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."
Has Turkey used its national airline for weapons shipments to Nigeria?
(Image source: Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
The gist of their brief conversation in Turkish, according to the Arabic transcript, is that weapons were being transferred from Turkey to Nigeria — and that there was a concern that the weapons might kill not just Christians but Muslims.
According to [Egyptian TenTV host Nasha't] al-Deyhi, this is proof positive that Turkey is the one supplying Boko Haram with its weapons — including sophisticated weapons — the source of which has long puzzled observers.
It appears that Erdogan's sponsorship of terrorism may not be limited to neighboring Middle Eastern nations; it may have reached deep into Africa.
A serious investigation with possible sanctions is in order. Concerning Turkey's increasingly suspect role in supporting jihadists — most recently, ISIS's slain leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was found hiding in Syria's "last refuge" for jihadi rebels, just three miles from Turkey's border — one of the least mentioned is Turkey's apparent alliance with the "other" ISIS, that in Nigeria, Boko Haram.
On a recent episode of bi'l waraqa wa'l qalam ("With Paper and Pen"), an Egyptian news program that airs on TenTV, its host, Nasha't al-Deyhi, said:
Leaked information confirms that Turkey is a terrorist state; it supports terrorists — including with weapons. It supports terrorists with weapons. This time, however, not in Syria ... Today's leak confirms without doubt that Erdogan, his state, his government, and his party are transferring weapons from Turkey to — this is a shock, to where you may ask — to Nigeria; and to whom? — to the Boko Haram organization.
He then played an intercepted audio of what he said were Mustafa
Varank (currently Turkey's Minister of Industry and Technology) and
Mehmet Karatas (a manager at the partly state-owned Turkish Airlines).The gist of their brief conversation in Turkish, according to the
Arabic transcript, is that weapons were being transferred from Turkey to
Nigeria — and that there was a concern that the weapons might kill not
just Christians but Muslims.
(This audio clip would seem to be the same leaked recording that was first reported by international media outlets in 2014. Varank served as Senior Advisor to Recep Tayyip Erdogan between 2011 and 2018)
