thedrifter
08-04-06, 07:33 AM
08/04/2006
Don't let discouraging voices wear down U.S. ability to guard freedom
The alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the town of Haditha made a dispiriting return to the headlines this week. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that anonymous Pentagon sources said ''evidence collected about the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supported allegations that Marines deliberately fired on civilians, including women and children.''
We're not sure what agenda motivated those sources, but it strikes us that making such an incendiary claim from the shadows of anonymity is akin to what a sniper does, firing a kill shot that comes out of nowhere. Who in the Pentagon would want to take such a shot at our own troops and why? The investigation is still going on and no soldiers have been charged to date.
Fortunately, Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder who just took command of the force whose members are accused in the incident, is the kind of soldier with the guts to speak on the record and restore perspective. Stalder told the AP, ''We don't know the facts on Haditha, let alone what the facts mean at this point. We do owe it to the American people to check our assumptions.''
The Haditha incident was put in the spotlight earlier this year by Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine. Murtha, instantly convicted the Marines of killing civilians in ''cold blood.'' Now, Murtha is being sued for defamation by the leader of the accused squad.
When shadowy voices in the Pentagon and a half-cocked member of Congress are so willing to tar American soldiers what does that do to the minds and morale of our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else around the world? It can't be good, especially coming atop the steady piercing whine from the anti-war, anti-anything-Bush chorus.
In fact, yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried an editorial titled ''Unreported Valor'' that raises a hugely disturbing question for our nation. It cites an article by Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense, who wrote in a military publication: ''The Iraq war is being played out against a backdrop of bitter partisan politics in the United States. Of those on the front lines, 70 percent get out after four years with no benefits. All they want is praise for their valor and service ... Their valor is absent from this war because it is not reported. In Fallujah, for instance, 100 Marine squads engaged in 200 firefights in cement rooms, using rifles, pistols, grenades and knives. By any historical comparison this was extraordinary. In Hue City in 1968 there was one fight inside a house. In the entire history of SWAT teams in the United States, there have not been 200 fights with automatic weapons inside rooms. Yet the courage of our soldiers and Marines in battles in Fallujah, Najaf, etc, received little press notice.''
West went on, ''Now we face the test of whether the press will place the tragedy of Haditha in perspective or whether Haditha will unfairly become a false symbol ...''
And finally, West asks the deadly question: ''What happens if the youth of America adopt the same fractious attitudes as their political leaders? Who then will serve? ... while we are at war, we as a nation should be very careful not to undercut our own martial resolve. If we as a nation lose heart, who will fight for us?''
That's a frightening question. Especially as we read it only a week after Al Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called on the world's Muslims to wage holy war. Standing in front of a picture of the World Trade Center in flames, Zawahiri declared, ''All the world is a battlefield open in front of us ... It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq. ... We will attack everywhere.''
Now imagine that the anonymous Pentagon sources, the Murthas and just plain apathy finally leave America with nobody willing to stand up and preserve our freedom against Zawahiri's oppressive plans for our future.
Ellie
Don't let discouraging voices wear down U.S. ability to guard freedom
The alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines in the town of Haditha made a dispiriting return to the headlines this week. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that anonymous Pentagon sources said ''evidence collected about the deaths of 24 Iraqis in Haditha supported allegations that Marines deliberately fired on civilians, including women and children.''
We're not sure what agenda motivated those sources, but it strikes us that making such an incendiary claim from the shadows of anonymity is akin to what a sniper does, firing a kill shot that comes out of nowhere. Who in the Pentagon would want to take such a shot at our own troops and why? The investigation is still going on and no soldiers have been charged to date.
Fortunately, Lt. Gen. Keith Stalder who just took command of the force whose members are accused in the incident, is the kind of soldier with the guts to speak on the record and restore perspective. Stalder told the AP, ''We don't know the facts on Haditha, let alone what the facts mean at this point. We do owe it to the American people to check our assumptions.''
The Haditha incident was put in the spotlight earlier this year by Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a former Marine. Murtha, instantly convicted the Marines of killing civilians in ''cold blood.'' Now, Murtha is being sued for defamation by the leader of the accused squad.
When shadowy voices in the Pentagon and a half-cocked member of Congress are so willing to tar American soldiers what does that do to the minds and morale of our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else around the world? It can't be good, especially coming atop the steady piercing whine from the anti-war, anti-anything-Bush chorus.
In fact, yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried an editorial titled ''Unreported Valor'' that raises a hugely disturbing question for our nation. It cites an article by Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense, who wrote in a military publication: ''The Iraq war is being played out against a backdrop of bitter partisan politics in the United States. Of those on the front lines, 70 percent get out after four years with no benefits. All they want is praise for their valor and service ... Their valor is absent from this war because it is not reported. In Fallujah, for instance, 100 Marine squads engaged in 200 firefights in cement rooms, using rifles, pistols, grenades and knives. By any historical comparison this was extraordinary. In Hue City in 1968 there was one fight inside a house. In the entire history of SWAT teams in the United States, there have not been 200 fights with automatic weapons inside rooms. Yet the courage of our soldiers and Marines in battles in Fallujah, Najaf, etc, received little press notice.''
West went on, ''Now we face the test of whether the press will place the tragedy of Haditha in perspective or whether Haditha will unfairly become a false symbol ...''
And finally, West asks the deadly question: ''What happens if the youth of America adopt the same fractious attitudes as their political leaders? Who then will serve? ... while we are at war, we as a nation should be very careful not to undercut our own martial resolve. If we as a nation lose heart, who will fight for us?''
That's a frightening question. Especially as we read it only a week after Al Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called on the world's Muslims to wage holy war. Standing in front of a picture of the World Trade Center in flames, Zawahiri declared, ''All the world is a battlefield open in front of us ... It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq. ... We will attack everywhere.''
Now imagine that the anonymous Pentagon sources, the Murthas and just plain apathy finally leave America with nobody willing to stand up and preserve our freedom against Zawahiri's oppressive plans for our future.
Ellie