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Saints in Armor
American Spectator ^ | Published 1/27/2006 10:15:30 AM | By Ben Stein

Posted on 01/28/2006 9:37:18 AM PST by .cnI redruM

I see that my fellow Stein, fellow journalist, and fellow troublemaker Joel Stein is at it again. He has written a piece for the L.A. Times in which he says he does not support the troops in Iraq. He mocks those who sport yellow ribbons, as many do, but he goes much further. He says the American soldier in Iraq is largely responsible for the war and for his own risks, injuries, and death. He does not like the war in Iraq, and he says if American soldiers would simply refuse to go fight or would quit and come home, the war would be over. If they don't do that, he does not support them and it's their own fault if they die. (This is my understanding of his piece. I may be wrong and I hope I am.)

So, here is another Stein's view:

The most heroic, ethically courageous, morally resolute men and women in the world today are the Americans, British, and other forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are fighting the most evil men and women currently on the world scene. The American Army soldier, Marine, Navy sailor, Air Force warrior, and Coast Guardsman fighting in Ramadi or Mosul is fighting men and women who kill children and old people for sport. The men and women of the United States military are fighting the remnants of a regime so evil that it pioneered the use of torture against children -- just for the amusement of Saddam and his family. The men and women whom Joel despises rid the world of a dictator so twisted and murderous that he openly admired Stalin and Hitler and sought to match their level of atrocities. The men and women who wear the uniform fought, bled, and died to rid the world of the most dangerous man on the planet in the most flammable place on the planet. They died to save a slave people from the genocidal control of a mad killer who thought nothing of gassing his own people, of wiping out entire regions, of setting up special rape rooms to allow his henchmen and his sons to rape women at will, who amused himself by pouring gasoline down the throats of totally innocent people and setting them on fire.

Counting his war against Iran and the murders of his own people, Saddam killed millions. He tortured many thousands more. Now his minions and holdouts are doing the same with bombs and sniper rifles to stop progress towards a humane society and to turn back the clock to a Hitlerite Iraq, despite the clear truth that 99 percent of the Iraqis want a free, lawful, democratic Iraq. (I guess Joel Stein thinks somehow it's those poor saps' fault, too.)

The man from Iowa or South Carolina, the woman from Mississippi or Idaho or Oregon or New York or California or Washington, D.C. or anywhere in America who leaves the comfort of home to fight against an evil as monstrous as what did happen and what is happening in Iraq are great warriors. But they are something more. They are saints in body armor, men and women of staggering moral virtue in a time and place when those words mean very little in the modern world. Their lives have the most meaning of any lives being lived on this earth right this moment.

Do I support men and women who are fighting Nazis who call themselves insurgents or Islamic militants? Do I support men and women who offer up their lives to fight the very same terrorists who killed three thousand totally guiltless Americans on 9/11? Do I support the troops who have more moral decency in their toes than I do or anyone I know does in our whole bodies? I support them, pray for them, am humbled just to be on the same planet with them. With every morning I wake up, every meal I eat, every walk I take in freedom, every night I sleep in peace, I ask God to look after the men and women who guard the ramparts of this blessed island of peace and decency called America. Without them, we would be nothing. Without them, Joel Stein would have his head sawed off. Saints in armor is what I call them and what they are. They are God's gifts to a wayward world.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: antiwar; morals; steinvsstein; thejoelsteinyahoocom
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Stein brings up an interesting issue. Are moral free-riders like Joel Stein the price we pay for freedom?
1 posted on 01/28/2006 9:37:19 AM PST by .cnI redruM
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To: .cnI redruM

No eternal vigilance is the price we pay for freedom. Vigilance against people like joel stein.


2 posted on 01/28/2006 9:41:01 AM PST by manglor
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To: .cnI redruM
They are God's gifts to a wayward world.

Amen. And God bless our troops.

...and he says if American soldiers would simply refuse to go fight or would quit and come home, the war would be over.

There's another way to end the war. Congress could cut off the funding for it. Why do the libs never mention this? Maybe because they don't have the guts to try it?

3 posted on 01/28/2006 9:43:43 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: .cnI redruM

Stein is a parasite.


4 posted on 01/28/2006 9:44:38 AM PST by Lexington Green (I'd rather have Jihadis in front of me than Democrats behind me.)
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To: .cnI redruM

I suppose the Joel Stein's are the price we have to pay to live in the freest country in the world, but we don't have to embrace his beliefs. Just as he is free to voice his opinion, I am free to call him an idiot for saying it.


5 posted on 01/28/2006 9:48:02 AM PST by jazusamo (A Progressive is only a Socialist in a transparent disguise.)
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To: .cnI redruM

There are always weevils in the cotton and RATs in the corn crib. A certain level is normal but when the vermin get out of hand you've got to deal with them.


