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."
Turkey’s Trail of Terror and American Foreign Policy By Michael Rubin
Saturday, April 05, 2025
The late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while visiting the ship Mavi Marmara in Istanbul on January 2, 2012.
ME Forum : The Pragmatism That Western Officials Ascribed to Erdoğan Was Always a Ruse That Erdoğan Embraced to Allay Concerns While He Consolidated Power. A segment of the multi-author memo "Hamas and Turkey: A Partnership in Terror."
In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led the Islamic Revolution that
swept away Iran’s shah and replaced the Iranian monarchy with a clerical
rule. Overnight, Iran transformed from a pillar of American partnership
in the region to an adversary and terror sponsor. The change was
undeniable, even to Iran’s most ardent supporters.
Prior to his
ascent to power, Khomeini denied any ambition to rule Iran. He spoke of
bringing democracy and renounced interest in ruling Iran. “I don’t want
to have the power of government in my hand; I am not interested in
personal power,” he told one gullible journalist.102
There
is an irony today that while policymakers recognized the obvious
regarding Iran’s transformation, too many remain in denial about
Turkey’s equally momentous shift.
The pragmatism that Western officials ascribed to Recep Tayyip
Erdogan was always a ruse that Erdogan embraced to allay concerns while
he consolidated power. It worked. And not just with the Obama
administration. Daniel Fried, George W. Bush’s assistant secretary of
state for European affairs, described Erdogan’s AKP Party as “a kind of
Muslim version of a Christian Democratic party,” while Bush’s secretary
of state, Colin Powell, praised Turkey as a “Muslim democracy.”103
Erdogan played to Western naivete as he consolidated control. The
Turkish leader’s authoritarian tendencies were on full display after the
March 2025 arrest of Turkish opposition figure Ekrem Imamoglu on
spurious charges. Erdogan’s subsequent crackdown on protestors only
exacerbated Western concerns that Turkey’s window to join the club of
liberal democracies has all but closed.
In hindsight, Ankara’s
European Union accession process had less to do with a desire to join
Europe than with serving as a mechanism to consolidate Erdoğan’s
autocracy. Indeed, Erdogan was only too happy to accede to European
demands that he unravel any internal military role in Turkish society.
In theory, this was good for democracy given the military’s role in
toppling previous regimes.
In 1960 and 1980, the Turkish Army interceded
to end governments that violated the constitution or failed to maintain
law and order. In 1971 and 1997, the threat of intervention was enough
to force governments to resign. But the European Union unraveled the
military’s role to protect the constitution before establishing a check
on Erdogan’s power. In retrospect, this may have been the final nail in
the coffin for Turkey’s democracy.
