"I have come here to voice what I believe is an urgently needed reminder: That the war on terror can be won with clarity and courage or lost with confusion and vacillation."
What does this have to do with the tragedy at Fort Hood. Think about it. "an urgently needed reminder" Never before has a United States President made a spectacle of our fallen warriors coming home with TV cameras and news reporters. Remember, just a short week or so ago. Remember, a picture of candidate Obama standing with his hands folded has the Star Spangle Banner is being played. Remember, the one phone call to his hand picked Commanding General who was developing a war strategy for Afghanistan. I am reminding you this guy doesn't give a squat about the military! He doesn't give a hoot or holler about how many of our brave warriors die. IMHO, He cares only about the power of the office of the Presidency of the United States of America. This is your reminder.
"...won with clarity and courage or lost with confusion and vacillation."
There is no clarity nor courage in this administration's support of the war on terrorism. There is no courage in this administration. One that bows to Muslim Kings and does a world wide tour apologizing for the greatest country on the face of this earth. There is only confusion and vacillation. With a leader that shows this demeanor is it any wonder there is confusion in the lives of our brave warriors? I certainly would not want him running Wal Mart.
This is clarity and courage not confusion and vacillation. Read these two excerpts from the Washington Post about our warriors that were there.
When the gunfire stopped, soldiers schooled in battlefield medicine ripped their clothes to make tourniquets and bandages.*
Seven of the wounded were taken to nearby Metroplex Adventist Hospital, while 10 went to Scott and White Hospital about 30 miles away in Temple. Both received a huge turnout for blood donors, so many volunteers that they eventually had to close their doors and turn away hundreds.*
So many volunteers they had to close their doors and turn donors away! When have you ever heard of that happening! That! Mr. President is "courage and clarity"! That! Mr. President is what made this country the greatest nation on earth. That! Mr. President is what will allow you to go so far and then "we the people" will tear the power from your hands and give it back to the people! AMEN, I'm done preaching now.
Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of my way, Mr. President!
It is obvious to me this American soldier, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, projected outward signs that he was unhappy about the role of the United States in the war against terrorism. It is being reported by major news outlets he was also unhappy about his upcoming deployment. It is also know know, he was a practicing Muslim. OK, jump on board. Conservative Outrage is racist. WRONG! My point is what part may political correctness have played in this tragedy? Because he was Muslim is there a chance his words and feelings may have been over looked for the fear of a superior being branded "anti-Muslim or a racist"
I really don't know. Hind sight they saw, is 20/20. I do know this. One of my closest friends is black. He is also my age. He also works with me. If we get the opportunity to go to lunch or dinner together as we have and will continue to do we pick a table away from everyone else. Why? We at times are not politically correct. We call it as we see it! We both were raised to NOT see the color of a man's skin. We talk like brothers not like a black man and a white man. We RESPECT each other for what we do, our moral upbringing, faith to our families etc. It would not matter to either one of us if the other were blue, green, or purple. It is the values that bring the respect. We both agree there are people who would not like to hear our conversations as they may become offended. Phooey!
Where in Heaven's sakes has our respect and common sense gone to? The chance that being politically correct may have been a part of this horrible tragedy is unthinkable! We, as a country, must get back to the basics, Respect and Responsibility.
G-d bless the soldiers and families of those involved in this horrible tragedy.
Pops
*Washington Post
30 comments:
I don't think it was political correctness. I think it's stupidity. I think people who don't agree with a mission should not be forced to serve; they will only sabotage the mission. I think the military hasn't understood that society has changed since WWII; people don't just follow orders the way they used to.
You forgot to add that Maj. Hasan complained of harrassment in the Army for being a Muslim and tried desperately to leave the Army legally. The Army was just stupid to not let him go. They should have let him pay back his medical school costs and leave.
