Here's an oldie....
You know, thoughts and perceptions CAN and DO change.
So please take that into consideration as you read this.
"This We'll Defend" is the slogan of the US Army.
Some people don't believe in using violence.
But I do.
When the situation calls for it, we need violence to keep peace.
How can we stand by and allow evils to corrupt freedom ?
Doesn't everyone have the right to choose how they will be governed ?
Somehow, I don't think that Saddam Hussein or Adolph Hitler would have agreed.
They rose to power because people stood by and did nothing. They were great manipulators. They understood human nature. They understood power. "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Power also corrupts the corruptable.
They took fear and turned terrorism into an art form.
They built empires and armies of confused but loyal servants and destroyed peace. Pandered to the plight of their people. Gave them hope. False hope. But hope nonetheless.
The people in those countries need help to combat the evils of regimist leaders and terrorists.
It's not just about "getting them back".
It's about securing the rights of those people over there.
They want us there. The ones who are suffering and frightened.
The only people who don't want us there are the people who wield the control and power to manipulate the governed. They aren't even being governed. They are being controlled. They have no choices. Naturally, many of them fear us. Many of them probably see us as invaders...another regime come to take over and continue the tyrannies of the old government.
But that is not why we are there.
That is why we need communication.
They don't understand because they cannot.
When a person lives in fear every day of his or her life.
When he or she has no right to even speak against the government.
When he or she cannot step outside without the possibility of being stopped and shot by a passing patrol.
When fear is so commonplace that one can no longer weep for the dead.
When one wants to cry out for help, but fears death in doing so.
Then we may feel sure.
That we are needed.
That we are wanted.
That we can step in and say "we'll defend you".
THIS is what we'll defend.
The rights of all people to enjoy safety and security.
The rights of all individuals, male or female, israeli or islamic.
Sunni or shiite.
ALL individuals.
The rights of all people to live without fear.
Or with very little fear.
That one day, their children may play in the desert sunshine and not cower away in their homes while bombs explode overhead or shots are fired into the hearts of their mothers, sisters, fathers and brothers. That they may enjoy peace, and not live in fear. To live in fear is to live in darkness.
To rot away slowly.
To die.
No one should live or die in darkness.
No one.
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