I don't know who wrote this, but it is very interesting and well written.
Trent
Some of you may not approve of the Iraqi war, and I hope this e-mail doesn't offend anyone, but it's one of the BEST explanation the war that I've ever read, and I feel I must pass it on.
This is the BEST explanation of WHY we are AMERICA, the Home of the Brave and the Land of the FREE!
The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war. My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our
country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.
My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. He told him: "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbors houses." he replied.
"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."
"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.
"OK Dad, I'm pretending."
"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that man come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of their
father. You see all of this son.... what do you do?"
"Dad?"
"What do you do son?"
"I call the police, Dad."
"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"
"Dad, but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.
"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.
"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.
"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."
"Daddy...he kills them?"
"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"
"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.
"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.
"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"
"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?"
Our son starts to cry.
"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"
"What Daddy?"
"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in he window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
"Daddy..."
"WHAT DO YOU DO?"
Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I close the blinds, Daddy."
My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him... "Why?"
"Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help...people who needs it....and they won't help....You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself ..Daddy.....I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and.....do
nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds ....so I can't see what he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."
I start to cry.
My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and he tells him...."Son"
"Yes, Daddy."
"Open the blinds because that man.... he's at your front door..."WHAT DO YOU DO?"
My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"
I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to his chest and hugs him tight, and cries..."It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right, even if you have to
do it alone, before...... it's too late." my husband whispers.
THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all. Our president is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove evil men from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our window. So that my nine year old son won't grow up in a world where he feels that if he just "closes" the blinds the atrocities in the world won't affect him.
"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!"
BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR PRESIDENT!
BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA!! SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...."
"The liberty we prize is not American's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." George W. Bush
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"Watch where you're going, remember where you've been, that's the way I see it, I'm a simple man."--Charlie Daniels
"The liberty we prize is not American's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." George W. Bush
The story is heartwarming. The logistics and politics of the current situation are another matter.
We are dealing with a foreign culture rooted in methodical graft and corruption. In Afghanistan for example, the remote nature of the settlements is not conducive to easily passing out "liberty" like candy. Once we turn our backs, the Taliban will return and the people will accept what they sell because they are ingrained with the idea of being bought and sold by people around and above them. Add the religious differences to the cultural mix and you've got a formula for disaster for a nation like America where we want to look like the "good guys" even in war. Want proof? Just look at how our media is drooling over the chance to reveal American atrocities currently under investigation.
We have a new and unusual problem. We will be damned if we do and attacked again if we don't. To complicate the problem our global support on the matter is relatively meager.
Ifferd, what in the heck does a photo taken in 1983, when the U.S. and Iraq had good diplomatic relations (relatively speaking) and when Don Rumsfeld was only an envoy to the president, have to do with the current situation???
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
So instead of righting a wrong we just allow him to continue to unleash his terror on his country's people, and possibly work towards assembling means of attacking us as well?? Supporting Iraq in the early '80s was under a completely different administration; the current administration has absolutely nothing to do with that administration. I'm sorry, Ifferd, but to question this administration's motives based on something that the predecessor of the predecessor's predecessor did is ludicrous at best.
Hell, our country supported enslavement of black people until the 1860s. Using the logic in your last post, our government's passage of legislation to end discrimination against blacks in the wake of the civil rights movements had nothing to do with attempting to end injustice against them, right?
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world -- Ghandi
http://www.rightminded.net
Why we are at War!!
