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 recent incident in Jerusalem goes a long way in answering this
question. Hizb al-Tahrir—the “Liberation Party”—held a large, outdoor
event near al-Aqsa mosque to commemorate the anniversary of the Islamic
conquest of Constantinople (May 29, 1453).
There, as he had done before, Palestinian cleric Nidhal Siam made clear that, from an Islamic perspective, liberation and conquest are one and the same.After all the takbirs (chants of “Allahu Akbar”) had subsided, Siam spoke:
Oh Muslims, the anniversary of the conquest [fath/فتح,
literally, “opening”] of Constantinople brings tidings of things to
come. It brings tidings that Rome will be conquered in the near future,
Allah willing…. We are approaching the fulfillment of three prophecies,
and we pray that Allah will fulfill these prophecies by our hands. The
first prophecy is the establishment of the rightly-guided Caliphate in
accordance with the way of the prophet.
The second prophecy is the
liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the establishment of Jerusalem as
the capital of the state of the Caliphate. The third prophecy is that
Islam will throw its neighbors to the ground, and that its reach will
span across the east and the west of this Earth. This is Allah’s
promise, and Allah does not renege on his promises.
He and the assembled throng then repeatedly chanted, “By means of the
Caliphate and the consolidation of power, Mehmed the Conqueror
vanquished Constantinople!” and “Your conquest, oh Rome, is a matter of
certainty!”
Consider for a moment the significance of these assertions—coming as
they are from Palestinians, who, when speaking to and seeking sympathy
from the international community, often present themselves as an
oppressed people whose land is unjustly occupied. First of all, the Islamic conquest of Constantinople was just that—a brutal and savage conquest the sole legitimacy of which was the might of arms. As Muslims had done for centuries earlier in North Africa and the Middle East,
they invaded and conquered “New Rome”—not because it had committed some
injustice, but because Islam commands the subjugation of non-Muslims,
as Siam made clear. Moreover, Islam had long seen and targeted Constantinople—beginning with its prophet, Muhammad, who desired its women—as the “ultimate prize.”
Which leads to Rome: what does it have to do with the
Arab-Israeli conflict that it too deserves to be conquered? Absolutely
nothing—except that, since the conquest of Constantinople, Islam has
seen Rome as the symbolic head of the Christian world, and therefore in
urgent need of subjugating. Or, in the words
of the Islamic State, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses,
and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah… [We will cast] fear
into the hearts of the cross-worshipers.”
Most telling is Siam’s “third prophecy”—delivered to thundering
applause: “that Islam will throw its neighbors to the ground, and that
its reach will span across the east and the west of this Earth.” In
other words, no non-Muslim is safe from the sword of jihad.
