Posted on 07/22/2006 4:20:05 AM PDT by Valin
When I was in the Navy, I once witnessed a bar fight in downtown Olongapo (Philippines) that still haunts my dreams. The fight was between a big oafish Marine and a rather soft-spoken, medium sized Latino sailor from my ship.
All evening the Marine had been trying to pick a fight with one of us and had finally set his sights on this diminutive shipmate of mine... figuring him for a safe target. When my friend refused to be goaded into a fight the Marine sucker punched him from behind on the side of the head so hard that blood instantly started to pour from this poor man's mutilated ear.
Everyone present was horrified and was prepared to absolutely murder this Marine, but my shipmate quickly turned on him and began to single-handedly back him towards a corner with a series of stinging jabs and upper cuts that gave more than a hint to a youth spent boxing in a small gym in the Bronx.
Each punch opened a cut on the Marine's startled face and by the time he had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone to stop the fight. He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons to stop the fight. He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and swollen brows.
Nobody moved. Not one person.
The only sound in the bar was the sickening staccato sound of this sailor's lightning fast fists making contact with new areas of the Marine's head. The only sound I have heard since that was remotely similar was from the first Rocky film when Sylvester Stallone was punching sides of beef in the meat locker.
Finally the Marine's pleading turned to screams.... a high, almost womanly shriek. And still the punches continued relentlessly.
Several people in the bar took a few tentative steps as though they wanted to try to break it up at that point, but hands reached out from the crowd and held them tight. I'm not ashamed to say that mine were two of the hands that held someone back.
You see, in between each blow the sailor had begun chanting a soft cadence: "Say [punch] you [punch] give [punch] up [punch]... say [punch] you [punch]were [punch] wrong [punch]".
He had been repeating it to the Marine almost from the start but we only became aware of it when the typical barroom cheers had died down and we began to be sickened by the sight and sound of the carnage.
This Marine stood there shrieking in the corner of the bar trying futilely to block the carefully timed punches that were cutting his head to tatters... right down to the skull in places. But he refused to say that he gave up... or that he was wrong.
Even in the delirium of his beating he believed in his heart that someone would stop the fight before he had to admit defeat. I'm sure this strategy had served him well in the past and had allowed him to continue on his career as a barroom bully.
Finally, in a wail of agony the Marine shrieked "I give up", and we gently backed the sailor away from him.
I'm sure you can guess why I have shared this story today.
I'm not particularly proud to have been witness to such a bloody spectacle, and the sound of that Marine's woman-like shrieks will haunt me to my grave. But I learned something that evening that Israel had better learn for itself if it is to finally be rid of at least one of its tormentors:
This is one time an Arab aggressor must be allowed to be beaten so badly that every civilized nation will stand in horror, wanting desperately to step in and stop the carnage... but knowing that the fight will only truly be over when one side gives up and finally admits defeat.
Just as every person who had ever rescued that bully from admitting defeat helped create the cowardly brute I saw that evening in the bar, every well-intentioned power that has ever stepped in and negotiated a ceasefire for an Arab aggressor has helped create the monsters we see around us today.
President Lahoud of Lebanon, a big Hezbollah supporter and a close ally of Syria, has been shrieking non-stop to the UN Security Council for the past two days to get them to force Israel into a cease fire.
Clearly he has been reading his autographed copy of 'Military Success for Dummies Arab Despots' by the late Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Ever since Nasser accidentally discovered the trick in '56, every subsequent Arab leader has stuck to his tried and true formula for military success:
Instigate a war. Once the war is well underway and you are in the process of having your ass handed to you... get a few world powers to force your western opponent into a cease fire. Whatever you do, don't surrender or submit to any terms dictated by your enemy. That would ruin everything! All you have to do is wait it out and eventually the world will become sickened at what is being done to your soldiers and civilian population... and will force a truce. Once a truce has been called you can resume your intransigence (which probably caused the conflict in the first place), and even declare victory as your opponent leaves the field of battle. This tactic has never failed. Not once.
