Here is an awesome Memorial Day message from Justin Smith that honors veterans who lost the lives defending American Rights. Justin then deftly moves to criticizing the Obama Administration’s moral destruction of American military capability through the President’s Foreign Policy decisions.
JRH 5/24/15
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Honor and Sacrifices
By Justin O. Smith
Sent: 5/23/2015 5:29 PM
“God and the soldier doth all men adore in time of war and not before; when the war is over and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.” — signed by the 16th Regiment of Foot on January 30, 1770
Freedom is the most precious thing to all men and women, and since the Civil War, millions of Americans have placed their lives in harm’s way in the defense of God, family and freedom, with over one million making the ultimate sacrifice during the course of several wars from WWII, Korea and Vietnam to the present wars in the Middle East. The empty seats at family gatherings bear witness to this sacrifice by these honored dead, and we the living must be resolved that these soldiers “last full measure of devotion” and their lives were not sacrificed in vain.
Today Americans, who love this country see far too many others, malcontents, more than willing to sow the seeds of strife and discord, as they trample on the American Flag and dishonor the memories of those heroes we honor each Memorial Day. These fallen soldiers would least understand the twisted logic of these anti-American fascists, since our fallen often laid down their lives on the field of battle to stop the enemy from burning their flags, fighting to the death rather than suffer disgrace at the hands of their enemy.
On the foreign front and without any virtue, Obama has dishonored all U.S. Armed Forces members, those living and those killed in action, and their many sacrifices, through Middle East policies that have allowed the Islamic State to grow into a real security threat to America. His hasty withdrawal from Iraq, aimed at keeping a campaign promise, has been a direct factor in the fall of much of Iraq, including Ramadi, and this in turn ensures more long wars of attrition yet to come.
Scores of U.S. soldiers died defending Ramadi and hundreds more were wounded between 2006 and our final withdrawal, and about a week ago the world sat by idly watching as Ramadi fell to Islamic State fascists, who immediately murdered over 500 people and set the exodus of 25,000 Iraqis in motion; during their two month advance on Ramadi, these Islamofascists have forced 147,000 Iraqis to flee to refugee camps.
The images of Ramadi falling to the Islamic State and their black flags being raised has sent a chill through many Americans who fought in Iraq. They are more than disgusted that their sacrifices have seemingly been made in vain, for nothing.
General Douglas McArthur once noted that “Duty, Honor, Country” reverently dictates what each of us ought to be and can be, in regards to finding courage, faith and hope in the face of any crisis. Too many on the Left and too many in the top echelons of the U.S. military, including General Martin Dempsey, no longer seem to have a good grasp on the meaning of these words.
Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey is politicizing the U.S. Armed Forces, and he has become Obama’s echo chamber. He didn’t send extra security to Benghazi, because he “never received a request”; he never saw evidence of Iran’s military fighting in Iraq, even though Iranian Quds Forces have been in Iraq for most of the decade and 20,000 Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces have been there since last year. Dempsey’s habit of parroting Obama’s policies has resulted in a consistent record of failure.
During October 2014 Dempsey said, “We have a crisis in Iraq” (The Long War Journal), but by November he was telling troops in Baghdad that ISIS is “a bunch of midgets,” and several years would be needed to defeat them — several years to stop Obama’s “JV team”.
This past April, Gen. Dempsey suggested that Ramadi is “not symbolic in any way” and losing it would not be a major setback, even though it is only 75 miles from Baghdad. Dempsey stated, “I would much rather that Ramadi not fall, but it won’t be the end of the campaign should it fall.”
Debbie Lee, the mother of the first Navy SEAL killed in Iraq and in Ramadi (awarded the Silver Star), was furious over Dempsey’s remarks, and she penned an open letter that read in part: “I am shaking and tears are flowing down my cheeks as I … listen to the insensitive pain-inflicting comments made by you in regards to the fall of Ramadi. My son and many others gave their future in Ramadi. Ramadi mattered to them. Many military analysts say that as goes Ramadi so goes Iraq.” (Iraq is already lost).
Lee went further: “You, sir, owe an apology to the families whose loved ones’ blood was shed in Ramadi … whose bodies were blown to pieces by IEDs and bullet holes leaving parts and pieces behind … Ramadi mattered to them. … You and this administration have minimized that Ramadi could fall. Now you are minimizing that it is falling, but you Sir WILL NOT minimize the sacrifice my son Marc Lee made or any of our brave warriors.” (The Daily Beast – 5/20/15)
Considering that America has already seen too many of Her Sons and Daughters return home in body bags and without arms and legs, lost in a war that was brought to them unasked for and undeserved — enough blood to last a lifetime and then some — Can anyone now honestly say that the mission in Iraq was worth it?
America can honor Her soldiers by praying for peace and working towards peace through strength, because we have seen the deepest wounds and scars of war, as Arlington Cemetery grows. We understand that wars often come at a time chosen by our enemies, but we do not want to fight twelve year wars ever again. We simply want our Armed Forces fully prepared to properly defend Our Beloved America on two fronts and, if pushed to war, to fight to win devastatingly quick.
With the war tocsins sounding across the globe, Obama and the Progressives are destroying the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national defense system, and a million ghosts are rising from their white crosses in Arlington Cemetery thundering the words “Duty, Honor, Country.
By Justin O. Smith
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Edited by John R. Houk
Links are provided by the Editor.
© Justin O. Smith
The Conservative-Patriot Christian Right 