bootsontheground 07/03/09
As you are firing up the grill this 4th of July weekend, take a moment to pause and say a prayer for the safety of the men and women in harm's way protecting our way of life in hot spots around the globe. Even as we enjoy a relaxing weekend of food, fun and family, the Marines in Helmand province, Afghanistan are braving 130-degree temps, mounting their largest ever push to tame the Taliban-infested dustbowl that covers the southern part of the country. On the first day of the operation one Marine was killed, a dozen wounded and there were fourteen heat casualties.
I've been asked how attacking feudal warlords in Afghanistan makes our country safer. Among other things, I answered, while the Taliban might be barbarians, they are being made to understand that attacking our country has consequences. These child-killing cowards understand nothing but violence, and so that is the language with which our intrepid Marines communicate the wrath of the United States of America. And the Marines are good communicators. Just ask Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Not politically correct, perhaps, but then Marines have never been known for being diplomatic, at least not in the pasty-faced-bureaucrat kind of way. At any rate, say a prayer for these young men who are at this moment enduring such misery and hardship in an attempt to finish this war. May their endeavors take us one step closer to the day when we will have chased those bent on our destruction back under the rocks from whence they came.
Independence Day
As you are firing up the grill this 4th of July weekend, take a moment to pause and say a prayer for the safety of the men and women in harm's way protecting our way of life in hot spots around the globe. Even as we enjoy a relaxing weekend of food, fun and family, the Marines in Helmand province, Afghanistan are braving 130-degree temps, mounting their largest ever push to tame the Taliban-infested dustbowl that covers the southern part of the country. On the first day of the operation one Marine was killed, a dozen wounded and there were fourteen heat casualties.
I've been asked how attacking feudal warlords in Afghanistan makes our country safer. Among other things, I answered, while the Taliban might be barbarians, they are being made to understand that attacking our country has consequences. These child-killing cowards understand nothing but violence, and so that is the language with which our intrepid Marines communicate the wrath of the United States of America. And the Marines are good communicators. Just ask Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Not politically correct, perhaps, but then Marines have never been known for being diplomatic, at least not in the pasty-faced-bureaucrat kind of way. At any rate, say a prayer for these young men who are at this moment enduring such misery and hardship in an attempt to finish this war. May their endeavors take us one step closer to the day when we will have chased those bent on our destruction back under the rocks from whence they came.