TREASURE COAST OP-ED: IRAQ – WAS IT ALL FOR NAUGHT
Marshall Frank: Ending Iraq War one thing, keeping peace another
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
In 2007, my artist-wife, Suzanne, created an event near Rockledge, in Brevard County, to honor the (then) 3,600 servicemen and women who had already sacrificed their lives toward a noble cause, fighting terrorism and striving to give the people of Iraq a sense of freedom and liberty.
In conjunction with the Unitarian-Universalist church property on U.S. 1, Suzanne’s vision was realized when 3,600 poles were impaled into the grounds facing the busy federal highway, each with banners of red, white and blue, and each with the names of deceased soldiers noted on the sides of the poles.
A memorial ceremony was held, tears flowed, patriotic music was played. Over one month, at least a half million cars passed the site facing the highway, many stopping to take photographs.
In the end, 4,486 American soldiers lost their lives while many thousands more Iraqi soldiers and civilians lost theirs in the noble fight. That, plus multi-thousands that came home with broken minds and bodies.
Did it all go for naught?
As I write, Iraq is falling. Hard-core al-Qaida terrorists and their savage partners from Syria are on the doorstep of Baghdad, already brutal conquerors of several major cities like Tikrit and Mosel. Terrorists are lining up loyal Iraqi soldiers and police officers in ditches, shooting them Nazi style by the hundreds. Bodies are in the streets, beheaded, as a warning to all those that will dare to oppose Islamic radicalism. Many Iraqi soldiers are laying down arms and running for their lives. It’s all but over. They win. Iraqi freedom loses. We lose.
Experts saw it coming. Anyone well-schooled in the mindset of Islamic extremists and their obsession with terror could well educate people including our government leaders, about the hard-core determination of violent Jihadist organizations. When they see a void, they will seize the opportunity. Their focus is unending. Conquest is an absolute purpose. They are not benevolent to the conquered. Neither do they tolerate non-Muslims.
It might have been a shining moment for the president, but we left a void when the United States pulled out all American soldiers. Iraq was unprepared to survive on its own. We should have known that.
In other great wars, after conflicts ceased, we left contingency personnel within the nation as peacekeepers, to preserve what we had sacrificed for. Where would South Korea be today if not for the U.S. position in that nation? This administration chose otherwise despite pleas from top military commanders to keep a force in Iraq, including Gens. Lloyd J. Austin and John M. Keane, who were involved in that fight and recommended stationing 23,000 troops. We are seeing the consequences of that decision.
We were right to end the war. But ending the war is not the same as preserving the peace, which we failed to do. The clarity of hindsight is no consolation.
America is saddened. The broken warriors and families of dead soldiers are saddened. We are saddened for the Iraqi people, to whom we owed more. It could have been prevented.
Gone for naught? Seems so.
Donald Gilleland
This is a never ending battle. We only stay focused for short periods. We think in terms of quarterly reports; our enemies think in terms of hundreds of years. We are tired of war because we have been constantly engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan for 10-12 years. The Islamic Jihadist are more patient than we are. Besides, except for the financial investment, we have not really been at war. Our volunteer military has been at war, while the rest of us have been to the mall.
We’ve been engaged in some form of war constantly since WW II, but we haven’t won a war since 1945, which was a time when our country was unified. It no longer is. We can’t seem to come together on any major issues.
Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Islamic Jihad and a dozen other Islamic radical groups are all outgrowths of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood was established in 1928 and has a 100-year plan to establish a worldwide Caliphate in which Sharia Law will apply to everyone. If that happens, our Constitutional guarantees and Christian and Jewish traditions will become obsolete because they are incompatible with Sharia Law.
The ultimate goal of Islam is not to take over Iraq. That is only a symptom of our problem. The ultimate goal of Islam is world domination, in which Islam is the only religion and Sharia Law applies to everyone. Watch what happens in Muslim countries. Women are enslaved. Muslim men treat their cattle better than their women. Note that there is not even one Christian church in Saudi Arabia, and very few in any other Muslim country. Muslims have been killing Coptic Christians in Egypt at a furious rate, and Christians have been leaving Muslim countries in droves, because they fear for their lives. In Africa, Muslims are butchering Christians all over the continent, except perhaps for South Africa where Muslims are a minority.
If we want the next couple of generations of Americans to live in the kind of country we grew up in, we will have to be every vigilant and willing to defend our country and our way of life for a lot more than 12 years.
Every American should buy a copy of an English language translation of the Koran and Hadith and read them, so they can know what doctrines Muslims follow. But, mostly, we have to be prepared to make huge sacrifices to preserve our way of life.