October
23, 1983. Beirut. A blast rips through the U.S. Marine
Corps barracks, leaving 241 U.S. military personnel dead
and another 80 seriously wounded. It was an act of
cowardice that killed those men - one of thousands of
crazed radicals on a suicide mission for his god - a god
that would demand a "holy war" and suicides.
That was then. I had made two friends about three months
before the blast. They were sleeping, snug in their beds,
their rifles locked away, along with the blanks they
carried for ammunition, in that barracks when it was
reduced to rubble. Two friends who managed to find a nice
resting place in Arlington National Cemetery. Yes, they
were now heroes. Spineless people killed my two friends,
as well as the other 239 military personnel in that
building.
Just a few days before the Beirut bombing another friend
of mine died. He died not at the hands of cowards, you
see. He died as a result of machinegun rounds ripping his
chest apart in a mission to rescue American medical
students from potential harm. He died on the island of
Grenada, a small piece of land in the Caribbean - not far
from that hated island of Cuba.
December 7, 1941. It's a bright and beautiful Sunday
morning in Oahu, Hawaii. It's just before 8 a.m. The
American flag is being hoisted up the flagpole.
Unannounced, hundreds of Japanese planes, known as
"Zeroes," swoop in, dropping bombs and spraying
everyone in sight - and out of sight - with machinegun
fire. The president at the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
said it was a day that would live in infamy. Infamy, just
in case you don't know, simply means it won't be soon
forgotten.
I think Roosevelt may have gotten some of his speech, at
least the idea of using the word "infamy" from
another U.S. president.
There's a graveyard in Pennsylvania, known these days at
the Gettysburg National Cemetery. On November 19, 1863,
Abraham Lincoln used similar words in dedicating the final
resting place for Civil War soldiers. Lincoln said, "The
world will little note, nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here."
Fast-forward to October 12, 2000 - 17 years later. It's
now the day that the USS Cole was bombed by a couple of
cowards - again. It seems those cowards, too, are linked
to some terrorist organization. Is it another "holy
war" they were fighting? If it is, someone forgot to
invite the U.S. into the game before the bombs started
flying. Of course, had they done that, the U.S. would have
wiped their faces clean with a few well-placed
rockets.
Unfortunately, 17 people on the USS Cole lost their lives
to the blast that ripped a hole in the side of the
warship. Those people were military personnel - U.S.
citizens.
Listening to the political heads talk on TV, whether it is
Al Gore or his presidential leader Bill Clinton, the talk
is sickening. Those two want to work through things in a
diplomatic fashion, they say. That is wrong. A military
strike - be it from a psycho or a Jihad, which means
"holy war," though now used to describe some
radical terrorists - is the only feasible response I can
see.
On his website, Sayyid
Mujtaba Musavi Lari
describes some of the thought of the old Islamic nation.
I'm not Islamic. I don't pretend to be Islamic. I don't
even play an Islamic person on TV. I'm an American and a
Christian, so I really can't say if the thinking that
Sayyid writes about prevails to this day. What I can say,
from actions of the terroristic cowards, that the
"holy war" concept that's practiced in today's
world doesn't follow the supposed guidelines - and it
isn't holy - even by the old standards.
This concept of "a just war" led to that of,
"the Jehad" or "Holy War", and the
first revelations on this subject to the Prophet are
enshrined in the Qur'anic texts (1) Sura XXII:
Hajj-"Pilgrimage" (verses 39 and 40):
"Those upon whom war is made by unbelievers are
granted permission to fight because they are being
oppressed (Verily God is most powerful to aid them) and
have been expelled from their homes in defiance of right
for the sole 'crime of saying 'Our Lord is God'."
Let's see, they are only supposed to fight when war is
brought upon them. What did the U.S. Marines in Beirut do?
Snore too loudly? Make too many patrols through the
streets, up railroad tracks, and watch too many of the
Jihad practice their tactics?
What did the sailors on the USS Cole do to make war? Sure,
I know the "official" verdict isn't in from
"intelligence" analysts, but you know what? It
isn't needed. The M.O. is there. The proof is in the
pudding. If you're a coward once, you're a coward
always.
Then Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born business and
millionaire Islamic leader, with Yemeni origins, comes out
almost a week after the bombing of the USS Cole and says
the U.S. better not attack him. Is poor old bin Laden
getting worried his dirty deeds aren't going to be so dirt
cheap for much longer? Is he worried he will have to start
paying the price? You see, bin Laden is the most prominent
of the "Afghans," Muslim radicals who fought
against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan during the
1980s before turning their attention onto the Western
presence in the
Persian Gulf. There's some food for thought.
"And (2) Sura II: Baqara - 'The Heifer' (verse
190): "Fight in the cause of God against those who
attack you. But be careful to maintain the limit, since
God does not love transgressors. "By 'limit' is meant
that the force used must be limited to that which is the
minimum adequate to restrain the evildoers who attack. The
force used must never exceed that limit in order to exact
revenge or impose an imperialistic conquest"."
Here the information from the old Islamic thought says to
fight on the Islamic god's side. (Yes, I know the word
"god" isn't capitalized - in the United States,
capitalizing the word "god" is reserved for use
in reference to the Christian God.) It also says to fight
against those "who attack you." It also said to
"maintain the limit," complete with a
definition. Did I miss something?
People, freedom isn't free. I remember learning that
lesson from Master Sgt. Donald O. MacNeil (USAF-Ret.) back
in 1981 while in Jr. ROTC in high school. In fact, old
Sarge had the ROTC class make a movie on what price is
paid for freedom. That message was drilled home even
further while I wore the uniform of this country.
The 17 crewmembers that were killed in the cowardly
bombing of the USS Cole is the price that must be paid for
our freedom. As long as the U.S. maintains a military
presence throughout the world, the price of wearing a U.S.
military uniform will be high - it's a price that can be
paid only with blood, unfortunately.
Am I dismissing the killing of 17 U.S. military personnel?
Not a chance! What I am saying, in no uncertain terms, is
that they took an oath - and unfortunately, lived and died
by that oath.
It is now the time for national healing. It is now the
time we call on our leaders to do what is right. The U.S.
was once again attacked - as it was on December 7, 1941 -
in a surprise attack. The stark contrast between the two
attacks is the one on the USS Cole was done in cowardice
spirit. The Japanese, at least, had the guts to show their
faces and identify themselves through aircraft markings.
Sure, the Japanese thought a declaration of war had been
delivered prior to the attack, as well. We won't get into
that, as no one even knows what that document is in
today's political world. We are too engrossed with having
our "conflicts" and "police actions."
When the suspects are found in the bombing of the USS
Cole, that is the time for the U.S. to launch a military
strike. It will not be the time to sit back and try to
work things out diplomatically. It will not be the time to
say that we have to bring the person or persons to
justice. It is the time to strike hard and fast. A few
F16s, maybe a few A10s, a few Stealth bombers, and maybe a
few off-shore missiles, fired from several U.S. naval
vessels - just for good measure - is the answer.
|
"Another
Day That Shall Live in Infamy"
