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2004.12.23 |
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Of Heroes and Cowards -- Take Two
Curt's post here reminded me that I'd been intending to say more about the two men I discussed here. I should have done a much better job of comparing and contrasting the two individuals involved. Maybe I can get it right this time. This is a hero:
Sometimes heroes live through their adventures, although they very seldom talk about them, and sometimes they end up with words like this written about them:
... and this:
... and this :
This is a coward:
Cowards get words like this written about them:
A hero, and a coward. Two Americas. ... I was wrong. I still can't do this topic justice. Words can't begin to capture the utter disgust I feel for men like Pablo Paredes. "Fetch a rope?" Not nearly strong enough. Maybe something involving Fire Ants and syrup. If I think of something I'll update my post. Hat tip: Flight Pundit |
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Posted by Bill Faith on December 23, 2004 at 11:21 AM in The American Warrior | Permalink TrackBack Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Of Heroes and Cowards -- Take Two:
» The Coward Part II from Flopping Aces Tracked on Dec 23, 2004 2:05:39 PM
Comments Response to Mr Oliver North's recent editorial: Mr North criticizes Pablo Paredes and states that his acts are acts of cowardice and shame. He also complains that the media has chosen to cover this and many other related stories and do not cover the actual heroic feets of those in battle. Cowardice: Mr. North how brave is it to invade a third world country, kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, destroy full towns, commit the human rights violations (with the prisoners) that we claim to have removed Saddam from power for, etc.? Where is the bravery in putting our young men in a position where they need to kill innocent, unarmed, injured civilians? And surely we all see a great deal of bravery in our president's service to the military. Why don’t the very brave senators and congressmen in support of the war send their own sons and daughters to fight for this their "righteous" cause? Deciding to stand up for life, for justice, for humanity is far from being cowardice Mr. North. It is probably one of the greatest acts of patriotism and citizenship. As a technician on defense system that is yet to actually be used in a combat situation, Pablo Paredes stood little to no danger himself. However, the thousands of Marines that were being transported would be going into harms way, forced to fight a cruel and unjust war. Perhaps hundreds of them will not return home alive and perhaps they will be forced to contribute to inflicting further inhumane and irreparable damage to the Iraqi people. This is something Pablo's conscience could not accept. As a member of the military, you have not only the right, but the obligation to disobey illegal and immoral orders. The Iraq war is clearly both. Our leadership claimed before us and the world community that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to freedom. We are halfway done destroying the country and still not even a hint of the potential of being close to evidence that suggests it. In addition, there are still no identified ties between 911, Al Qaeda and Iraq. So why are we waging war there? Why are we sacrificing the lives of our young men? And more importantly, why are we doing it against the will of the American people? Virtually all polls show that half, or slightly more than half, of the population does NOT support the US decision to go to War. These same polls show constant decline in the approval ratings for the management of the war, or they directly disapprove of it. Kindly take a moment to see these figures at: http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm There is absolutely no shame in standing up for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our principles state that everyone has the right to these 3 things. We currently have taken it upon ourselves to deprive the Iraqi people of all three. Since the inception of the war, over 5,500 servicemen have deserted. Are we to assume that there are 5,500 crazy cowards who joined the military or perhaps should we begin to entertain the thought that this war is wrong, illegal, immoral and cruel? This year suicide rates among the Marines have reached record highs, again she we assume they too are crazy cowards, or should we question the righteousness of our actions in Iraq? Better yet, should we assume that half this country consists of crazy, shameful cowards or should we ask our leadership in what math text book did they get the algebraic formula that says to hard headed leaders = a COALITION of the willing? Or even yet, maybe we should ask what is it they were willing to? I must say for a conservative majority that supposedly voted Bush back into to office due to "moral" issues, you all sure have an interesting disregard for human life. Abortion not okay, but killing hundreds of thousands of civilians is your way of providing "enduring freedom". Back when I was in school, the word used for such murder in masses was genocide. Invading a country solely for economic gains was called imperialism. I guess I must have been absent the day they taught that genocide + imperialism = enduring freedom. Then again, I was never very good at math. Your complaint about the media attention is also quit frankly foolish. The news is FILLED with recounts of heroic feats such as those of the New York gentleman who had a limb blown off by a grenade launcher and was replaced by another soldier who unfortunately was killed shortly after. The young brave newyorker said his biggest suffering was not that he had lost a limb but that he now had to live with the fact that someone died in his place. In fact if you did indeed take the time to actually do that google search for giggles, you would notice that the majority of your findings are blog stuff 100% against Pablo's actions. Actual news coverage has not been so dramatic as you claim. Besides, with so much dissent for this war and its inhumanity, the media has an obligation to cover that dissent. When half the nation is against the war, the media must listen to that side of the story. Let me end by saying that the young men and women currently serving in the War are indeed brave in my eyes. Those young folks sacrifice their lives with the FAITH that their country is doing the right thing. God Bless them. I have nothing against them. But we are betraying their faith in us by having them commit cruel, inhumane acts of aggression. And it is also brave, unselfish and patriotic to take a stance (at great personal risk) to say this is wrong. Waging war is wrong. Cruelty and inhumanity is wrong. This great country went from having a secretary of war to a secretary of defense. Why do think that is Mr. North? I'd like to believe that it is because we are not to be in the business of waging war. As the nation with the strongest military we should use that strength to defend this great nation and aid others, not invade others. Maybe that's what happened to W, given his challenges with English, maybe he mixed those two up. Who knows. Regards, Posted by: Victor Hugo | Dec 29, 2004 11:02:09 PM The comments to this entry are closed. |
