trekrider
Rated XXX
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 Posted: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 15:59:10 Post Subject: |
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| vulcan wrote: | | he's only saying what the rest of the (the world) feel |
Does that mean that......We, as Americans should allow the rest of the world decide whom our governmental leaders should be?
Or rather.....Shouldn't we, as Americans change "our" leaders through the established due process (voting) without any outside influance (foriegn or "biased" media)?
**edited to include the following.........**
This is from Col Don Myers USMC (Ret).
It is long, and if you "skip" through it, be sure to fully read the last
paragraphs.
Lt Kevin Brown USMC, the author of this piece, writes way above his pay
grade.
Thanks and Semper Fi, Colonel,
Seamus
JDL is a retired two star Marine. This is a letter written from a young
officer. What insight. This is a fight that must be won or we will not
remain free as we are.
Don
Devildog News Service Comment: This letter was written by Lt. Kevin
Brown, USMC, a Marine Cobra pilot and 2001 graduate of the United States
Naval Academy. He expresses a basic thought that is becoming a common
thread in emails sent by those serving in Iraq.
Those who are serving there are smart enough to detect a basic fallacy
in the words of many. Simply stated, one cannot say that one is
supporting the troops in Iraq while saying that one does not support
what they are doing. In the words of Lieutenant Brown, "you cannot both
support the troops and protest their mission".
What they see coming is another version of Vietnam...eventually the
charade will be played to its natural conclusion and neither the troops
nor what they are doing will be supported. With the rug pulled out, they
will then become a latter day version of the Vietnam Veteran. Those who
had the Vietnam experience know exactly what I mean. It is our duty to
do our best to make certain that it doesn't happen to our successors.
Which, of course, is why this email, one that was provided by a major
retired Marine circuit, is forwarded to so many.
What they are also seeing is that a large segment of the public has
forgotten who attacked whom on 9/11 and who suffered more casualties
that day than were suffered on 7 December 1941.
JDL
Dad, you asked me what I would say to America from Iraq on 9/11 if I
had a podium and a microphone. I have thought about it, and here is my
response.
Your Son,
Kevin
September 11, 2004
Dear America,
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men
stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -George Orwell
The Marine Corps is tired. I guess I should not say that, as I have no
authority or responsibility to speak for the Marine Corps as a whole,
and my opinions are mine alone. I will rephrase: this Marine is tired. I
write this piece from the sands of Iraq, west of Baghdad, at three
a.m., but I am not tired of the sand. I am neither tired of long days, nor of flying
and fighting. I am not tired of the food, though it does not taste
quite right. I am not tired of the heat; I am not tried of the mortars that
occasionally fall on my base. I am not tired of Marines dying, though
all Marines, past and present, mourn the loss of every brother and
sister that is killed; death is a part of combat and every warrior knows
that going into battle. One dead Marine is too many, but we give more than we take,
and unlike our enemies, we fight with honor. I am not tired of the missions
or the people; I have only been here a month, after all. I am, however,
tired of the hypocrisy and short-sightedness that seems to have gripped
so many of my countrymen and the media. I am tired of political
rhetoric that misses the point, and mostly I am tired of people "not
getting it."
Three years ago I was sitting in a classroom at Quantico, Virginia,
while attending the Marine Corps Basic Officer Course, learning about
the finer points of land navigation. Our Commanding Officer interrupted the class
to inform us that some planes had crashed in New York and Washington
D.C., and that he would return when he knew more. Tears welled in the
eyes of the Lieutenant on my right while class continued, albeit with an
audience that was not very focused; his sister lived in New York and
worked at the World Trade Center. We broke for lunch, though instead of
going to the chow hall proceeded to a small pizza and sub joint which
had a television. Slices of pizza sat cold in front of us as we watched
the same vivid images that you watched on September 11, 2001. I look
back on that moment now and realize even then I grasped, at some level,
that the events of that day would alter both my military career and my
country forever. Though I did not know that three years later, to the
day, I would be flying combat missions in Iraq as an AH-1W Super Cobra
pilot, I did understand that a war had just begun, on television for the
world to see, and that my classmates and I would fight that war. After
lunch we were told to go to our rooms, clean our weapons and pack our
gear for possible deployment to the Pentagon to augment perimeter
security. The parting words of the order were to make sure we packed
gloves, in case we had to handle bodies.
The first Marine killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom was in my company at
The Basic School, and was sitting in that land navigation class on
September 11. He fought bravely, led from the front, and was killed
seizing an oil refinery on the opening day of the war. His heroism made
my emergency procedure memorization for the T-34 primary flight school
trainer seem quite insignificant. This feeling of frustration was
shared by all of the student pilots, but we continued to press on. As
one instructor pointed out to us, "You will fight this war, not me.
Make sure that you are prepared when you get there." He was right; my
classmates from Pensacola are here beside me, flying every day in
support of the Marines on the ground. That instructor has since
retired, but I believe he has retired knowing that he made a
contribution to the greatest country in the history of the world, the
United States of America.
Many of you will read that statement and balk at its apparently
presumptuous and arrogant nature, and perhaps be tempted to stop reading
right here. I would ask that you keep going, for I did not say that
Americans are better than anyone else, for I do not believe that to be
the case. I did not say that our country, its leaders, military or
intelligence services are perfect or have never made mistakes, because
throughout history they have, and will continue to do so, despite their
best efforts. The Nation is more than the sum of its citizens and
leaders, more than its history, present, or future; a nation has
contemporary values which change as its leaders change, but it also has
timeless character, ideals forged with the blood and courage of
patriots. To quote the Pledge of Allegiance, our nation was founded
"under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." As
Americans, we have more freedom than we can handle sometimes.
If you are an atheist you might have a problem with that whole "under
God" part; if you are against liberating the people of Iraq,
Afghanistan, Asia, all of Europe (twice), and the former Soviet bloc, then perhaps the
"liberty and justice for all" section might leave you fuming. Our
Nation, throughout its history, has watered the seeds of democracy on
many continents, with blood, even when the country was in disagreement
about those decisions. Disagreement is a wonderful thing. To disagree
with your neighbors and your government is at the very heart of freedom.
Citizens have disagreed about every important and controversial decision
made by their leaders throughout history. Truman had the courage to
drop two nuclear weapons in order to end the largest war in history, and
then, by his actions, prevented the Soviets from extinguishing the light
of democracy in Eastern Europe, Berlin. Lincoln preserved our country
through civil war; Reagan knew in his heart that freedom is a more
powerful weapon than oppression. Leaders are paid to make difficult,
sometimes controversial decisions. History will judge the success of
their actions and the purity of their intent in a way that is impossible
at the present moment. In your disagreement and debate about the
current conflict, however, be very careful that you do not jeopardize
your nation or those who serve. The best time to use your freedom of
speech to debate difficult decisions is before they are made, not when
the lives of your countrymen are on the line.
Cherish your civil rights; I know that after having been in Iraq for
only one month I have a new appreciation for mine. You have the right
to say that you "support the troops" but oppose the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan. You have the right to vote for Senator John Kerry because
you believe that he has an exit strategy for Iraq, or because you just
cannot stand President Bush. You have the right to vote for President
George W. Bush if you believe that he has done a good job over the last
four years. You might even decide that you do not want to vote at all
and would rather avoid the issues as much as possible. That is
certainly your option, and doing nothing is the only option for many
people in this world.
It is not my place, nor am I allowed by the Uniformed Code of Military
Justice, to tell you how to vote. But I can explain to you the truth
about what is going on around you. We know, and have known from the
beginning, that the ultimate success or failure of the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan, as well as the future of those countries, rests solely on
the shoulders of the Iraqi and Afghani people. If someone complains
that we should not have gone to war with Saddam Hussein, that our
intelligence was bad, that President Bush's motives were impure, then
take the appropriate action. Exercise your right to vote for Senator
Kerry, but please stop complaining about something that happened over a
year ago. The decision to deploy our military in Iraq and Afghanistan
is in the past, and while I believe that it is important to the
democratic process for our nation to analyze the decisions of our
leadership in order to avoid repeating mistakes, it is far more
important to focus on the future. The question of which candidate will
"get us out of Iraq sooner" should not be a consideration in your mind.
YOU SHOULD NOT WANT US OUT OF IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN SOONER.
