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."
Who then appear in videos wrapped in hijabs, saying they “willingly” embraced Islam and don't want to be searched for.
Two stories of Coptic Christian women disappearing off the streets of
Egypt that surfaced around the same time in the month of Ramadan, April,
2022, are a testimony to the ongoing prevalence of this phenomenon.
On April 11, Simone Adel Isaac, a 15-year-old Coptic girl,
disappeared. Her parents immediately carried out an extensive
investigation, including by questioning her friends, until they
determined that the brother of one of her Muslim schoolmates was behind
her disappearance. The parents provided police with the Muslim man’s
name, home address, and phone number, and anxiously awaited the return
of their daughter.
To their dismay, police did little. The distraught parents responded by sharing their experiences in a video
that went viral. Being so abandoned by police, the mother, in tears,
appealed to anyone and everyone, including the Egyptian president, Sisi,
and Coptic pope, to intervene: “Any person with a merciful heart who
can return her to me, please do so, because my girl is a minor, my girl
doesn’t understand anything, she was deceived by that guy, his sister,
and even his mother.” As the girl’s father added, “The government knows
exactly where the [Muslim] fellow is. They should be the ones to go and
get him, not us.”
Soon thereafter—and, as usual, under unclear circumstances—police reunited the girl with her family.
On April 5, Mary Wahib Joseph, 36, a Christian mother of three,
disappeared with her one-year-old daughter, Julie. A week after her
husband and extended family contacted everyone about her disappearance,
including police, on April 12, Mary appeared in a video,
wrapped under a hijab, and saying that she had willingly and without
any coercion converted to Islam; that her name was now Mary Ahmed
Muhammad; and that her husband, children, and parents should stop
looking for her. All while making these claims Mary’s baby daughter can
be heard crying in the background.
