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."
Salman Rushdie and the dangers of multiculturalism
Saturday, August 20, 2022
BCF : The British state has inflamed Islamist intolerance.
Last weekend’s vicious knife attack on author Sir Salman Rushdie has
reignited debate over how best to defend free speech and literary
expression in the face of Islamist intolerance. Yet something that has
been largely overlooked in much of the commentary following the attack
is how much of this intolerance is coming from within the West, and has
been fuelled by government policy – particularly by state multiculturalism.
Although the ‘Rushdie affair’ has become synonymous with the infamous
‘fatwa’ or assassination order, issued by Iranian supreme leader
Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, the ferment against Rushdie’s book, The Satanic Verses, began in earnest in Britain itself.
When The Satanic Verses was first published in 1988, it was
immediately interpreted by some Muslims as a blasphemous novel. It was
said to have questioned two foundational Islamic beliefs – the moral
infallibility of the Prophet Muhammad and the status of the Koran as the
revelation of God.
In December 1988, the first ever demonstration against The Satanic Verses
was held not in the Middle East, but in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
After Friday prayers, protesters marched from Bolton’s Zakariyya Jame
Masjid mosque to the town centre, where they burned copies of the book.
Then in January 1989, another public burning of The Satanic Verses
was organised by Muslims in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Unlike the Bolton
book-burnings, the Bradford protests gained global attention and
notoriety. Robert Winder, former literary editor of the Independent, wrote of the ‘images of Medieval (not to mention Nazi) intolerance’ coming out of the city.
