2003 Soap Box Archives

The Other War 07/07/03

Brian T. Craig, Justin J. Galewski, Jamie O. Maugans and Daniel A.
Romero.

You’ve probably never heard these names and yet they died heroes
defending the United States of America. They were members of the 710th
Explosive Ordnance Detachment, assigned to the 19th Special Forces
group and were recently killed in Afghanistan.

I think that we sometimes get so caught up in the hostilities and
politics in Iraq that we forget about the other war we are waging
against the terrorists in Afghanistan.

We have a lot of our sons and daughters still in serious harm’s way
over there and that conflict is not over with by a long shot.

If there’s not a lot of shooting going on, I think sometimes we tend to
forget the military personnel who stay around and mop up, defusing
explosives and such.

We’ve never fought a war like the one in Afghanistan and the mop up
actions in Iraq.

I received a letter from a young man stationed in Iraq and he told me
about how when you approached an automobile or a group of people you
didn’t know whether they were going to start shooting or not.

How can you tell the enemy when they look just like the rest of the
civilian population?

Our troops are still running into deadly pockets of resistance
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organized stuff they can handle readily,
but the civilians with concealed weapons or explosives strapped to
their bodies are another thing entirely.

Our troops have bent over backwards to be humane in these conflicts,
sometimes at the cost of American lives.

I don’t know the answer to dealing with this situation but one thing I
do know. If we don’t deal with the Iraqi situation now while we have
strength in the area we can write off that whole part of the Middle
East.

Iran is doing their best to destabilize the situation now and they’d
like nothing better than to establish a radical, repressive,
anti-American, Islamic government in Iraq.

It’s now or never in Iraq. We have the force and personnel there to
straighten the situation out and put a stable government in power. And
not one of our choosing, but one chosen by the Iraqi people without
interference from Iran or anybody else.

We have made too great of a sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan to do
anything less than the complete job. It would dishonor the memories of
those who lost their lives in the effort.

We have freed Afghanistan and Iraq from two of the most cruel regimes
since the Third Reich. Let’s help them make the best of it.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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