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."
Jihad Watch : The attempt to be a thoughtful Muslim must
be exhausting. There are so many mental landmines to avoid and
crumbling foundations to shore up when trying to build a consistent and
coherent Muslim worldview.
This is seen clearly though not by any
means exclusively in the schizophrenic mindset that on the one hand
boasts of the supremacy of Islam over all other powers or beliefs and on
the other hand rushes to claim victim status whenever Islam proves to
be weak or at fault in some moral evil committed by its followers in the
name of Allah.
This supremacist attitude is woven throughout the Qur’an and Muslim
writings. Allah assures his followers that they are at the top of the
heap of humanity (“You are the best of all peoples evolved for mankind” —
Qur’an 3:110). He informs them that Islam is the perfect faith (“Today I
have perfected your religion for you” — Qur’an 5:3). Muhammad tells his
denizens that the age of jahiliyyah (i.e., ignorance of Allah and his
ways) is now over, and that unbelief is no longer going to be tolerated.
Anything not in accord with Islam is to be eradicated (something the
Taliban, ISIS and Salafi Muslims have taken to heart in destroying
religious sculptures, shrines and museums of religious and cultural
artifacts from bygone eras).
Unbelievers (the kuffar) are to be won over
to Islam or forced to kneel in submission to Islamic rule and pay the
onerous yearly head tax known as jizya, or to face the sword of the
Islamic state until they lose their heads (literally). Allah assures his
jihadis that they will surely be victorious since he will send his
angels to fight alongside them and they will overcome huge odds:
