Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Why Don't You Support Israel? - Stephen Harper of Canada
Monday, May 27, 2019
Israel is one of the most free and most prosperous countries in the world. Not only is Israel a booming economy and a wellspring of innovation, it is the only democracy in the Middle East. So why is it so controversial to support the Jewish state? Stephen Harper, the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, lays out several fundamental truths about Americaās most critical ally.
When I was Prime Minister of Canada, I was often asked this question: āWhy do you support Israel?ā
My response, in effect, was always the same: Why wouldnāt I support Israel?
Why wouldnāt I support a fellow democratic nation where open elections, free speech, and religious tolerance are the everyday norm?
Why wouldnāt I support a country with a vibrant free press and an independent judiciary? Why wouldnāt I support a valuable trading partner and a well-spring of amazing technological innovation? Why wouldnāt I support our most critical ally in the Middle East, and in the international struggle against terrorism?
In a rational world, in a world where simple common sense prevailed, the question āwhy do you support Israel?ā would be like asking āwhy do you support Australia?ā orā¦āCanada?ā
But we donāt live in that rational, common-sense world. So the case for Israel has to be made over and over. I, for one, am happy to make it.
Let me start with this:
Every military action Israel has ever taken has been to protect itself. Israel is not an aggressor state; itās a defensive state. This has been true from its founding to this day.
As a fledgling nation in 1948, Israel was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors.
Their goal was not to contain the tiny new country; it was to annihilate it. No nation came to Israelās aidānot the United States, not my country, Canada, not the United Kingdomāno one. They all thought Israel would lose. But it didnāt lose. It won.
In 1967, Israelās neighbors again sought to utterly destroy the Jewish State, a nation that had then existed for two decades. Again, Israel prevailed. And It survived another all-out attack in 1973.
Those are the big wars, but Iām not sure there has been a single day in Israelās entire history when some act of terror has not been waged against itāinside or outside its borders.
There have been two bloody waves of terror, so-called intifadas, in the late 1980s and the early 2000s, when Israelis were blown up on buses, at pizza parlors and celebrating weddings. There have been incursions from terror groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon. There have been thousands of rocket attacks from Hamas in the Gaza Stripāeven after Israel completely withdrew from that territory in 2005.
In between the wars, in between the terror, Israel has sought peace with its neighbors. And it has achieved peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. For others, however, every Israeli gesture for peace is met with incitement and violence.
I recount this history for one reason: Any nation that has endured what Israel has endured could easily have become a police state.
But through it all, Israel has never abandoned its commitment to the rule of law, to democracy, to tolerance. One-fifth of its citizens are Muslim. They enjoy the same rights as Jewish citizens. They occupy key positions in the nationās courts, press and government. And they have their own parties representing them in the Knesset, Israelās parliament. To say that Muslims in Israel are the freest Muslims in the region is an understatement.
How about this as a human rights test: Prisoners in Israel, be they Jewish or Arab, are well-treated, well-fed, and have access to the best possible medical care. Parents and spouses of these prisoners know where they are and that they are safe. Who else in the region but Israel can make that claim?
