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."
As Turks look at collapsed buildings, anger at government grows By Fariba Nawa Contributor February 13, 2023 - ISTANBUL
Friday, February 17, 2023
With hopes scant of pulling many more survivors from the rubble of
last week’s devastating earthquake, Turkish citizens are expressing
growing anger and resentment toward the government, demanding
accountability for shoddy construction practices they say cost thousands
of lives and for its delayed response to the disaster.
Relief
efforts pivoted urgently over the weekend to feeding and housing
survivors on both sides of the Turkey-Syria border even as the death
toll climbed steadily, passing 36,000 on Monday. The 7.8 magnitude quake
Feb. 6 and strong aftershocks that followed constituted the deadliest
natural disaster in the region in 80 years.
In Turkey,
criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and
Development Party mounted. Critics said warnings about the quake-prone
area were ignored, allowing a rush of construction by companies that, to
maximize profits, dodged building codes that could have prevented the
sudden collapse of entire buildings.
As of Monday, Turkish authorities said they had arrested 12 property
developers, issued arrest warrants for 114 people, and launched 134
investigations, but government critics were insistent that more needed
to be done to curb corruption, mismanagement, and impunity.
“Buildings
should not have collapsed like that. And when they did, why wasn’t the
army called on and helicopters used immediately to get rescue workers to
save those under the collapsed buildings?” asks Guzide Diker, an
activist whose family lost their homes in the quake in Malatya.
