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."
Well, this was an arresting opening, to an Associated Press report: “He compared al-Qaida in Iraq to wolves, urging that the terrorist group be crushed since he believed its members would never reject violence.
But the wolves got to the Iraqi counterterrorism officer first.”That officer was Ahmed Subhi al-Fahal, killed in a suicide bombing in Tikrit (Saddam Hussein’s old bastion). Killed along with him were two bodyguards and two bystanders. Al-Fahal was in his early 30s and apparently lived to eliminate violent extremists from his country. He claimed on al-Arabiya, the TV network, that he had killed more than 250 of al-Qaeda’s finest: not a bad haul.
And, according to the AP, “he was also thrown the most difficult missions. It was al-Fahal who was called in to track down 16 prisoners — including several al-Qaida-linked inmates awaiting execution — who escaped in a stunning September jailbreak . . .”
After al-Fahal’s death, an American colonel wrote, “He was controversial, flamboyant, brave, and effective. He single-handedly disrupted numerous enemy plots during the last election . . .”
Sounds like a very useful man, and it is no wonder that al-Qaeda is rejoicing over his death. May Iraq, for the sake of its possibility of life, have many more like him. National Review
