Posted on 01/24/2008 11:55:50 AM PST by do the dhue
No, seriously why won’t you listen to me? I’m not trying to change your mind. I’m just trying to understand where you’re coming from. Maybe I can get you to look at this from my point of view for once, minus all the hatred. Why won’t you listen to me?
A bomb just exploded outside the gate and I can't sleep. I swear that’s true. I thought a mortar hit my room. (I found out later that it was a very large car bomb that killed four and wounded 40 Iraqi’s manning a local checkpoint – they are tired of the terrorists too).
I have a rant that's been brewing deep inside for quite a while, and this most recent attack set me off. So settle in for some self induced therapy, you may learn something? It’s not like I’m going back to sleep.
But before we get going I should add that if you’re a left-wing, Bush hating “I voted for the war, before I voted against it” type of person, you should probably stop reading this right now. You’re not going to like it. I just want to know - no, I need to know - why won’t you listen to me?
I’m in Iraq for the third time, but most likely you won’t listen to me.
I've been deployed overseas 13 times in my 23 year career, will you listen to me?
I believe that we were all born endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. And I believe that just because the Iraqi’s were not blessed to be born into the same freedoms as you and I, they should still have a shot at it.
Sure you’ll listen to that slob Rosie, the Dixie-Chicks or the “honorable” Pelosi, you even listen to the unfunny funny-man John Stewart, but you won’t listen to me?
You obviously spent a lot of time listening to Cindy Sheehan. God bless her. Her only credentials were that she lost a son here. Her, and about 4000 other mothers - so far.
Joining that “club” certainly earns her the right to go crazy, but it doesn’t give her the right to determine what the rest of us are fighting and dying for? Who is she speaking for? She certainly isn't speaking for me.
I can guarantee you that she isn't speaking for my mother either.
The list of people that hitched themselves to Sheehan’s shooting star came as no surprise.
When the liberal left was done with her, they tossed her aside like yesterdays garbage. They left her to spiral into a hopeless pit of agony and confusion.
With friends like that, who needs enemies?
And what about the two million American mothers before her that have “laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom”? Would you listen to them?
I had a heart-to-heart talk with my own mother before I left to come back here...again. She hates, but understands and supports, what is going on here. And I brought my nephew – her grandson - along too. He's just a boy, volunteering – like the rest of us here - in a mans world. Maybe you will listen to him?
You’ll listen to the hate you want to hear, but you won’t listen to me.
The "Greatest Generation" washed the white sands of Normandy and the snow of Bastogne red with American blood. And we sure as hell listened to them, thankfully.
When things looked the worst was when we pulled together as a Nation. Now when things are really rough we call for troop withdrawal – publicly. By doing so you only embolden our enemies, and strengthen our resolve to keep on fighting.... without you. But don't worry; we'll continue to protect your right to speak, and your right to hate us…………with our lives.
The veterans of the Second World War either thought that they were overseas in a war - not a battle - to save the world from the threat of the day. Or they thought that they were pawns, manipulated by a President with too much power?
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. And it is obvious now that the right choice was made by our President then. In World War II we saved the world, twice.
But I just can't seem to shake the thought that deep down you WANT us to lose so you can say that you were right and I was wrong. What a sad statement that is. It's not too late to listen to me.
History has shone brightly on World War II, and rightfully so. It has been proven that our sacrifices in World War II changed the course of history. Had we performed a "troop withdrawal" back then we wouldn't be having this conversation. At least not in English.
Spreken de Deutsche?
Did anyone listen sixty years ago? And will they listen now?
And I’m getting tired of saying it, but I can’t even prove to you that I’m right. Maybe there’s a reason you won’t listen to me?
But I know I can’t stand here another day and not say a word! I served 8 years under President Clinton - who I believe to be a disgusting human being - but I never said a word about him. He was the Commander-in-Chief.
My parents taught me respect for authority, and I listened to them.
Why don’t you take your hatred for my president and stow it until this is over? We debated this before we came here. And you know we will debate it long after it's over. But this is not the time for debate.
I've even heard some back home saying that we have lost this war.
It seems to me that maybe our Country has lost its guts? Guts made America free and guts kept us free all these years. Maybe it's time to bring back the “America, love it or leave it” movement?
I defend your right to free speech with my life. Now why don't you show some honor and decorum, and rise above the hate? A little respect would be nice too. Are you willing to listening to me?
Why don't you ask the young men and women driving past me at this very moment? They are headed out the gate on a convoy into what is still one of the most dangerous places in the world. Ask them how it's going? Ask them if we are winning this war? Ask them if it’s better than before?
Ask them if the Iraqi people are better off now than they were during the Hussein dictatorship? This is an all volunteer force which has endured unimaginable hardship, loss of life, loss of limbs, loss of family and friends, loss of sanity. And many continue to volunteer to return here, it is out duty. Listen to them.
