War of Wits

(An Open Letter To Jack “Cold-Blooded” Murtha) 

Congressman Murtha,

Were I you sir, I would hang my head in shame and pray to my Creator, begging His forgiveness for the pain that I’ve caused innocent people. And then I would perform some serious personal introspection to see what I could possibly do to begin the process of restitution for my crimes.

But you won’t because you have no shame. (more…)

And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers. Qur’an: Sura 2:191

Together, the 1st and 2nd Amendments make up the last line of defense between the American people and tyranny, whether it be the tyranny of foreign invaders, international and homegrown terrorists, or our own federal government. By calling for irrevocable freedom of expression in the very 1st amendment, The Founders obviously made clear that they held the free exchange of information in highest esteem.

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I would like to extend my sincere thanks to The US Senate, MoveOn.org, Columbia University, and the New York Times. Together you have done more to expose the moral bankruptcy of liberalism in the United States and more to advance the cause of conservatism in the previous couple of weeks than at any time in recent history. You deserve a medal.

Hillary Clinton, Carl Levin, and other mouthpieces of the Democrat party would have you believe that the current debate over MoveOn.org’s recent birdcage liner in the New York Times is about whether or not you support the war in Iraq. To the contrary; at its core, this debate is about whether or not you support vicious verbal attacks on our military; our country; our citizenry; our dignity.

Hillary Clinton is chomping at the bit to be -lest we forget- Commander-in-Chief of the US military;

Carl Levin chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee;

Yet both had the craven cowardice along with the usual cast of characters; Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, to vote against a repudiation of the unwarranted attack on a senior soldier of the US Army who has been bestowed awards for his valor. In other words, by voting no on this resolution, they at least tacitly if not overtly support the cut-rate media smearing of a decorated senior soldier. What a bargain, huh? Gives new meaning to the term ‘cheap shot’.

The New York Times continues its sorry descent into gutter journalism with recent disclosures that it violated its own long-standing editorial policy against publishing attack ads by surreptitiously giving MoveOn.org -a partisan political organization- a steep discount. The evil influence of money in politics rears its ugly head once again. The problem with our political system is that it survives on a large infusion of dirty money. Money used primarily for attacking one’s opponent in the media. When someone gets caught red-handed; like Hillary Clinton; they give it back, or to charity. Problem solved. There’s no accountability. Not much more need be said. The Times is a mouthpiece for extreme liberal propaganda that acted improperly to advance a partisan political agenda like it has been doing for decades, and it is on life support. It should be put out of our misery.

Columbia University, that distinguished epicenter of free thought and higher learning has the hypocrisy and chutzpah to host the president of Iran, who in the past 2 weeks has asked for and been denied permission to lay a wreath at the WTC site in New York, and delivered an anti-American, anti-Semitic diatribe safely from Iranian soil prior to his departure to the US, before coming here and doing the same.

My first reaction was utter amazement that Columbia would legitimize a murderous dictator. That in itself is horribly offensive. The University’s rationale for the invitation is the free expression of ideas; free and open debate, which I fully support. I wish I could believe them. The scathing introduction almost moderated my position towards their Invitation to Evil, but in the past, they allowed an immigration debate involving the Minutemen to descend into anarchy and then dissolve before ever even starting. They also engaged in a pathetic attempt to bar military recruiters from campus because of their ban against discriminatory hiring practices.

Untold millions of heroic men and women have and will continue to serve their country; answering the call of duty to defend her against dictators like the one that Columbia University invited to speak; yet they relegate the sacrifice of these heroes whose blood cleanses the streets of those dictatorships to that of just another employee seeking a job on campus, and then try to bar them altogether. Their commitment to free speech leaves something to be desired.

Mahmoud’s Traveling Circus ended as well as could be expected, but it served no purpose other than to confirm that which we already knew. Ahmedinejad stood there smiling smugly the whole time, he didn’t answer any of the questions posed to him with anything other than obfuscation and disdain, and his appearance probably didn’t add much to the debate over his or Iran’s intentions. The only purpose his bellowing served was to stoke the fires of US resentment with those Iranians still listening by showing how he stood up to the arrogance and debauchery of the Great Satan.

So to aforementioned bastions of liberalism and others like you:

My sincerest thanks. I salute you. Just keep Movin’On.