6 posted on 01/28/2006 9:50:29 AM PST by WorkingClassFilth (The problem with being a 'big tent' Party is that the clowns are seated with the paying customers.)
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To: Lexington Green
JOEL "Stein is a parasite."

BEN STEIN is my a good guy.

7 posted on 01/28/2006 9:53:42 AM PST by MNJohnnie (Is there a satire god who created Al Gore for the sole purpose of making us laugh?)
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To: .cnI redruM

Joel Stein evidently lacks a conscience to tell him the difference between right and wrong. Or, more likely, he has managed to put his conscience to sleep by ignoring it or violating it for many years. Everyone has a conscience, but it's possible to sink yourself so deeply into evil habits that you can no longer hear it.

It's hard to make someone like that understand the perversity and wickedness of his ways. But perhaps we can make the LA Times understand it. The LA Times is a business operation. It needs subscribers and advertisers. It's not doing very well lately.


8 posted on 01/28/2006 9:54:02 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: manglor

You got it.


9 posted on 01/28/2006 9:54:38 AM PST by liberallarry
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To: .cnI redruM

Joel Stein should brush up on his law. Specifically, Title 18 of the United States Code:

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 115 > § 2381 Prev | Next

§ 2381. Treason

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002381----000-.html

It's about time the Attorney General empaneled a Federal Grand Jury in order to submit information on alleged tratiors like Mr. Stein, and certain others whose names are well known. If the Grand Jury returns a no bill, game over. But if they indict, then he should prosecute.
IMHO Mr. Stein's comments don't warrant the maximum penalty under the statute; the minimum should suffice.



10 posted on 01/28/2006 9:55:52 AM PST by Ostlandr ("In a mature society, the terms 'civil servant' and 'civil master' are semantically equal." -RAH)
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To: Lexington Green
Exactly what a moral free rider represents. A person who knows good and well that he will never have to put up or shut up, therefore, he does neither.
11 posted on 01/28/2006 10:04:49 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Shame, not sanctions - UN policy on Iran)
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To: .cnI redruM
Saints in armor is what I call them and what they are. They are God's gifts to a wayward world.

What a wonderful, unique way to view our men and women in uniform!

12 posted on 01/28/2006 10:05:06 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: Cicero

That's precisely true. If no one buys the LA Times, no one reads Joel Stein. At least no one that Joel Stein can reach outside of his trolladytic echo chamber.


13 posted on 01/28/2006 10:06:09 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Shame, not sanctions - UN policy on Iran)
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To: .cnI redruM

bump


14 posted on 01/28/2006 10:11:51 AM PST by VOA
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To: .cnI redruM

He's only saying what them left truly feels.


15 posted on 01/28/2006 10:14:23 AM PST by Wristpin ("The Yankees announce plan to buy every player in Baseball....")
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To: mewzilla

I suppose the reason they don't try and force Congress to cut the funding is that too many of the Senators in their captive party are supportive of the war ie: Mrs Bill Clinton. To force the issue would fracture their already splintered party perhaps for good, guaranteeing the Repubs keep power for at least the forseeable future without too much of a fight. One knock against libnut pols is that they bend with the wind to whichever side of the political issue is most popular at the time. If their force caused Mrs Clinton to change her support for the war(we know it's BS anyway) that would make too many independant thinking american voters say, "looky there, another flip flopper for the dems". No, they are dumb, but not THAT dumb.


16 posted on 01/28/2006 10:15:34 AM PST by trubluolyguy (Chuck Norris does not read books, he stares them down until they surrender the info he wants.)
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To: .cnI redruM
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of mind that thinks nothing is worth fighting for is far worse"

John Stuart Hill

17 posted on 01/28/2006 10:16:28 AM PST by TADSLOS (Right Wing Infidel since 1954)
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To: .cnI redruM

"Saints in Armor" - a very fine definition of our precious military. Thank you, Ben Stein!


18 posted on 01/28/2006 10:23:02 AM PST by maxwellp
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To: .cnI redruM

What an awesome article! I just sent the link to it from the American Spectator to my brother whose son flies Apache Longbows in Afghanistan and some friends whose daughter is an Army Intelligence office with a Stryker brigade in Iraq.


19 posted on 01/28/2006 10:24:49 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: Wristpin

And has felt for decades. The revolting sense of personal entitlement is what makes me want to puke. The left habitually attracts, breeds and champions parasites.


20 posted on 01/28/2006 10:32:53 AM PST by .cnI redruM (Shame, not sanctions - UN policy on Iran)
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