And don't demean me by pointing out that your cousins boyfriend knows a Soldier that thinks this is a mistake. I never said they aren't out there. I'm just saying that most of us serving with honor, here and now, understand and support what we are doing.
And I defend their right to free speech with my life also. You love to listen to them, but you seem to have a problem listening to me?
We are out here laying our lives on the line. Every day. We guarantee your “right” to say whatever you want.
The generations before us bought and paid for it. We are just one more link in the chain that connects the sacrifices of wars past with those that are currently kneeling at the altar of freedom.
If it was world domination or oil that we wanted, we could easily take that. We could wrap that mission up in a few hours. No, we are fighting so that these people can be released from years of tyranny and oppression. We are fighting to make the world a better, safer place. We've done it before, and we'll do it again.
Your freedoms came at a price.
This war is no different than the ideological wars that we fought against Monarchy, Slavery, Nazism, Imperialism, and Communism.
It’s just that there is no uniformed enemy leader to surrender to us on the deck of the “Mighty Mo” - like the Japanese did on August 15th 1945 - when the time comes, and it will; it has to. The alternative is the end of civilization as we know it. That may not bother you now, but it will. We've fought to gain and then protect this, as a Nation, for centuries.
There is no cut and run. There is no withdrawal. We are here in Iraq fighting and killing terrorists from around the world. Would you rather wait at home for them to return?
My paternal grandmother - who I never met - sent six of her seven sons off to war, would you listen to her? And my maternal grandmother - who I knew as well as I know myself - sent both of her sons off to war, would you listen to her?
No, you wouldn’t have had to listen to either of them. Because just like most mothers of those wars, and this war today, they understood their place in history.
They knew that their contribution - and the potential sacrifice – was, and is, the world to them. But it is a very small part of the effort that has kept, and still keeps us free.
You never had a chance to listen to them, because they knew that speaking out against a war after it is under way is aiding and abetting the enemy.
Jane Fonda did it and went on to become rich and famous, or infamous, depending on your position. I have known and served with men directly affected by her treason. That is a hatred that is slow to die, but they moved on, why can’t you?
I have a friend who worked at Ground Zero for weeks after 9-11. I remember the day that he came home; he said “this is going to be a long war.”
And in the heartland we listened to him.
If, on September 12th, 2001, I would have told you we could keep the terrorists at bay for the next six days, you’d have wondered where I'd been?
If, on September 12th, 2001, I would have told you we could keep the terrorists at bay for the next six months, you’d have doubted my sanity.
And if I would have guaranteed you that you would be safe at home for six years - while I, and a couple million of my best friends, served here half a world away - you would have laughed in my face.
You certainly wouldn’t have listened to me.
The “honorable” John Murtha, distinguished Korean War combat Marine, turned crazy old man that talks to himself, became prosecutor, judge and jury for six Marines in Haditha.
Those men had seconds to make a decision that Murtha had months to analyze, debate, and disgrace. And you sure as hell listened to him.
Not only did Murtha know THAT those Marines committed a crime, but he also knew HOW and even WHY. You lined up like rats following the pied piper to listen to him.
But where was he when a courts martial found those Marines innocent of those charges? They weren't just found “not guilty” they were found to be “innocent.”
But after all those annoying little pleasantries, like the facts, rules of law and evidence were made known, there was a different story. After jurisprudence was applied there was a real trial and a real verdict. Did you get a chance to listen to the Marines side of the story?
You never had a chance to listen to them. Because like the honorable men they are, they went back to work here in Iraq and Afghanistan doing the job that no one wants, and very few can or will do. At least that is the case for the ones whose lives, reputations and careers weren’t wrongly destroyed beyond repair.
Why don’t you go find one of those Marines, and listen to him?
I listen.
I listen a lot. Every Soldier, every Marine, every Sailor or Airman that I run into here in Iraq, if given the opportunity, I ask "How's it going?" "What can I do to help?" "What do you need to win this war?"
I ask their opinion on what is going on. I can count on my hands the numbers of troops that I’ve talked to that think we shouldn't be here. Even those most “inconvenienced” understand their place in history.
I’ve also heard hundreds of stories from those, like me, that have missed out on births, deaths, weddings, graduations, etc. Those are sad days here in Iraq. The pictures from those events, which today’s technology eventually brings to our computer screens here, bring tears to my eyes.
Yes I’m sure you’ll be quick to point out that I haven’t talked to all the war-fighters here, but I talk to a lot of people.
I volunteer at the hospital here on my day off, and I talk to a lot of people.
I go to supper by myself one night a week. I sit near someone who's eating alone, and ask, but not press, “how’s it going?” Some don’t want to talk. Most do.
