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."
A few things are notable about the current fighting in Egypt between the
government and the supporters of Morsi in comparison to how the media
covers Israel. Firstly, as of this writing, the death toll in less than 24 hours is 281,
mostly civilians (no matter what you think of the Muslim Brotherhood,
while some of them are armed, most of the protesters were peaceful.) Last November, Israel and Gaza terror groups fought Pillar of Defense.
Israel dropped hundreds of bombs on Gaza and the news coverage was
non-stop, as was the vitriol against Israel for supposed wanton killings
and disregard for civilian lives. The one day with the most Arab casualties in Pillar of Defense was
November 18. Guess how many were killed by Israel's fearsome war machine
on that day? 35. Either the Egyptian security forces' bullets are far more deadly than
Israel's bombs and missiles - or Israel was extraordinarily careful in
who they targeted and how. In fact, in one day, Egypt has killed more Arabs than Israel did since January 2012 - including Pillar of Defense! Also, the number of civilians killed in the current fighting is much,
much higher than the number killed by Israel since the end of 2011.
There is another double standard to the reporting that is important to note as well. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed at various times during the day a death toll of over 2000.
While these huge numbers were quoted, practically no reporter took
those claims seriously, knowing that the group would tend to exaggerate
to a great degree and because the numbers just didn't seem realistic.
The media acted responsibly and reported only the statistics that could
be confirmed by more reputable sources. Yet, the same media swallows the death statistics from Muslim Brotherhood offshoot Hamas and reports them in detail, as fact, without the slightest amount of skepticism. The only way to explain this is to recognize that the media, by and
large, has a false impression of Israel as a brutal regime and is
willing to believe the worst about it - no matter how many times the
lies are exposed (unfortunately, often days or months later.) Yet even after seeing the Egyptian security forces machine-gun civilians
at point blank range, the media is not willing to believe inflated
claims about casualties without further checking. This encapsulates the problem with media coverage of Israel nicely.
Pre-existing biases are assumed true, and fact checking is lacking when
the reports fit what the reporter believes. Watch the coverage from Egypt. The double standards are clear.
