Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
According to the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, Kenyans and Nigerians are wild about America. No surprise there, in view of who our president is; presumably other sub-Saharans would be similarly enthusiastic.
Out of Africa, we are rather less popular. The Germans, for some reason, are narrowly pro-America, and India, after years of assiduous courtship by President Bush, only slightly anti. Among the rest . . . well, all you need to know is that our biggest fan is Egypt.
Judging from the results of the poll, taken between April and June of this year, Mexicans appear singularly unmoved by our generous immigration policies, our friends the Iraqis seem less than grateful for being rescued from tyranny, and the “special relationship” with Great Britain looks to have dissolved around the time the Beatles did.
There’s no surprise in any of this, really. The most powerful nation makes a convenient scapegoat for all the world’s troubles and every nation’s inadequacies. Another three and a half years of Obama apologies may conceivably shrink the red bars by a point or two, but as long as America has the world’s strongest economy and its most powerful armed forces, it will unavoidably continue to attract jealous hostility from despots and democrats alike. National Review