Thanks Pops for a wonderful post. It doesn't really matter anymore why this happened out at Ft Hood...it's now spilt milk. Now we need to be about the business of cleaning up the mess....praying for all involved and doing what we can to make sure it doesn't happen again. As a military mom, I don't blame anyone...except the shooter. He chose to do what he did for whatever reasons. He's an adult and he knew it was wrong. It was wrong on many levels...but it was wrong.
And I thank YHWH that it wasn't worse than it was. This could have been infinitely worse! But thankfully, our soldiers reacted with grace and training, our police/first responders reacted with bravery and skill and our community responded with love and respect. On these things I'll dwell. And continue to pray for all involved. Shalom, Spitfire
We're hellbent on proving Islam is a religion of peace, so much so that our soldiers are intentionally placed in harm's way rather than remove a threat.
How were adherents of the Shinto religion treated during WWII? Seems we could learn a lesson there instead of pandering to the followers of the pedophile prophet.
And Elizabeth, your comments prove you've zero knowledge of the military culture.
Elizabeth, my dear friend. I did not say it WAS political correctness, I ask the question what if it was? You forget that my and your tax dollars paid for his education. He signed a contract saying he would do "A" for "B" If a man's word is no good then what good is the man. Yes, let him pay back his debt and go. What's wrong with commitment, honor, courage!
I was harassed in the ARMY for my Jewish heritage even though I was a Christian. You know what I did, I just sucked it UP! Went on with my life and forgot about the stupid guy from Lebanon who made a Jewish joke about my nose, or anything else he could come up with.
The military is not in the position to "understand" society has changed. They are NOT, repeat, NOT, in the Public Relations business. Quite simply my dear they get paid to kill somebody.
Might I quote George Orwell,
"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."
That is why you can sleep at night and not fear the Gestapo will not kick in the door and carry you or a loved one away forever!
Spitfire, You are right. What is done is done. It's not what you're going through, it's what you're going to. Shalom
Subvet,
I heard a guy on the radio explain it this way. This IS a religious war. It is to extreme followers of Islam and it damn well better become that way with America.
Thanks for the comments gang.
Pops
If this is a "religious" war, does that mean we are fighting on behalf of religion? Wouldn't that be a violation of the US Constitution, which forbids the mixture of government and religion?
I don't see what my understanding, or lack thereof, of military culture has to do with my comment. If the Army had let Hasan go, the incident at Ft. Hood wouldn't have happened. Those are facts, regardless of my knowledge or ignorance of military culture.
Elizabeth, I spent ten minutes going into great detail the apparent ignorance and arrogance you exhibit. At the end of that time I deleted my comments. Pops is a man I respect and I won't get into a flame war with you here on his blog.
Come over to mine and play. But be warned, no one is ever asked to use kid gloves there.
Whew! you two are taking off the gloves. Please feel free to continue here however, if you go to Subvet's playground be aware them Navy guys play hard ball and there's more of them!
Man the torpedoes and let the ships fall where they may. No spitin', gougin', or grabbing whare ain't suppose to!
Elizabeth, my dear friend, IF Major Hasan had completed his commitment NONE of this would have happened either.
Regarding the Constitution, who in the world was your Civics or American History teacher. They dropped the ball on you. I believe you are referring to the part that says "shall establish no religion" That merely means as was in those days the President couldn't make Islam the National religion and all other religions outlawed. It has nothing in it that prohibits war against religions. For the Muslim extremists this is a religious war meaning winning the hearts and souls of the people over to Islam.
Elizabeth, I think you missed the whole point dear. No one forced Mr. Hassan into the military. No one forced him to choose to spend 6 years allowing the military (which means tax payers)pay for his education. And no one forced him to stay in the military...he signed that dotted line all on his own! He agreed to a certain term of service to pay off his education loans.And unless something has changed drastically in the last few years, he chose to reup his enlistment at least once during that time. The sign in times are usually 2 or 4 years tours. So HE chose to stay in the army...it wasn't the Army that wouldn't release him..he had a contract to fulfill. He CHOSE to shoot innocent people...one of whom was a pregnant woman who had just returned from overseas and was processing paperwork to be able to go home to visit family and have her baby! He chose badly. He has now chosen to face the music. He shot 43 innocent people in TEXAS. After the military takes care of their trial, the state of Texas has their shot at him. To quote our Governor "We have the death penalty and we aren't afraid to use it!" If the military doesn't shoot him, Texas will!!!
