Cita
Do you guys think that the US withdrawing from Korea and
Slight correction, if you don't mind. We have never withdrawn from Korea. We still have a standing rotation of 30,000 troops there.
And for the time being, we may be doing so in Iraq. As much as I want us to be out of there, we may have to stay until Iraq is strong enough to stand on it's own. And I understand a little bit about the military mindset, though I have never served. I grew up around those in the military, including some in special forces. Part of my work ethic is based on that. Primarily:
Accomplish the objective regardless of obstacles. (Think about that one for a moment. That is the core of my work ethic. At work, the boss doesn't hear from me why something can't be done. He only hears from me when it is done.) If we have a job to do in Iraq, we will finish it regardless of hindrances or obstacles. Mean what you say and say what you mean.
The only easy day was yesterday. That means there are challenges today and there are new challenges everyday and we can never rest on our laurels.
It pays to be a winner. Self-explanatory.
Second place is first place for losers. If it comes to deciding how the world is going to be, I would rather it be us. Others will try to do the same. In the nation of Islam, all non-believers are infidels. All infidels must die. BTW, that's in the Koran, I didn't make that up. So, others already have the idea that they should decide how the world should be and some of it runs counter to what we think. So, let us not be second place.
Lest anyone think I am xenophobic against other cultures, I am not. I happen to like baba genoush. My first wife had friends who were Saudi Arabian. From them, she learned a recipe. Bake an eggplant. Scoop the innards into a large bowl. Add the juice of one lime and four heaping tablespoons of tahini butter (it looks like peanut butter) and mix well. Serve in pita bread or unleavened bread. Quite tasty and vegan, if that is important to a person. She had a boyfriend who was a jordanian national here as a student and was a traditional muslim. And nearly killed her over a little argument. And stalked her, even after she married her first husband. She finally confronted him and told him to go and look up the marriage license in records building downtown. Once he saw she was married, he left her alone forever. In his mind, women are property and you never trespass the property of another man. So, that's where I get some of my knowledge of traditional muslim culture. And no, he wasn't a terrorist, even though he terrorized her. He was average, actually.
So, take that and multiply it at least ten times and you may understand the mindset of a fundamentalist islamic terrorist. They would rather die and take you with them than lose an argument, whatever the argument, whether it be the Gaza Strip or our support of Israel or how late to stay at a friend's party (which nearly cost my first wife her life.)
So, how does one deal with a mentality that sees death as a reward (from the words of Osam bin Laden, himself) in trying to foil their strategies? Other than Degriego's piquant humor, no one has yet to determine what was the initial reason for some of the detainees being held. There has to be a reason and it has to be more than just knowing that the language of Iran is called Farsi. On the one hand, I would like to see the charges laid out. On the other hand, how long is it necessary to try and squeeze blood out of a turnip or water out of stone?
As for why I think a dead terrorist is a good terrorist, let me 'splain something.
My DW's daughter was adopted to a family in New Jersey in 1973. The daughter's brother in that family worked in Manhattan in a little building next to Tower I of the WTC. He was there on that day. When the first plane crashed, he heard the noise. He finally made it outside to see what the noise was all about. The headless body of a woman landed approximately 5 feet from him, having fallen from Tower I. In a state of shock, he picked up the lady and started carrying her towards to harbor. That's where first aid is likely to arrive. Trapped in Manhattan, he was there for the second plane into Tower II. He saw all of it. Me, I was in a 4 foot deep trench setting pipe for branch feeders on Castle Hill Elementary School in Carrollton, Texas. He was right in the middle of it.
Within a day or two, he transferred to Colorado. Born and raised jewish, he converted to methodist and became a minister and moved to Jarkata. The other side of the world. He didn't just lose a day's work. He lost everything he ever was. To this day, he will not live in New York City, his favorite city. So, while I wasn't there, I feel a connection with him and a sorrow for what he lost and what might have been. He seems happy now and adjusted in his new life.
After 9-11, I looked at what it took to enlist and I was too old. A few years later, they raised the enlistement age and I was still too old. Now, I'm really too old. But I would do what it takes to ensure that such a thing never takes place here, again. I just happen to have a different method than the president. He wants to do it the legal way, in spite of the debate over whether or not detainees can challenge their detainment. My way is much quicker. And not prone to be accepted by the public at large. But that's what happens when you consider what's past the end of your street and out of the reach of the street light. Dangerous things that have to be dealt with immediately.
Case in point. In 2005, DW and I flew up to Princeton, New Jersey to see her daughter get married. I was a bit on edge but it was not about being 30,000 feet in the air. It was the ghosts of 9-11. I comforted myself with the knowledge of my fighting ability. If anyone got up on that plane and even looked cross-eyed, I would see to it personally that they left in a body bag and I would walk off the plane after a beautiful landing. Forget not the lesson of the passengers of the flight that went down in Pennsylvania. They couldn't save themselves but they save you and me.
Anyway, off the soap box, for now.