D-Day. It is celebrated every year. It is a day now in this country to just have sales. England calles it Armistice day (I could be wrong on that) D-Day is the day that we invaded Normandy and on just those beaches we lost thousands of men; not one or two at a time. They were mowed down as they were coming off of the ramps. Yet the men that lived continued towards their target. We also invaded other places. If you've watched the movie Saving Private Ryan, you would get a better idea of how little the women back home knew of the conditions of their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and daughters.
War is not the first option it is the last. Saddam Hussain violated all of the opportunities to stop his aggression. The entire NATO group voted to do something about it, but when the time to step up to the table we went with many non NATO countries as many of them vote consisently against our good. The good for America. They have rules for themselves and rules for us. If NATO can control America by having people support the enemy by being agains the war it will continue to try.
What we are shown is not what is happening. I have two nephews and one of their wives in these wars. These three have distuinguished themselves again and again. My Marine nephew did three tours of Afaganastan. He is a special ops sniper. He did a tour in Iraq. Then because of his skills he did a tour on Marine One protecting the President for seven months and requested to do another tour in Iraq when that time was up. He just came back and has volunteered to go back again. He has a daughter and a wife. He wants the Iraqui people to know what freedom is.
He wants for young women as yourself to be able to go to school and learn and become all God has created them to be. It is because of him and his brother and sister in law (they have 2 little girls and they do six months at a time on their neuclear vessels) They do this for their country to save us here from being like Isreal where armed guards walk the streets hoping to not have to kill a person today; however, willing to do that instead of allow someone to kill 2-200 people with suicide bombers.
The battle of Antietum still had more people die in one day then the numbers we've lost in Iraq. If you look at the wars of our past, we have far fewer than in any war except Dessert Storm.
I understand as a mother, sister, aunt, niece, daughter and wife, what precious men and women we have over there. But we told the war we would not come home until the wars were finished over there. These wars may never be finished and for that reason we have bases all over the globe and will continue to do so.
To ask our soldiers to pull out of Iraq now is just not a good move to create an ally in the oil reigon, we have others that are our allies over there and we have enemies over there. The reason is that dictators want to and do control their people through fear, rape, terrorism and the people have no free will. Put yourself in the shoes of a 15 year old Iraqui young woman. She was started into school for the first time in her life after 2001, when you had been in school for many years. She can feel safe knowing that our troops are there to keep their streets clear for her to safely walk without fear of bodily violation that her religion requires death as she, being a victim of rape would be put to death by their culture and religion. Yet under Hussain this happened many times. People were put through industrial shredders, feet first to make them talk about who may be against Saddam. What was done to these people took their ability to have to will to live and fight from them as no one in the world cared to interfere. Why? I don't know. There are so many places in the world where this type of dictatorships are; that is why a war on terrorism is necessary.
We are winning the Iraquis realize, this time, this war we will not leave them to the wolves. There are internal problems. Every country must needs to have it's own civil war. There we are not needed. However this is freeing a country from would be dictators.
Remember the war is there because of us. They attacked us first, Hussain had weapons of mass destruction, we have found them but the press only reported it for one day.
Yes war is ugly. The people fighting know that. They chose this life. When you want the government to pay for your schooling, there is always this chance that you will be called up and so many have stepped up to the plate and given their all for you and me and America. Your friends will join or people you go to school with.
Many people over the years left their famous jobs to join the war. Elvis Presley went and came back to still have a career he is one of many. Some didn't come back and the same has happened in this war.
Always remember the greatest thing a person can do is to lay down his or her life for another. Jesus Christ set the example for us. We can not atone for anothers sins; only our own, but we can lay down our lives for them and when it is to bring freedom to a place that is littered with dictators, the dictators become afraid and start to unravel and fight against us. Our forces kill many terrorists from other countries, the Iraquis want freedom and are paying more dearly than we are.
Libia has already said that they will begin to have a democracy as they do not want a bloody war. That is what is a twofer in the South. We got two free countries or the price of one.
You need to trust that the representative government that we have does know what it is doing. Watch the representatives of your area in local, state and federal levels. Listen to their campaign speeches. If they don't do what they say, then don't re-elect them.
I know this has been very long, but it is a disertation against what your teachers teach, and what the press preach. Oil is not the reason here. Freedom is the reason. England is paying as dearly as we and so are the other countries. One small ally sent two of it's soldiers and many people made fun of them. When you have a small standing army and you send two, it is like the widows mite she put into the box all she had, so did this country. Two is better than none.
When you read the scriptures, they are replete with wars. As long as wickedness remains on this land so will war. It is a sad part of being human.
Take care and think my statements over. Ask your friends about what they think. Your teachers will agree with some of my statements and I would wager majorly disagree with others.
Bush is not alone in this war. The money for the war comes from Congress. They could refuse to fund the troops. Many wars such as the Reveloutionary War and through the Civil War, these were funded by the men fighting. They would send a letter to their wives asking for buttons or metal for bullets, they left home and some women never heard from them again. Never to know if they were alive or dead. They just continued to survive hacking out a living from the bounty of this country until their man came home or word came home that he was no longer in this world.
In my ancestry I have a man the Reverend William P. Hickman who was mortally wounded on the battle field, he went home and plowed the field for his wife and children so the could plant the crops they needed to survive and the next day he returned to the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain and died on the fighting on the battle field. History is replete with these people and so is our future and our present. My sister is ready to have her son's be taken from her. She would morn their loss but celebrate their death as it what Americans do.
Take care of yourself and have a good weekend and pray and ask Heavenly Father what is right. He will tell you if you ask in private beliving you will get an answer you will begin to understand more of this world than school, home and what you do for afterschool activities. You are a bright girl who has the opportunitiy to do anything you like with your life. Make the best of it, by making each day count.
Beth.