As for this being a religious war...of course it is! It's not that Americans are fighting for their churches..wake up!!! The radical Islamics are fighting for world domination!!!!! Read the Quran..it states in more than one place that it is the DUTY of religious followers of Mohamed to allow one chance for non believers to convert...then kill them if they don't convert. And the comments about Hassan being harassed are incorrect. Eye witnesses say HE was harassing our service men and women.
I hope that clears up some of your misunderstandings. I hope I was not offensive in my reply...I tried hard to not be offensive.
Pops, great response to Elizabeth. Love the quote!
Subvet, you're a good guy to invite her to your blog....and thanks for respecting Pops. (I did the same thing...twice!) Grin.
Shalom, Spitfire
I didn't say it wasn't a religious war for Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Of course it is. I was saying that we can't and shouldn't make this a religious war on our part. That will be a sure way to alienate all our allies and attract more members to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
As for Pops' comment, here is an interesting column about someone who knew Hasan both as a soldier and as a Muslim:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kamran-pasha/a-muslim-soldiers-view-fr_b_348973.html
hmmm, if someone beats me up because I'm a Catholic..I should not hit back because for me it isn't about religion??
noted.
by the way. how many thousands of servicepeople want out of the military before their enlistment is up?? how many thousands are sent to war even when they don't really want to go? WHO WANTS TO GO TO WAR??? Pops, tell me now, does Jacob WANT to go to war??? Did you???
and yet, all these OTHER PEOPLE managed to do their job and follow their orders WITHOUT choosing to go into a crowded area and shoot as many people as they could.
Lizzy, your logic is seriously lacking.
Poppa, I have had internet and electrical issues and have lost our email. Could you email me so that I can send the recipes?
Some people need a reality check, starting with the Commander in Chief.
For us , this is a war of survival. It is a war of ideology just as we fought against Nazism. If it happens to be 'religious ideology' for the other side, so what? The fact is they hate us, our way of life,and their religious teachers and 'Holy Book' call for our annihilation. Would we have allowed a self avowed Nazi to serve in out military in WWII???
We are so stupid I am no longer sure we even deserve to exist as a nation...
Sorry for the rant...
For JM and anybody else who wants to enter Grandma Gretchen's Recipe Contest. Web page is:
http://spicesandstuff.com/
Closing date is November 10,2009
Thanks
Pops
To Whom ever deleted their comment. Please email it to me at:
ABNPOPPA@GMAIL.COM
Please allow me to assist you perhaps in dressing it up a little if you feel it's inappropriate. I will edit it and email it back for your approval. If you disagree with my edit, I will not post it. Fair enough? Everyone deserves to have their voice heard. That's what America is all about!!
Elizabeth, How about getting some more of your side over here for some lively discussion.
Pops
Not totally sure what "my side" is...
I don't have recipes to submit because I don't really use recipes anymore. I just make it up as I go along. It's more exciting that way.
