Blackfive shares my take on the media’s crocodile tears:
Do they really care about the men and women “Over There”?
Ask yourself, “Where were the protests and the speeches on Capitol Hill when we lost an entire SEAL squad and one of the best helicopter crews in the Army during combat in Afghanistan?” Ask Dick Durbin THAT the next time you hear him spout off about our losses in Iraq.
The answer is obvious – they are using us, our friends and our families to make political hay. It’s disgusting and, since I’m not afraid at offending them with this well-deserved title, un-Patriotic.
While I am completely opposed to what I consider to be the futile attempts at nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq, I am, like Blackfive, disgusted by those who have never given a damn about the individuals serving in the US military attempting to use their sacrifices to score political points.
The warrior’s honor is not dependent upon the sagacity of his commander or even the justice of his cause. Soldiers around the world have long recognized this code, which can be seen in the chivalry of the medieval knights, the Bushido of the Samurai and the refusal of the early fighter pilots to target enemies who had been forced to bail out of their stricken planes. It can be seen today in Iraq, when the U.S. Marines do their best to save the lives of wounded men who only moments before were trying to kill them.
I note that the fact that I do not believe the Iraqi Occupation is a winnable enterprise does not mean I do not respect, support and honor the soldiers who are risking their lives to do their duty. Indeed, history regards those who serve in the full awareness of inevitable failure as the greatest of heroes, from Leonidas to Davy Crockett, they are the immortals of military history. Even in America, we did not forget the Alamo simply because the Texans could not hold it against Santa Ana.
But it is beyond inappropriate for those who loathe the US military and its traditions, who have actively worked to weaken and destroy it, to suddenly turn and use a feigned concern for the welfare of the troops as a foundation for opposing the current administration. The truth is that the Left has no problem with military intervention, indeed, the majority of America’s 20th and 21st century wars have been initiated by Democratic presidents and Democrat-dominated Congresses.
There is always room for genuine disagreement with regards to the wisdom of military actions. I myself have repeatedly criticized the administration’s strategy and noted how it appears to be inadequate when compared with the actions of past military leaders and the classic advice of military strategists such as Sun Tzu and Clausewitz. Those are legitimate grounds for debate, indeed, it would have served both the nation and its warriors well had the media been interested enough to bother engaging in such a discussion.
But the fraudulent compassion now being served up by the legacy media is nothing but a mark of their low regard for their audience’s intelligence and deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt.