Thursday, April 19, 2007

Victory: Give it a Chance

Dear Nancy Pelosi .....





The Sniper



The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.

The mid-day air ran thick with dust; my throat was parched and dry.

With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,

I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear "Stay low."



My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,

The figure stretched across the rubble, several steps away from me.

He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of gray and brown,

That hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.



He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,

But pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.

"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,

Beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device.



A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,

"You think he's going to set it off along the crowded street?

The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,

Unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."



A thunder clap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered:

While citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.

Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,

The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.



And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,

Instead he took a logbook out and quietly he wrote.

"Hey I could put you on TV, that shot was quite a story!"

But he surprised me once again- "I got no wish for glory."



"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"

He looked at me with saddened eyes and said "You just don't get it.

"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?

Before a mortar hit it, it was a grocery store."



"But don't go thinking that to Bomb a store is all that cruel,

The rubble just across the street -it used to be a school.

The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"

His head hung low, they never ever thought a car would just explode.



"As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"

He swallowed hard; the words came from his mouth just like a curse.

"Today the fights on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,"

"I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fights back at home."



"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,

Don't want to get a call from school that says my daughter died;

I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,

Nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."



"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,

I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."

He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,

"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."



"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin:

That most of us are OK and we're coming home again.

And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,

How when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."



You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,

Without the fear that that tyranny is just a step behind:

Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,

Or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."



He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,

Then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added:

"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,

That we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak.



by Michael Marks - a Marine - 2006

Friday, April 13, 2007

The Obvious: Democrats vs. Victory

No Retreat, Baby, No Surrender!


First, let me say, it is good to be back. Although, I cannot promise that I will be posting daily, expect to see more from me. So, I just finished reading today's column by Charles Krauthammer in today's Washington Post.

To summarize, he detailed some of the most significant advances that the early stages of the Surge has to boast thus far. Sunni tribes who have turned their backs on Al-Qaeda being the most significant. He also touched upon the fact that, no matter what positive news comes out of Iraq, the Democrats and the MSM are hell bent on making a mockery of our political system by focusing on finding a political loop hole to end the war. Period.

I will pick up here with something that, many may have already realized, but for me, by reading the aforementioned piece, it became crystal clear to me that the Democrats are not American. What I mean by that is that they do not have a love or a patriotism that runs through the veins of true Americans. They have somehow advanced to such an elite stratum in their political careers that their personal aspirations have ironically succeeded what most likely brought them to political office in the first place, the desire to make America better.

They now have decided that pushing their agenda and stopping a Republican administration are their only two standards. They claim that they are attempting to protect the lives of our troops yet inexplicably have ignored the fact that dying for their country is why they volunteered in the first place. It is painstakingly clear that each and every brave man and woman who signed on the dotted line at their local recruiting station understood that the willingness to give their lives for their country was the prerequisite.

Then we have the likes of my home state's favorite ilk, Hillary Clinton ranting that (and I paraphrase) this administration would like the American people to believe that anyone who stands against this war is unpatriotic. Well, Hill, you are. Allow me to extend my linguistic background to the Hallowed Halls of the Russell Senate Office Building.

pa·tri·ot
n. One who loves, supports, and defends (and fights militarily for) one's country.

(This is a collaboration of various definition that were located at dictionary.com. It would also be of interest to note that the antonym of this word is "traitor". So, President Bush's claim that you are either with us or against us, surely applies.)

So, if a patriot is someone who fights for their country, then it would be correct to conclude that anyone who does not support the mission of our military is indeed unpatriotic. Does this mean that the Democrats are unpatriotic? There is another point to consider here and before coming to a conclusion in this brief debate. That point being, Victory vs. Defeat. If the Democrats can say that we have done absolutely everything in our power both politically and militarily and that we have exhausted ALL options in the fight against the insurgency in Iraq, then and only then would the patriotic choice be to bring our men and women home.

We are obviously not even close to that point. Therefore, any Democrat or Republican who votes against providing our Military Forces with everything we can muster to win this war is indeed a traitor.

And the punishment for treason is .....at the very least impeachment.