Having served in theater. We are at war. The war on terrorism.
I’ve served from Bosnia to Iraq. In Bosnia, we hunted down war criminals and protected the Muslim community. But no body gives the US credit for Kosovo or Bosnia, nor do the liberals understand that there are organized factions that are not nations that wish to destroy the American way of life. The western nations stopped genocide in the Balkans. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were massacred for no reason. I personally found thousands of bodies and saw the carnage left by the Serbians. We’ve been in the Balkans since the 1990s and we’ll be there in some capacity for another 20 years. Just like our presence in South Korea. We’ll still be there when our grand children are in their 50s; because of the terror that exists in North Korea.
War is relative and the US is at war. From the soldiers’ point of view, we’re at war. Time will demonstrate that these organized factions (terrorists) are being supported by predominantly Muslim extremist based countries. This will last for years. Western European countries and the United States will remain at risk so long as there are Muslim extremist. If a country counters sharia law then it will be a target of Muslim extremist. Our children will be fighting this war because it is over our way of life. Our way of life does not fit into the Muslim extremist’s box.
As for Iraq, if the US did nothing but remove a dictator from power that terrorized his population, then our invasion of Iraq was justified. The US did more for human rights in Iraq than ever have been done by the United Nations. The quality of life in Iraq will continue to rise because Saddam’s family won’t be skimming off the profits for his personal gain and the gain of the Republican Guard. Saddam encouraged and sponsored genocide. He ordered the mass killing of the Kurds through chemical warfare, he executed thousands for disagreeing with his government. Saddam kept the basic things such as electricity, clean water, medical care, and schools away from from people that he thought to be less desirable (Kurds, women, Bedouin tribes, and folks not associated with his ruling party). Saddam and his family (and Republican Guard) raped, killed, and mutilated the population of Iraq in order to remain in power. He invaded Kuwait, and the west pushed him back over the border; but it was just a matter of time before he did it again. Heck, when the Iraqi Soccer Team got beat, one of his son’s had the team jailed and tortured.
My Father served during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. There really is no difference between Hitler and Saddam. If the world powers had handled Hitler as we’ve done Saddam, then there may not have been a European War. There still may have been a Pacific War because of the west allowing Japan to expand through out the far east immediately after World War I.
We’re very lucky that we’ve not had to ration fuel, food, tires, etc as my parents had to do during World War II and because we’ve not had to make sacrifices as a Nation, most don’t think we’re at war. If there was a draft and then every swinging richard had to serve his country then the majority of Americans would be touched by the war on terrorism. Because we have a 100% volunteer military on a select few are affected. Maybe it is time for America to start the draft again, so folks understand the importance of defending our way of life.
To protect our Nation, the United States has to stand-up to despots no matter how small or large. We’re at war, just ask the Gold Star families, the Blue Star families, veteran’s coming home and the wounded warriors that are recovering from their wounds.
Great post!!
