‘US’ Category
» posted on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 9:25 pm by Andy D
War is All Hell
The U.S. Marine Corps is launching an internal investigation into the culture of the Corps in response to a video that purportedly shows troops urinating on the corpses of suspected Taliban fighters, a Marine official told ABC News today.
The probe will attempt to answer the question “What happened in the Marine Corps that this happened?” according to the official.
There has been a lot of criticism of the 4 U.S. Marine’s accused of urinating on Taliban corpses. I would like to spend a little time trying to put this into perspective. I don’t condone this behavior, but I don’t necessarily condemn it either. This is a war, and this happened on the battlefield. Theoretically, these Marines killed these same fighters. I think that may have bothered the Taliban fighters more.
Let’s also remember that while these Marines are being condemned, I don’t remember any condemnation coming from Afghanistan or the Taliban when Al-Quedea members beheaded Daniel Pearl on video, then released the video for everyone in the world to see. The Wikipedia entry describing the video of Pearl’s death says that at the end:
A few more images are shown near the image of Pearl’s head. The last 90 seconds of the video show the list of demands scrolling, superimposed on an image of Pearl’s severed head being held by the hair.
Which of these behaviors sounds more barbaric to you?
During World War II, Marines fighting the Japanese often took golden teeth as souvenirs. Some Marines took Japanese skulls. They would boil the flesh off, then mail the skull home to family and loved ones. There is an image online from Life Magazine that shows a lady looking at a skull her boyfriend sent her from overseas. This practice was so common that it was discussed in magazines and newspapers during the time. President Roosevelt is reported to have had a Japanese skull on the White House desk that was presented to him by a soldier.
We can always look for more ways to make war humane. At the end of the day, War is all Hell. These Marines may have crossed a line we don’t like, but both former Marines, and the enemy these kids are fighting have done much, much worse.
2 comments | filed under military · terrorist · US
» posted on Monday, October 31st, 2011 at 5:35 am by Andy D
31 Days of Blogging: America the Beautiful
A few weeks ago I wrote about the “31 Day Blog Challenge”. The idea is to write about one thing for 31 days. I kicked around a few ideas when I wrote the first post, and listened to feedback from readers of this blog. However, I feel my wife had the best suggestion of all: America the Beautiful. I like this topic for two reasons. First, I will be doing a lot of traveling in the month of November. This will give me a lot of material for blogs about America. Secondly, its popular on the left, and in foreign countries, to blame America for today’s evils. I plan on spending the next 31 days writing about those things that are good about America.
Beginning tomorrow, I will write one blog every day for the month of November. Some of these will be my typical ~500 word blogs. Some of them will be much shorter, and some of them may only be a picture or a great quote. However, I will have new material up here everyday discussing the positive things about this great nation. I hope you find something interesting and useful from this project. As always, let me know your thoughts, and any ideas you have.
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As each new posts appears, I will be linking to each of them below. This post will be your one stop shop for all of my America the Beautiful posts.
Day 4: The Declaration of Independence
Day 9: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Day 10: Veteran’s Day – Part One
Day 11: Veteran’s Day – Part Two
Day 12: The Star – Spangled Banner
Day 17: The End of America is Greatly Exaggerated
Day 19: The Gettysburg Address
8 comments | filed under 31 Days of Blogging · America · US
» posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 9:08 pm by Andy D
In Defense of Columbus
I have seen a number of comments in social media today attacking Christopher Columbus. Today is the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas. Most of the attacks seem to be not about Columbus himself, but instead were laying the blame of what would later happen to the Native Americans at his feet. This isn’t fair to Columbus and it ignores how Native Americans treated each other.
When Columbus left for the New World, the men he sailed with were worried about the trip at almost every turn. There were ill omens, unknown waters, fear of sea monsters, and worries that the winds wouldn’t blow East on their way home thus stranding them and keeping them from ever returning. Bennett and Cribb write the following in The American Patriots Almanac:
They saw birds overhead, which gave them hope. They tried following their direction — but saw nothing. The sullen crew neared mutiny. There was talk of throwing the admiral into the sea and forcing the pilots to turn around. Columbus, refusing to flinch, willed his vessels on. Then came the dawn that raised an island from the swells. Columbus reached a New World. The day was October 12, 1492.
This wasn’t a Sunday stroll. Columbus put everything on the line to make the voyage, and deserves some respect for that.
As Europeans came to America, there were betrayals and terrible acts by both the new settlers and the Native Americans. It’s somewhat en vogue today to believe the Native Americans lived a peaceful, zen-like, existence prior to the arrival of Europeans. That’s not true. Tribes warred with each other, with the winner taking the survivors, and sometimes the entire opposing tribe, as slaves. The true story of how the European settlers and the Native Americans interacted is much more complex.
