Culture of Mythology

With the near constant back and forth of our political leaders it occurred to me that American culture may quite rightly be at fault. After all, American Idol gets higher audience share than nearly everything else. News programs devote sizable portions of their air time to the trials and tribulations of Paris Hilton and Owen Wilson. I am not without sympathy for spoiled millionaires who get whatever they want, whenever they want it. I would, I am sure, have behaved in a similar fashion were I suddenly bequeathed millions at age 21. The constant fascination with their lives is what irks me. We are coming up on the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, are simultaneously fighting two hot wars, and several warm ones too, and this is what people want to watch? Maybe al-Qaeda is justified in hating, if not all of us, than at least a simple majority of Americans.

While I am on the topic of al-Qaeda let's dispel a few myths there. Osama bin Laden has been characterized as a 6 foot 5 inch Saudi billionaire, dying from kidney disease. He has never been worth more than 20 million, is, at best 6 foot 1 and probably has Addison's Disease. I mentioned those things to someone recently and was asked, "How the hell do you know?" "Read a book," I responded. Lawrence Wright's exquisitely researched and foot-noted book The Looming Tower should be required reading for American school children, and the honorable men and women of Congress. Maybe then these superhuman qualities attributed to a psychotic, militantly Muslim madman could be replaced with the truth. Now I know the truth is not easily chopped into sound bites, but it is where we should all start. I have read the book a couple times and it was just released in paperback this week, so consider this a plug. If you're interested in the "real" story about al-Qaeda and militant Islam pick it up.

Another myth that needs dispelling is that the war in Iraq is a losing issue. First, we never lost a battle in Vietnam, but the media decided that was a loss because they forced our brave Vietnam vets to slink home with their tails between their legs. The same thing is being tried with our brave Middle Eastern Conflicts vets. Our warriors are ruthlessly hunting down and killing al-Qaeda and their cronies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both bin Laden and Zawahiri have released multiple tapes calling Iraq the "central war for dominance." Somehow though American mythology keeps replaying the WMD track. Let me say it once and for all, "IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW WE GOT THERE. WE ARE IN IRAQ NOW AND MUST WIN."

This week the Democratic Party took righteous indignation at the notion that President Bush would reference Vietnam and Iraq in the same breath. Vietnam has always been their stock in trade after all. The liberal left believes they won Vietnam by marching, banging drums, smoking pot and supporting the troops by calling them "baby-killers." The liberal left did win the Vietnam War. They just won it for the wrong side. That is the same model alive and well today for the left. They chant and sing, bang pots and support the troops by calling us, variably, "baby-killers," "war criminals," and the new and improved "bomb throwers." The similarities to Vietnam are real; just not in the way the left would have us believe. The left is helping our enemy maintain fighting strength and recruit new members to their culture of death. The left is actively trying to demoralize our brave men and women in uniform. The left is trying to bring about the overthrow of a democratically elected government, both here and in Iraq, and, most importantly, they are invested in us losing, at all costs.

The main difference between Iraq and Vietnam is that the NVA had no intention of visiting murder and mayhem on American cities. Al-Qaeda has, and will if given the safe haven an unstable Iraq will provide. Afghanistan under the Taliban will look like Canada in comparison to how a destabilized Iraq will look. Al-Qaeda and every associated cause will not only have a safe haven, but a revenue stream of petroleum. Iran has no interest in seeing a stable, democratic Iraq and the overwhelming number of foreign terrorists in Iraq are still Saudis. Iran provides arms and Saudi Arabia cannon fodder. Seems like Saudi Arabia has an inexhaustible stream of young men ready to die for Allah. Saudi Arabia wants no part of democracy in Iraq because it might give the locals back home some ideas. How could a region lousy with Maserati driving, yacht owning princes manage to maintain that lifestyle if democracy took hold?

The greatest myth being perpetuated on the American public though is that we are at war. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard are at war. The American public is at the mall watching the latest, mindlessly juvenile Will Ferrell offering. Next month I will be in the nation's capital, Washington, DC, a number of times. I will be visiting Congress on 10 September both to twist arms and slap backs. I care not for party affiliation. A number of democrats will receive an "atta boy" for recognizing that The Surge is working, and a number of republicans will be reminded that they work for us. I find it surprising that people who just a few months ago who had said Iraq was lost now say, well the strategy is working, but we still need a political answer. As if a political answer is possible without a military solution to precede it. I will also be in Washington, DC to counter the likes of International A.N.S.W.E.R., Code Pink, The World Workers Party, and various, assorted communists du jour. These groups plan to tell Congress to "do the people's bidding and end the war in Iraq." The American people have no bidding. As I already mentioned, they are at the mall. I, Gathering of Eagles, Move America Forward, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Vets for Freedom and other like-minded organizations and individuals will stand up to the loud mouths of the liberal left. We will tell them, in no uncertain terms, that we want our men and women home too, but as victors, not painted as losers. We will not allow these communist sympathizers to do to this generation what they did to those fine men and women who fought in Vietnam. We will tell them that their myths do not fool us. We know we are on the side of good.

I understand that there is a freedom of speech and an alleged free exchange of ideas in this country. I enlisted at 17 to help guarantee it. I also understand though that, like it or not, we are at war with radical Islam and they are not going away. We can disagree on the politics of war, and even the direction. I do not believe, for one, that the first few years of the war in Iraq were fought effectively. We should have been fighting under the proverbial "black flag" from day one. This is where we are now though and we are winning, even al-Qaeda says so. It is Walter Cronkite telling us that Tet was a loss, once again. The model has not changed. I will tell you this. I am a life-long republican. I registered 6 days after my 18th birthday and have not looked back. I registered late because I was in Infantry School at Ft. Benning, by the way. So, I am a life-long republican, but I'm not on the republican side, or the democrats side. I'm on our side. The United States' side, and will be regardless who the next President of the United States is; although I admit I would probably soil myself if a certain senator from New York were to win. The question I have to ask though, "Is that too much for me to ask of everyone else?" I sincerely urge everyone of you who can be in Washington, DC on 15 September to do so. Stand with me and say, "Enough. The sixties are over and our brave men and women in uniform deserve to be treated like the heroes they are." While you're at it tell one of our brothers from Vietnam Welcome Home. They, maybe above all others, deserve it.