I have been watching CNN about Hasan and it is quite interesting. I am getting a picture of what might have happened. Hasan sounds to me like someone who was relied on by his parents to help run their store and maybe never learned properly how to socialize. He thus became increasingly isolated, never married and didn't even keep in close touch with his siblings. His parents died. He joined the military before Sept. 11. I remember quite clearly some of the rhetoric that was going on at that time (and some of it is still evident here on this blog), anti-Muslim rhetoric that of course Hasan took personally. I don't think it is comparable to anti-Jewish remarks (which I know are also common in the military) because Jews are not being attacked by the US military. I don't think there is a comparison there. I used to read soldiers' blogs during the Iraq war and a lot of what I read was bigoted and offensive. I wonder if things would have turned out differently if more people in the military had listened thoughtfully to Hasan and tried to understand his political views instead of repeating slogans. I'm not saying any of this excuses his actions but we need to think about preventing future incidents. I believe it is important to listen to other people and to try to understand their points of view. I can imagine what Hasan might have felt listening to fellow soldiers call Iraqis "hajjis" and other slurs. What is incredible is that the military leadership doesn't seem to have instituted programs to better integrate Muslim and other minority soldiers. There are also many incidents of harassment of gay soldiers and sexual attacks on female soldiers. The US military has a poor track record of engaging different types of people in military service and this cannot go on as it undermines our military efforts in general.
Elizabeth,
"my side" was meant to be people that would help support your side of the discussion.
Elizabeth, Why does America always have to be wrong? What part of COMMITMENT, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND! He made a commitment and then blamed everyone else for his problems. Is is really that difficult for you to grasp? Why are the bigots always on the American side?I spent 11 months and 29 days on a mountain top and was called every name in the book by middle easterners. I've been picked on for my Jewish nose and heritage. Unfortunately for me I was never sexually harassed, (darn). I never blamed the country the people came from. I didn't really think much of the people who were doing it but, Sticks and Stones as my mother taught me.
Do you realize we most likely would not be having this conversation if young men and women who were put in rough positions like my son and his buddies were a couple of years ago decided they didn't want to go to Iraq, because it didn't suit their fancy. Every soldier I have met when I was in the ARMY and the ones that I have had the Honor and Privilege to meet since Jacob has been serving would give up their job immediately if there would be no wars. People such as Jacob, Sgt Anderson, Poch, Sgt. Johnson all would find something else to do. Of that I assure you. But someone has to keep you,me, and 300+ million Americans safe. I don't see Barney Frank stepping up to the plate. I only use him because he is from New York. I'll throw in Senator S. Brown from Ohio also. Just to make it fair. Do you not realize you could be speaking German or Japanese if the soldiers of WWII had not upheld their commitments?
C'mon, Elizabeth, C'mon over to the "right" side. We have cookies.
Pops
Barney Frank's from Massachusetts.
I don't think you have a Jewish nose and you don't have a Jewish last name. I'm surprised anyone thought you were Jewish. When were you in the Middle East?
I stand corrected. I knew Barney was from Mass. Guess he was the most liberal guy I could think of from that area of the country.
You haven't seen me up close. The middle Easterners I refer to saw my Star of David Medallion. No, at the time it began I was in New Jersey for the record.
Your up early again this morning. Got your coffee and NYT?
Pops
There's a mountaintop in New Jersey? Full of Middle Easterners? I am intrigued.
No, Elizabeth, The mountain top was about 3 comments ago. I was in New Jersey on somewhat flat land at the time my Star of David was seen. Then I went to the mountain top. But the remarks continued only not as much as shall we say survival become a more important "to us" at the time than petty bickering about ones heritage.
Pops
Elizabeth continues flaunting her ignorance of the military. She is unaware that our armed services have been held up by numerous civil rights organizations as examples of how to successfully integrate minorities.
Having served for half of my 22 year career in the Navy's Equal Opportunity Program I'd say those organizations are right.
So tell me Elizabeth, what is YOUR experience in implementing equal opportunity in the workplace? We already know you've no military experience, have you ever gotten "down in the trenches" and done anything to further equal treatment and justice for all?
My guess is you've only displayed what Joan Baez used to derisively refer to as "checkbook committment" i.e.,tossing a few of your wealthy parent's bucks into a collection.
Why is it that when a supposed 'christian' misrepresents our faith in an act of violence, such as shooting an abortionist, the media quickly assumes the violence is religiously motivated. BUT when a Muslim commits mass murder while shouting a 'religious' war call, we are not to think it might possibly have been motivated by Islam?