In fact it worked so will for the Egyptians in 1973, that to this day they celebrate the Yom Kippur War - a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel - as a military victory! No kidding... it's a national holiday over there!
President Lahoud has already begun to shriek like a school girl to the UN Security Council to "Stop the violence and arrange a cease-fire, and then after that we'll be ready to discuss all matters."
Uh huh. Forgive me if I find that a tad hard to swallow. He allowed Hezbollah to take over his country. He allowed the regular Lebanese army to provide radar targeting data for the Hezbollah missile that struck the Israeli destroyer. He has turned a blind eye while Iranian and Syrian weapons, advisers and money have poured into his country.
And now that his country is in ruins he wants to call it a draw.
As much as it may sicken the world to stand by and watch it happen, strong hands need to hold back the weak-hearted and let the fight continue until one side finally admits unambiguous defeat.
That's why the author's analogy doesn't work for me.
"But what is the practically powerless new president supposed to do?"
Tell his Army to not provide targeting data to the Hezbollah?
Provide accurate targeting data to the IDF to minimize civilian casualties?
Tell Iran the get the hell out of his country?
Yeah.
And don't expect it to be understood or appreciated by the people who will benefit most from getting the dirty deed done.
Let us hope and pray that the Israelis will be able to resist internal and external pressure to end the action early. Another half-finished job will benefit no one except the terrorists.
Yes, that all sounds nice. But get real.
1/2 of his army is shiite (that's what I've read) and I doubt they would take up arms against hezbollah.
And telling Iran to do anything it doesn't like would either make Iran laugh in his face, or get him killed. I take that back, they'd laugh in his face and then kill him.
Do you realize that pictures of Khomeini are all over southern Lebabon? It's like living in Iran there.
"This story was not intended to slander the Marines in my opinion.'
Of course it is, if my second reading of the story is correct, it is a fresh attack piece on America and it's fighting men. I've pretty much picked up that this is related to foreign policy in the Middle East, but I don't understand why freepers would support American GIs so viscously being attacked.
There are almost 200 countries in the world but this thread chose the U.S Marines for a little story, to give an analogy to this weeks events over seas.
If you want a villain,choose somebody else, not me, not you, choose somebody bad, not good.
Sound's like he's in for it then and Israel is on the way to clean it up.
Hezbolla is finding few friends in the Middle East recently and the USA and others are holding back those that would put a stop to the cleaning.
"Say [punch] you [punch] give [punch] up [punch]... say [punch] you [punch]were [punch] wrong [punch]".
You would cheer on the actions of the Marine in the story?
I really don't see Israel being able to really solve the problem, as much as it would be appreciated if they could.
By taking on S. Lebanon, Israel isn't fighting Lebanon so much, as they're in a proxy war with Iran. And they know it.
bttt
"...and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
- Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Declaration of Independence
It is a hard lesson to learn that evils must not be suffered. There is always a price to pay.
Shalom.
It is FICTION,
This story is an attack on the Marines, or America.
It seems pretty obvious to me what theypoint is.
do you disagree with his point?
Not being prepared to kick out Hezbollah has consequences. We were not prepared to Impeach President Clinton. There will be (have been) consequences and we will have to be prepared to accept them.
Shalom.
There is no cure yet for stupidity yet, but I'll start a fund send your paypal donation to helpstopstupidity@hotmail.net
"Represents" is not the same as "equals."
I appreciate your point, now that you have made it, but you seem to be the only person who read the story that way. I would suggest that you read a little too deeply. This is especially true since the man who kicked his tail was a U.S. Sailor.
Shalom.
It is an attack on a stupid person that shouldn't have been a Marine.
Get help? Work to re-arrange the government to get power? Run screaming to the U.N. that it's Bush's fault?
Encourage his people to wise up and rise up for the freedom they claim to want?
Oh, I like that last one best.
Shalom.
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