Hillarysworld

R.I.P. Brave Warriors

October 4th, 2009 | Author: The Dame Truth

I woke this morning to a news TV sound bite about 8 of our soldiers,  killed in a Taliban ambush in Nuristan, near the Pakistan border yesterday.  Already feeling sad and disoriented from a funeral, also yesterday, I pushed through the fog and the knot in my stomach to learn more, but found only hideous ads for car seats and illness thrown into the newsflash teasers, always so careful not to divulage any real information; so as usual, I turned off the fringe media TV and headed  for the online news community where I knew I’d eventually find at least a semblance of substance.

These days, I force myself to reread my posts, as I can feel the rage boiling over into the sloppy sarcasm of righteous indignance, always a threat to credibility,  at a pResident who scoffs at our country and its troops and ignores its Generals in favor of jetsetting about to lobby for Gangland Chicago friends who stand to gain much by building Olympics structures, bowing to Saudi kings and sweet talking tin horn dictators who deny the Holocaust while planning another.  And so, I apologize for this less than professional delivery.  I have no excuse save my ever fallible human condtion, and maybe after all, that’s a good thing, for those who can weep for another have less chance of causing them pain.

This from the Guardian:

Eight American soldiers were killed yesterday alongside two Afghan troops in one of the bloodiest battles of the eight-year war.

In what the US army described as “complex attack in a difficult area” the troops were killed when up to 300 Taliban fighters ambushed two US outposts in Nuristan province, close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. The attackers also captured 15 Afghan policemen.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the raids, which were launched from two sides of the mountain outposts from a village and a mosque.

It was the deadliest attack since a similar raid in July 2008 killed nine American soldiers in the same mountainous region, known as a haven for al-Qaida.

Fighting began around dawn yesterday and lasted several hours, according to Jamaludin Badar, the governor of Nuristan province.

Nearly 300 fighters invaded the lower of the two outposts, an Afghan police station, then moved up to the American station on higher ground, said Muhammad Qasim Jangulbagh, the provincial police chief.

I find it difficult to be concise and articulate these days; I sometimes feel that I am failing in my duty to deliver streamlined news and commentary to readers who deserve the best, and that I am allowing my emotions to influence my work.  Undoubtedly so.  As I traveled to and from Kansas City and Leavenworth this summer, read, wrote and thought about the courage, strength and committment I continue to encounter on a daily basis from the Americans in our Military, and the plight wrought against them by the new Rules of Engagement, the question remained: how can anyone remain dispassionate about the fate of our Military, our Country and our Constitution in the midst of so many challenges.  I selfishly give thanks that, thus far, the troops that I know are safe, either on their way home or nearly so, even as I continue to weep for those who have given their lives, and those of their families, for make no mistake: the lives of their families will never be the same.  Thanks to the strength and the efforts of people like Debbie Lee, Bev Perlson and so many others, there is help to be had in the form of love, prayer and activism, but the happy lives with their lost loved ones are gone forever.

And, in the face of this–the reality of War–we are daily taunted by the actions of a strutting little rooster of a man who has never experienced love of country, sacrifice for principle or allegiance to America, moving troops around like so many chess pawns on a board with a yawn and an upturned nose at the plight they face at the hands of a knowing enemy who uses his Rules of Engagement to their best advantage as they shoot from homes they know cannot be fired upon, even as they kill and imprison their occupants, blaming it on us.

It is small wonder that so many Americans have joined the cry, “We’re Mad As Hell And We’re Not Going To Take It Anymore!”  The wonder is that it took us so long.

http://thedametruth.net/wordpress/2009/10/r-i-p-brave-warriors/