There is only one coherent exit strategy that will make our time here worthwhile
and validate the sacrifice of so many of our countrymen. There is only one
strategy that has a chance of promoting peace and stabilizing the Middle
East. It is the exit strategy of both candidates, though voiced with
varying volumes and differing degrees of clarity. I will speak of Iraq
because that is where I am, though I feel the underlying principle applies to both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The American military must continue to help train and support the Iraqi
Police, National Guard, and Armed Forces. We must continue to give them
both responsibility and the authority with which to carry out those
responsibilities, so that they eventually can kill or capture the former
regime elements and foreign terrorists that are trying to create a
radical, oppressive state. We must continue to repair the infrastructure that we
damaged during the conflict, and improve the infrastructure that was
insufficient when Saddam was in power. We should welcome and encourage
partners in the coalition but recognize that many will choose the path
of least resistance and opt out; many of our traditional allies have
been doing this for years and it should not surprise us. We must respect the
citizens of Iraq and help them to understand the meaning of basic human
rights, for those are something the average Iraqi has never experienced.
We must be respectful of our cultural and religious differences. We
must help the Iraqis develop national pride, and most importantly, we
must leave this country better than we found it, at the right time, with
a chance of success so that its people will have an opportunity to forge
their own destiny. We must do all of these things as quickly and
efficiently as possible so that we are not seen as occupiers, but rather
liberators and helpers. We must communicate this to the world as
clearly and frequently as possible, both with words and actions.
If we leave before these things are done, then Iraq will fall into
anarchy and possibly plunge the Middle East into another war. The
ability of the United States to conduct foreign policy will be severely,
and perhaps permanently, degraded. Terrorism will increase, both in America and
around the world, as America will have demonstrated that it is not interested
in building and helping, only destroying. If we run or exit early, we
prove to our enemies that terror is more powerful and potent than freedom.
Many nations, like Spain, have already affirmed this in the minds of the
terrorists. Our failure, and its consequences, will be squarely on our
shoulders as a nation. It will be our fault. If we stay the course and
Iraq or Afghanistan falls into civil war on its own, then our hands are
clean. As a citizen of the United States and a U.S. Marine, I will be
able to sleep at night with nothing on my conscience, for I know that I,
and my country, have done as much as we could for these people. If we
leave early, I will not be able to live with myself, and neither should you. The
blood will be on our hands, the failure on our watch.
The bottom line is this: Republican or Democrat, approve or disapprove
of the decision to go to war, you need to support our efforts here. You
cannot both support the troops and protest their mission. Every time
the parent of a fallen Marine gets on CNN with a photo, accusing
President Bush of murdering his son, the enemy wins a strategic victory.
I cannot begin to comprehend the grief he feels at the death of his son,
but he dishonors the memory of my brave brother who paid the ultimate
price. That Marine volunteered to serve, just like the rest of us. No
one here was drafted. I am proud of my service and that of my peers. I
am ashamed of that parent's actions, and I pray to God that if I am
killed my parents will stand with pride before the cameras and reaffirm
their belief that my life and sacrifice mattered; they loved me dearly
and they firmly support the military and its mission in Iraq and
Afghanistan. With that statement, they communicate very clearly to our
enemies around the world that America is united, that we cannot be
intimidated by kidnappings, decapitations and torture, and that we care
enough about the Afghani and Iraqi people to give them a chance at
democracy and basic human rights. Do not support those that seek
failure for us, or seek to trivialize the sacrifices made here. Do not
make the deaths of your countrymen be in vain. Communicate to your
media and elected officials that you are behind us and our mission.
Send letters and encouragement to those who are deployed. When you meet
a person that serves you, whether in the armed forces, police, or fire
department, show them respect. Thank the spouses around you every day,
raising children alone, whose loved ones are deployed. Remember not
only those that have paid the ultimate price, but the veterans that bear
the physical and emotional scars of defending your freedom. At the very
least, follow your mother's advice. "If you can't say something nice,
don't say anything at all." Do not give the enemy a foothold in our
Nation's public opinion. He rejoices at Fahrenheit 9/11 and applauds
every time an American slams our efforts. The military can succeed here
so long as American citizens support us wholeheartedly.
Sleep well on this third anniversary of 9/11, America. Rough men are
standing ready to do violence on your behalf. Many of your sons and
daughters volunteered to stand watch for you. Not just rough men- the
infantry, the Marine grunts, the Special Operations Forces- but lots of
eighteen and nineteen year old kids, teenagers, who are far away from
home, serving as drivers, supply clerks, analysts, and mechanics. They
all have stories, families, and dreams. They miss you, love you, and
are putting their lives on the line for you. Do not make their time
here, their sacrifice, a waste. Support them, and their mission.
_________________
Two wrongs don't make a right!
But, three lefts do!! |
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