Subvet, I'm a social worker, remember??
Oh by the way, I've fought terrorism by going overseas and meeting people in the Arab world and helping them, giving them a different view of America than the "us and them" rhetoric that inflames people.
Elizabeth,
Just a suggestion, of course. Perhaps the next time you go "overseas" and meet people it could be in the Jewish state of Israel. Perhaps you could get a second opinion on terrorism and the "us and them" rhetoric that inflames people.
Just a suggestion of course.
Pops,
I've been to Israel and I've met numerous Israelis, both here and there. There is a diversity of opinion in Israel and one of the people I met, whose daughter was killed by a suicide bomber, was more or less in agreement with my political views.
You know I was re-reading the comments here and I was struck by something: Even though we all know that if Hasan had been allowed to leave the military the incident at Ft. Hood wouldn't have happened, people here seem to be arguing that we shouldn't have done that because on principle people should fulfill the obligation they signed up for. So, it's okay for 13 people to have died so that someone's abstract principle remains intact? That doesn't make any sense to me. Nor do I see how ranting about Islam, or radical Islam, or what you think is Islam, is going to help prevent incidents like what happened at Ft. Hood from happening in the future. I have yet to read a comment from anyone here suggesting an actual idea to prevent incidents such as the one at Ft. Hood from happening again.
Elizabeth,
I've read all the comments here...and you asked for a suggestion. I have one. Anyone who belongs to the 'religion of peace' is not allowed in the military. No Islamics,radical or not, in the military of the US. That would take care of this happening again.
If you look back thru history, when has a country been at war and allowed members of the enemy into their own military? Did the Allies have Nazis in their militaries? Did the US have Japenese in the military during WWII? Did the Crusadors have middle easteners in their armies? I don't think so....so way in the name of anything sane would we allow Muslims into our military now? I'm NOT saying all Muslims are terrorists or going to go on rampages. But we ARE in a war against radical Islam. So why have Islams in our military????? That just muddies the waters, and makes it tough both on the folks fighting the war to figure out who the 'bad' guys are and on the 'good' Muslims that would never dream of going against the country they're living in. Seems a pretty easy solution to me....but of course there will be plenty of folks who scream discrimination....all the way up to our becoming a slave country to our enemies. Oh well.
Pops, I think your nose is wonderful...after all, it helps you breathe. And that's a habit you really don't want to give up. Giggle.
Shalom, Sptifre
Whoa! Perhaps I should have stayed in bed after reading all of these comments!
Um, when did Muslims become the enemy? Just like when did one priest who molests a boy ruin it for every priest? I question whether this is a war of religion; it's a war of extremism. Just as there are extreme Islamists, there are extreme Christians, the only difference is that the Christians did not crash airplanes into the WTC. Rather, extreme Christians are more domestic terrorists who target people who do not have the same beliefs. Hmmm, isn't that strange how they are similar in that sense?
I did not know Hasan and did not take the time to read the artile the Elizabeth posted comments ago (which I'm sure is quite enlightening). However, Pops is right; when are enlist in the marines, navy, etc, you are enlisting to a certain set of rules. In some instances, such as the marines (hoorah!), they are bred to kill. However, when your fellow marine, your fellow navy man, your fellow army man ridicules you for what you believe in, it's a dangerous position to be in. I'm sure that it is the same for the people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, who are equally taunted.
Therefore, when issues are brought up, I agree with Elizabeth. Issues of Hasan being discriminated against was brought up to superiors who did nothing.
This reminds me of the girl that was gang raped over a week ago. No one did ANYTHING to help her. They just kept on walking or looking on. It is just a bit disgusting that man cannot help someone in need. So, Pops, you're right, what good is man if his word means nothing? I think that it's time to stop standing around and pointing fingers and do something else, like listening and helping others. I'm sure that it would go a long way.
Godspeed.
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