The War on Terror

4 June 2007

Random Thoughts on Paper


Many of you reading this commentary have traveled outside the United States of America, as have I. Let me take you back to the moment of departure…you were probably excited to be on your way; anticipating the adventure in store; looking forward to the relaxation or the job at hand.

Now, let me take you back to the moment you were standing in line to be received back into the United States of America. Remember waiting in line to get your passport stamped? Remember the federal agent saying, “Welcome back to the United States”? Essentially saying “Welcome home”!

We’re home! We’ve always said “There’s no place like home”. Most of us mean the house in which we reside. But for anyone traveling abroad, home is the United States of America first and foremost.

Now, think of our military. They are not on vacation. They are not on a short term business trip lapping in the luxuries of hotel living and maid service.

They are on a mission; a purpose-driven mission. They are carrying around about 50 pounds of battle gear in 110 degree heat (at least) living in tents (if that), driving in un-air-conditioned vehicles where the heat is about 10 degrees hotter. They don’t have goose down pillows or scented bath gels or shaving cream with aloe.

What they do have is a purpose-driven mission to complete. They have hope of coming home. They have hope of making that home just as safe for their children as it has been for them and for us for decades.

When you think of home you think of people who love, respect, admire and accept you.

But what do our military men and women think of home, their home, first and foremost, the United States of America.

How would you feel if you were told the media had to travel with you and then that very entity sent you to prison for doing your job to the best of your ability? How would you feel if your home had bad news to report about the way you’re doing you job 24/7? How would you feel if they were telling the world and the very people you are fighting of your plans; your failures; reporting how many people are against your mission; how you are fighting a lost cause; and so on…

Our military is able at different times during their mission to watch television.
They can see we are a country divided.

Terrorists (Let me be clear here: NOT our military but the people killing our military and anyone fighting for democracy in Iraq, either by car bombs, suicide bombs, mortars, be-headings or other more inhumane ways) watch our news. They can see we are a country divided.

Does anyone understand the fundamental, basic concept here? Unless we are united as one, we will fall. The terrorists are united. Our military is united. Why are we not united? We were certainly united on September 12th, 2001.

Unless we get that sense of “United we stand, divided we fall” back into the fabric of our lives we are going to have another attack. We cannot be liberal on this issue. You defeat the terrorists with whatever means necessary. You don’t play nice and negotiate.

Here is a sickening story for you, maybe it will shake you to your very soul, and I sure hope it does. I hope after reading this that you get an understanding of what evil is and know this; we are dealing with evil over there.

While in Iraq I met a truck driver and for the purpose of this story we’ll call him Richard. Richard loved doing his job. He delivered goods to the military, KBR and Dept. of State. He ran (drove) what is known as the Sunni Triangle. I commented on how dangerous a route that was and he told me of lots of “near misses”, but he was committed and would stay until the war was over or he died serving his country and the country of Iraq. Then one day about a year or so later I saw him in the line of folks who were demobilizing, or going home. I was headed out on R&R and feeling pretty good, then I saw him and knew something had to wrong for him to be leaving so soon after our intense conversation. I pulled him out of line and asked him what was going on. Here’s his story in his (and my) words:

Crystal, you know I was committed to the cause. My truck’s been hit by RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades), I’ve dodged ambushes in the desert, my friends have been killed, but something happened last week that I just can’t shake. I’ve seen evil up close and personal and I recognized it and I never want to see it again. While we were making a run last week I happened to be the lead driver (which is a tremendous responsibility. If you are the lead you DO NOT slow down for anything. It’s foot on the gas through the vast desert and no matter what happens you keep going. If you stop and there is an ambush your entire convoy is at risk-risk of death, be-headings etc.). Ahead of me I saw what appeared to be an ambush getting ready to take place so I grabbed the steering wheel tight, focused and kept my foot on the gas. All of a sudden a man intent on stopping the mission threw a young girl in front of my truck…

Richard kept going and I’m sure you can guess the rest. THIS is what (and I say what not who for a reason) we are dealing with. This is what a terrorist does.

What’s his name, Sadr, has been in Iran for 3 months and now is back in Iraq. Just wait. The war on terror is just getting started. If we do not band together as a nation, as we did on September 12th, we’ll have another September 11th.

I had friends from France email me their sympathies after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, the pentagon and the plane that went down that our own heroes stopped. Where did the unification go? Where did the flags over the overpasses go? Where did our patriotic ideals go?

We are besieged daily with the death toll in Iraq; eight marines killed today, 3 soldiers yesterday, 5 the day before that, the deadliest month to date…

Let us remember the death count that matters; over 3 thousand killed in minutes in the twin towers alone, on September the 11th, 2001.

Like I’ve said in previous articles, this is a war. If we expect anything less than death then we are naïve beyond reason. We should also expect kidnappings, be-headings and inhumane torture. Why? Because we are dealing with terrorists that hate Americans. And when I say hate I do not mean dislike, I mean “I want to see you die a brutal, torturous, slow death and see you in hell” hate. What is our greatest sin against them? We are Americans. We believe in Freedom. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in evolution. We believe what we want. We live as we choose. We are free!

“Absurd” you may say. Well, let us take a personal inventory. Are you white? Do you hate people because they are black? Brown? Yellow? Different? Are you black? Do you hate people because they are white? Brown? Yellow? Different? Are you brown? Do you hate…

We are all ready to stand in judgment and say that we cannot understand how they hate us when we hate our own.

Those who hate us have been brought up to hate us. They are brainwashed from birth to hate us, the infidels. They hate us because they do not know us and it is a very natural thing to fear the unknown.

While in Baghdad I spent a lot of time in bunkers or in safe-havens. Whenever there was an attack on my compound I went to the safe-haven; a part of the building deemed “safe” in case of a mortar attack. When walking about we ran to the nearest bunker. Once while at the United States Embassy (where I worked) we were bombarded with mortar attacks. We were in the safe-haven for over an hour. One of the women in the Consulate’s office said “Man, can’t we just give peace a try”? In order for us to have peace abroad, we must first have it at home.

Take the time to make friends with someone of a different ethnic, religious, social or economic background than yours. Try not to judge people based on their skin color, religion or sexual preference. Seriously, can’t we just give peace a try?