At the same time, we can’t escape that the United States is a nation that developed by displacing the Native Americans into a few small, select areas. We can agree that much of that developing and displacing was at the cost of the Native American way of life. Of the two cultures, the Native Americans came out on the short end of the stick. And I don’t mean to belittle that point.
However, if Columbus hadn’t “discovered” America, some other European explorer would have. There is no way of knowing how North and South America might have developed if the area was discovered at a different point in history. There is also no reason to expect that the United States unique experiment of Freedom and Democracy would have happened in that alternate time line. A nation of the people, by the people, and for the people was not the pattern of worldwide or even European nations. It was (and to some degree, still is) unique to America. It is much more likely that a different time line would not have produced the United States we have today. And with that, the advances and the interventions the United States has participated in would not have been made possible. The lack of the United States in World War I and World War II alone would have had a dramatic impact on the world as we know it.
While we can all agree that Americas past isn’t perfect, that’s no excuse for ignoring the good that has happened in the world as a result of America. To further lay the entire sins of 500+ years of human history on one man seems a little silly. Instead, we should take some time to marvel at the fact that Christopher Columbus was able to make the voyage in the Nina,the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, in the first place. We can acknowledge the mistakes of our past, but we should also be thankful, and proud, of the good things we have accomplished too.
one Comment | filed under Dr. Bill Bennett · freedoms · US
» posted on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at 10:07 pm by Andy D
A Lack of Leadership
Critics of America should consider carefully whether they really want what they have wished for: an America more restrained, “back in its box,” deferential to other countries — or, even, less successful. They are deluding themselves if they think this would make them better off.
– Bronwen Maddox, from In Defense of America
These words were written back during the Bush administration. Bronwen Maddox, chief foreign commentator for The Times of London, argues that the United States has made some mistakes but, “…after a century of success which was rightly called the American Century, the United States has every reason to advocate the American way.” The quote above is taken from her chapter entitled “Be Careful What You Wish For”. She cautions Europe that a United States that puts aside it’s international leadership role is not a benefit to Europe. French, British, and NATO leaders may be learning this lesson a little late. Consider these words from a Canadian writer in The Globe and Mail:
No one has strong enough reasons of their own for intervening in Libya. The strategic interests of each participant lies elsewhere (although the Europeans worry, as they did in the Balkans, about a flood of unwanted immigrants). Each country is primarily concerned with exposing itself as little as possible to danger or costs of any magnitude. Mr. Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy are not in strong enough positions at home to weather significant setbacks abroad. The Americans insist that the Europeans will take the lead, as both parties indulge the wishful thinking that the Arabs will. No one will admit to being in charge, nor is there avowed agreement on the goal. Yet, these are the two things that a military campaign needs above all. Mr. Obama needs to see that a president shouldn’t stake his political futures on vacillating allies to whom he’s offered the example of his own irresoluteness.
Europe and the United States appear to be playing hot potato with the leadership role of the current war in Libya. As of this writing, it looks like NATO and Canada may take over command of the no-fly zone. Command of “the rest” of the military action is to be handed to someone else. The only thing we can be sure of is that President Obama has yet to show any real leadership as President. I think opponents and critics alike would say his most prominent success was getting Obamacare passed. However, I wouldn’t call that leadership. With more and more people turning against it every day, and with the political “shellacking” he took in November, passing Obamacare was more like subterfuge than leadership.
However, the President is the commander of our armed forces. He leads the greatest military on the face of this planet. Yet, in Libya, president Obama has given the impression that the Europeans drug him into action, kicking and screaming the whole way. Now that our military is involved, he should stand up and command. Instead, he appears ready to put the first foreign leader he can find in charge of our military. Is he afraid voters will call this “Obama’s War”? Does he simply have no idea what to do? Does he have something more important to do, like pick his final four bracket?
The President of the United States is often called the “Leader of the Free World”. President Obama doesn’t seem to have any leadership abilities what so ever. Worse still, he seems to be running away from any opportunity to display any leadership he may have. The World may have wished for a United States that was less like the world power we were under President George W Bush. I am not sure the world was ready to get its wish.
one Comment | filed under Democrats · Foreign Policy · Obama · US
» posted on Saturday, January 8th, 2011 at 9:36 pm by Andy D
The Pledge of Allegiance Explained.
My brother sent me the link to this video. I think it is a pretty good explanation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
post a comment | filed under freedoms · Religion · US