Posted on 11/18/2004 11:59:11 PM PST by kattracks
Yellow ribbons adorn so many cars here that the issue of the public's support of the troops seems a moot point, even among the most ardent opponents of the war in Iraq.
But it's easy to pay $1.99 and slap a ``Support Our Troops'' slogan on an SUV. The hard part is seeing the reality of war in our hometowns. It's reconciling the Hollywood-like image of a tiredsoldier dubbed a modern day Marlboro Man with the clear-eyed countenance of a 19-year-old from Bedford, married five months, and killed in Fallujah.
It is harder still to see a U.S. Marine, America's finest, captured on video in the most desparate of moments, killing a presumed wounded insurgent.
We do not yet know exactly what took place in that mosque. There are reports that the Marine had witnessed the killing of a fellow soldier by an enemy combatant pretending to be wounded or dead and believed he was about to be caught in the same trap.
We do know that the fighting in Fallujah, street to street and house to house was among the most dangerous that any combat unit could engage in. And we do know that the enemy had plenty of time to prepare for the assault since Coalition forces gave civilians every chance to leave, and the fighters every chance to surrender.
We also know what American forces found in Fallujah - slaughterhouses where those kidnapped would be held chained like animals, tortured and killed. We do know that a woman who had dedicated her life to improving the lives of ordinary Iraqis was disemboweled, disfigured, and dumped on a roadside. We do know beheadings have been a cause for celebration.
These systematic acts of evil are a world apart from the isolated incidents of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, or the action, as yet unexplained, of one young Marine in Fallujah. Whoever can't see that should take the ribbon off their car and throw it in the trash. It is meaningless.
HEAR HEAR!!! No time for sunshine patriots or fairweather friends. GBTUSA!!!!
killing a presumed wounded insurgent.
Why isn't he considered a "presumed dead" insurgent? Because that wouldn't be fodder for our liberal media.
bttt
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