“The tears sliding down my face are not a sign of weakness - they affirm a father’s love for his Marine son” - Darryl Sharratt on his son, USMC Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt

* Photo of Justin in Fallujah, Iraq - courtesy of the Sharratt family

 Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt is a decorated United States Marine. He fought in the battle for Fallujah, modern urban combat at it’s worst, involving house-to-house and hand-to-hand fighting that killed some of Justin’s fellow Marines. But for Justin, Fallujah was only the beginning.

Justin’s father Darryl wants the world to know that although Justin is home from Iraq, he’s still fighting for his life. Justin is charged with three counts of unpremeditated murder during an ambush followed by a ferocious firefight in Haditha, Iraq in November, 2005. When we spoke last Saturday, Darryl sounded upbeat. He had just gotten off the phone with one of his attorneys, while his wife Theresa was one the line with another. He explained that the attorneys seemed satisfied with the progress of defense discovery.

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This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than the enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, or the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit. My rifle is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. Before God I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America’s and there is no enemy. - U.S. Marine Corps Rifleman’s Creed.

The Rifleman’s Creed exemplifies what it means to be a Marine. The rifleman is the most basic element of the Marine Corps command structure. Without the rifleman, the Corps is nothing.

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When I was young, I was a voracious reader. Early on, I found that the written word was one of the most powerful things ever conceived. I learned that words could be used to mend fences or heal hearts. Words could be used to deliver barbs or to incite violence. Words could be used to pay tribute to the most solemn or auspicious occasions.

“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“That’s one small step for man…”
“I have a dream…”

But that was then…

The US is currently engaged in an unconventional war, but it is not the war on terror. It is a war of attrition, claiming millions of victims. Mass casualties are inflicted on American citizens regularly, yet no shots have ever been fired. It is the war of words.

The election of President Clinton is when words finally became weapons. Illegal aliens became “migrants” or “undocumented workers”. “Be all you can be.”, “The few. The Proud. The Marines.” and “Navy. It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure.” were replaced with “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” “Is” didn’t really mean is, and may have even meant “was”, depending on who you “were”. “Oral sex” wasn’t really sex.  Supporters of abortion referred to themselves as “pro-choice”, while referring to their opponents as “anti-abortion”. A holiday was named for Martin Luther King - and deservedly so, but at the expense of both Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays, which were replaced by a watered-down President’s day.

In the ’90s, there came a new definition of sacrilege. Elephant dung smeared on a portrait of the Virgin Mary and a photo of a crucifix submerged in urine were referred to as “art”; the latter referred to as the “Piss Christ” and paid for by your tax dollars through the National Endowment for the Arts.

Even a changing of the guard did nothing to end the assault on our culture and traditions. Under Bush, the war of words continues. Status quo in Iraq is the key to “victory”. The President calls patriotic Americans who uphold the law and try to stop the assault on our border –because the government ignores the law– “vigilantes”. It’s suddenly far too stigmatizing for children to be “it”, so the game of tag is disappearing. Dick Durbin likened valiant US soldiers to Nazis; John Murtha called Marines “cold-blooded” murderers. After the nation’s veterans began registering their displeasure at John Kerry’s sense of humor, he first backtracked and said he was taking a swipe at Bush’s intelligence, not our soldiers. He blamed his predicament on Republicans. He not only insulted every military veteran living or dead, but then called us all crazy.

He said we would have to be crazy if we believe that he would utter those words in reference to US soldiers, as opposed to the President.

Maybe; maybe not. What is clear however, is that Kerry is an attorney and a US Senator who speaks for a living. At best, he called the President stupid. At worst, US troops. Yet, even when he apologized, he still couldn’t resist taking a swipe at Republicans for a mess of his own making.

The war of words has also resulted in the dilution of terms that were readily understood until recently. Terms that can have dire consequences on how we approach our future enemies if simply glossed over. Muslims who firebomb French buses with people inside are now referred to as “youths” or “teenagers”. Muslim terrorists in Iraq are “insurgents”. I’m sure it’s easy to guess where this is headed.

The war of words will never be won, unless we refuse to accept these outrageous assaults on our sensibilities and demand a return to the plainspoken truth. If we don’t this country will spiral into more and more confusion.

If we can’t even agree that “undocumented” means illegal, or that one who boards a bus full of civilians and blows it to smithereens is a terrorist and not a “martyr” or “resistance fighter”; if we can’t reach a common understanding of the terms of the debate, how can we ever have an honest debate?