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U.S. Marine
shoots wounded insurgent ... I don't see the problem
By CHairforce.com
NOVEMBER 18, 2004 -
Video footage of a U.S. Marine shooting an unarmed, wounded insurgent in a Fallujah was broadcast this week throughout the world. Not surprisingly, many people -- Americans and foreigners alike -- were enraged. The video even prompted calls from human rights groups for investigations into U.S. conduct during the war.
What a load of crap.
The problem is that most Americans don't think we're actually at "war." They look at the war in Iraq as a
"situation," a "sticky mess" or a "political quagmire."
Throughout the 1980s, the average American's vision of war -- the images they associated with battling armies -- was death and destruction and Agent Orange and nuclear holocaust and various other vile, disgusting and bloodied images; images they associated with our country's previous battles in places like Vietnam, Korea and Europe.
Americans were thankful the United States was winning the Cold War and, with the exception of the occasional nuclear protest, the average American had little interest in the armed forces.
That changed with the Persian Gulf War in 1991; the United States deployed hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors to the Middle East to remove Iraqi forces from a small, oil-rich country called Kuwait.
But instead of lasting months or years, the war lasted four days. Tens of thousands of American soldiers were not killed. Compared to the death tolls from World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam, Desert Storm was a cake walk. About 300 service members lost their life during the first Gulf War (148 in combat). That same year more than 2,570 people were murdered
in the state of New York.
The Persian Gulf War changed the average American’s image of war. Images of bloodied, mud-covered soldiers, lost limbs and civilian causalities were replaced with 20th Century battle terminology; phrases like "collateral damage" and "friendly fire." Carpet-bombing was replaced with Laser-guided smart bombs and
those clunky, radar-happy fighters were replaced with stealthy aircraft.
Fast forward a decade. It's Sept. 11, 2001. Terrorists level the Twin Towers in New York killing thousands of innocent people.
George Bush wages war against Afghanistan's corrupt government, the Taliban.
Most Americans were OK with that.
Then someone suggested we go after Saddam Hussein. He may have helped fund the 9-11 attacks against America.
Even if he didn't support the attacks, he would eventually try to hurt America.
Americans support sending troops after Saddam. And again, we plow through the Iraqi military. And, as U.S. soldiers were storming Baghdad, Americans laughed as the Iraqi
information minister claimed the American infidels were defeated. And later
that week, American's cheered as U.S. Soldiers and Iraqis worked together to toppled a
large statue of Saddam Hussein.
Fast forward ...
We destroyed the Taliban, we devastated the Iraqi military, we killed the Hussein boys and captured their father. Millions of flag-waving, military-hugging Americans claimed victory.
But the celebration is quickly snuffed when Americans realize it's far from over.
Terrorists (who we are now calling "insurgents") swarm into Iraq claiming jihad against America. Iraq becomes the frontlines in the War on Terrorism.
It's no longer the kind of war we can drop a smart bomb on, or surgically strike using stealthy black bombers. It's a war of roadside improvised explosive devices, massive car bombs, cold-blooded beheadings, and an enemy who blends in with the civilian population.
This is the war American's thought they would never see again. It's bringing back those images of bloodied, mud-covered soldiers, lost limbs and civilian causalities.
The problem is, most Americans still have a hard time calling this a war. We aren't fighting a single enemy, like the North Vietnamese, the Germans, the Japanese, or even the Iraqi Republican Guard. Our new enemy doesn't wear a specific country's military uniform and they don't call one country home. Our new enemy doesn't abide by the rules of war (the Geneva Convention), and our new enemy is driven not by government interests or national pride, but by radical religious beliefs.
To a person who believes
America is not at war, what the United States has done in Iraq may seem
unlawful, unjust, unwarranted and unwelcome.
But it is a war. Instead of a forest in Germany, a beach in France or a jungle in Vietnam, we're fighting in the streets of Fallujah,
the mountains in Afghanistan, and various other places. Instead of fighting the North Vietnamese, the Germans or the Japanese,
we're fighting the Taliban, the Al Queda, and a host of other terrorists.
If Americans could see this as a "war," instead of a "situation," they would see that our country is winning. We may lose a battle here and there, and American
military men and women will surely die, but we're fighting this war better than we've fought any war in the past. Yes, more than 1,300 American service members have died during the past three
years, and not even one death is acceptable; however, as far as wars go, we're
fortunate the death toll isn't in the tens of thousands.
During the Vietnam War, America lost 58,177 service members. In Korea, the death toll was as high as 36,568. And during World Wars I and II, the number of U.S. service members killed was in the hundreds of thousands (more than 116,000 during WWI and more than 405,000 during WWII).
In comparison, during the war in Iraq -- which began almost two years ago --
about 1,210 American military men and women have lost their lives.
Some Americans question the U.S. government's motives in Iraq and others say we had no reason to attack that country. "After all,"
they say, "Iraq didn't attack America."
But that's never mattered before.
We were not attacked by Germany before entering World War I.
We were not attacked by the North Koreans before we joined the fight with South Korea.
We were not attacked by the North Vietnamese or China when we sent U.S. forces to fight in Vietnam.
And we were not attacked prior to helping remove the Iraqi military from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War.
Americans need to realize that our country has always fought for freedom and democracy.
Americans need to realize the war in Iraq is part of a greater battle the United States and our allies are waging against terrorism.
Americans need to realize that the former governments in Iraq and Afghanistan harbored and supported the same terrorists who killed more than 3,000 innocent Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.
Americans need to remember that the 3,000-plus people killed on 9-11 were not simply numbers; they were fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, grandparents, and brothers and sisters.
Americans need to realize that the United States has been at war with terrorists long before Sept. 11, 2001. From the first World
Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, to the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers and the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, more than 270 Americans were killed by terrorists.
Americans need to realize that the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. soil was the first sign that terrorist attacks against the United States were becoming more advanced, much more daring and much more deadly.
Americans also need to realize that the attacks would not have stopped after
9-11. Until the terrorists are stopped, they will continue to attack America . And to stop them, we need to take the fight to them; we need to hunt them down in their holes and in their caves and in their other hiding places.
Americans need to realize
that the terrorists we are fighting in Iraq are the same people who have strapped
bombs to pregnant women; a sort of improvised human weapon. These are the
same terrorists who fake their surrender then detonate themselves, killing or severely
injuring U.S. Soldiers. And these are the terrorists who claim to fight
for their God, but still stage battles from inside Mosques and hospitals and
elementary schools.
And finally, Americans need to realize that the War on Terrorism won't end anytime soon, it may involve
operations in other areas of the world, and it will certainly involve the death of more U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen.
One more thing, as I was writing this article, U.S. troops found the body of Margaret
Hassan, a British aid worker who was kidnapped by
some of the same insurgents American Marines are fighting in Fallujah. The aid
worker -- who was in Iraq helping Iraqis -- was shot in the head and her arms and legs cut off. The
discovery of her body grabbed a couple of headlines, but not much more. The news media, and the world, was still too busy fretting over a few dead terrorists to worry about a single, mutilated aid worker. The
bottom line is, America is fighting a war, and in the heat of battle, people are going to die, even if they are injured and unarmed.
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