I talk to a lot of people.
And I listen, intently, to every word.
I’m reassuring you and maybe myself too, that through the incessant barrage of negative news at home there are equal countless stories of Honor, courage and dedication from the men and women here in harms way. Would you listen to them?
There are also thousands of stories of hope, progress and joy. But you don't get a chance to listen to them. Good news doesn't sell.
August 2004. I'm by the pool in Qatar sitting in a chair enjoying the shade on a 125 degree day. A Soldier on R&R from Iraq sits down next to me and declares loudly, “I’ve never been so happy to be alive!” He has my attention. He wanted to talk, and I wanted to listen.
July 2005. Vacationing in Las Vegas. I’m wearing an Iraq War t-shirt and a young man in a wheel chair, recently home from here wants to tell me what he’s seen, how he lost his legs, and how he wants, more than anything, to come back here to Iraq.
February 2006. Balad Theater Hospital, the life-saving medical machine here in the middle of the desert. Just 40 miles north of Baghdad in the Sunni triangle. Five Marines slightly injured in an IED rollover.
The youngest Marine gets out of the vehicle - despite the protest of his brothers - gets shot in the ass, and then crawls back into the relative safety of the overturned vehicle. These guys talked about it like it was a rough tackle in high school football game. All they wanted to know was “when they could get back in the fight?” I listened to them.
October 2007. An unnamed American Soldier, whose wife thinks he’s off training somewhere besides where he actually is, recovers in the hospital here. He wanted to know when he could get back to his unit? I spent a lot of time listening to him.
And all these guys and gals know why they are here. They know what’s at stake. And they know that victory is not only essential to our way of life, it is our only option.
In previous wars emboldening the enemy, deriding the president, and demeaning the troops was called "treason," now it seems like another way to make a name for yourself. And it seems like a lot of you listen to them, so why won't you listen to me?
If you know me, you may have heard me repeat that my uncle always says “If you haven’t been some where, don’t give directions.”
Well I’m here in Iraq - with 168,000 of Americas finest – and if you don't listen to me, who are you going to listen to?
If it's not going to be me, find someone who has been here. And listen to them.
Don’t go to the protest at city hall to find the glory hound wearing part of a uniform and an upside down American flag to talk to.
Go to the V.A. Hospital or the Vet Center or your local veterans' service organization and make a friend, lend a hand, show your support, make a difference, send a CARE package and listen to the veterans there.
My mother always told me to look at both sides of the situation and you’ll usually find that the truth lies somewhere in between.
That's probably the case here too. Only one side looks through eyes of hatred. Which side are you on? Do you realize that your hatred is what's keeping me and many others from listening to you? And despising the fact that we serve so you can hate us.
This is not something that will be settled anytime soon, or maybe not in my lifetime, but the cost is immense and the stakes too high to waste any more time arguing over the details. Six years, one month and 26 days ago - September 11th 2001 - they showed us what they are capable of.
It's time to show the world that we can still come together as one great Nation. Once again share the freedom and liberty that we all enjoy there at home - and help spread it to the rest of the world. And defeat this latest in a very long series of threats to our way of life.
Are your ego, hatred and stubbornness going to undue what 231 years of sacrifice has earned? Please listen, listen to us.
The last great Democratic President said, “Let every Nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty.”
Those words are as true today as they were 46 years ago. And I'm here doing my part to enforce President Kennedy's words. Will you please lose the self-righteous hatred and do what is best for us all? Renew your hope in our future. Remember our past, and support the people that are sacrificing right here, right now.
Our enemies want nothing less than our removal from the face of the earth, all of us, men, women and even children. That is obviously unacceptable to me. You are either with us, or against us. Put your politics aside. I haven’t given up, I hope you haven’t either.
God Bless America…….again.
Worth repeating.
ML/NJ
Thank your friend for his service. I have a son just home from 4 yrs in Navy and in the Reserves while getting his college degree so he can re enlist. This household agrees and we did listen. Stay safe.......
HEAR HEAR!
You’re right. After trying to read this, I understand why no one listens to him, especially if he is this wordy all the time.
will do. I sent him this link, so he will see it.
Thanks for the input.
Tell him I hear him. And thanks.
:-)
BTTT - Prayers for this ‘honorable’ man of service.
Thanks for the post.
Like the deacon in church when the doctor announced he had died in the pew, fast asleep.
Thank you for your reply.
Thanks!
wow. great perspective from a fine American. It is sad that most Americans seem to have lost their will.
God bless our military. Great rant. Glad he got it out there.
I share that hope with you. Please, please thank your friend for his service and sacrifices, and for writing this commentary. I only wish there were some way to get this in front of the whole of the American people.
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