Enemies, Soldiers, and Harry Truman

Nobody’s Opinion; Here we go again. It’s Memorial Day, 2006 and The United States is once again up against the world. President Bush’s West Point Address and his strange twist of mentioning how Harry Truman should be given the credit for laying the groundwork for ending communism, was a bit too surreal.

Say what? It was as if he was sending a subliminal message to the world (and Iran) that he does not rule out using nuclear weapons. I mean, how else could you take that statement? I always thought it was Reagan that ended the cold war. And he did it without a shot.

Anyway, he repeated the same soundbite that he has been saying for quite a while.

“We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory.”

Brave words. Obviously whoever wrote them was trying to invoke Winton Churchill.
When President Bush says it, it sounds like he is saying “No anchovies on my pizza!”

Just how he expects to accomplish these goals without killing some of the enemy’s civilians is beyond this nobody. We are not allowed to torture our enemies, no, but we can monitor phone calls.

Good thing Fox put on “24” or we would have no where to get a release of our frustrations. At least in our fantasies, Jack Bauer is allowed to interrogate: "You will answer the question!"

President Bush also said he will go after the terrorists wherever they are. That’s a big order. He admits they are everywhere.

Our enemies hide in mosques, they hide behind children. They come across our borders and hide in our own country. They learn how to defeat us in our universities.

Our enemies use our own media to defeat us.

Our enemies use our own good nature to defeat us.

Our enemies are X-Presidents who go to other countries and relentlessly criticize the very country that they once swore to protect.

Our enemies are retired generals and Senators who convict brave soldiers in public humiliation, therefore branding all Americans with their vicious attacks.

Our enemies are all Arabs who stand in silence and rejoice when Americans are killed.

Our enemies are huge American Corporations, who will sell technology that can be used against us to any buyer; even those who want us dead, in order to make a buck.

Our enemies are our own government officials who while, after an attack on our own soil, care so little about us, they do not secure our borders---but they do quietly beef up their own bunkers.

Our enemies are the internationalists: The men and woman who put the world’s wishes before what’s right for America.

Boy, do we have a lot of those.

So far, we are waiting for President Bush to get going.

And while President Bush is “struggling for freedom” all over the world, he does nothing to protect freedom from eroding here in the United States.

So, we are back to Vietnam again it seems. Not in the nature of the war, of course this war is different. But our own government again, votes to send the troops, and then continues to cut them down. Seems our government is set up to lose wars. They just can’t seem to get their act together.

Harry Truman also said, “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”

Well, I think we all can admit that our government is an expert at confusion.

We can’t tell the democrats from the communists, the republicans from the democrats, the judges from the Presidents…who’s on first?

Not long ago, I ran into an old boyfriend, who had gone to Canada during the Vietnam War to avoid the draft. At the time, I thought he was right to do it. Back then, as now, the communistic control of our media was strong. And yet, most people still have no clue why we got involve in Vietnam in the first place. Every politician who was in office at the time has found someone else to blame.

No matter how much you read about the subject, it’s…who was on second?

My old boyfriend is now a professor, with three degrees. I, of course, having no degree, was very anxious to “pick his brain,” having not seen him since he left for Canada.

But for two hours during lunch, all he could talk about, all he knew, was how he loved to get stoned and listen to hard rock.

It seemed nothing else in life had happened to him. He was sixty going on eighteen.

The man was a genius in his field, and a complete and total idiot. He and his wife had no children; it would have spoiled their perfect life.

He admitted he was practically a communist. He was a fine representation of 95 percent of all university professors.

Unfortunately, there is a man in Iraq who just died protecting the right of this guy to be a communist.

I know, you are going to tell me on this Memorial Day that…that’s what makes America great…all points of view are allowed.

But to me, the American soldier should get the professor’s salary. And the professor should be on the front lines for a while. Now there’s a real communist idea I bet my old professor boyfriend would not like.

But it’s not hopeless. Today in Iraq, there are soldiers making a big difference in a country completely foreign to them.

There are lots of soldiers who are giving food and candy children. There are soldiers building roads, putting in hospitals, and building schools.

Soldiers…bravely giving their lives for the country that he loves, for a father and mother that he honors…for his wife, his children, and his buddies.

He is showing that even though he might not be sure if the government in his own country even represents him or his family, he continues to serve with honor, and very little recognition. That’s integrity. That’s American.

And that’s the American way, set down by our history, by our fathers and mothers example in all the wars fought. The real sons and daughters, like their ancestors before them, somehow manage to get America through, despite the historical ineptitude of some of our leaders.

Are we good, or what?

After WWII, the German people loved the American soldier…because they protected them from the Russians, who were ruthless to the Germans. Many a children remembered and never forgot the kindness of the American soldiers.

And someday, a child in Iraq or Afghanistan may not remember who President Bush was, (especially if a Democrat is becomes President in 2008) but they will remember the nice American soldiers who gave them a soccer ball, or a box of crayons. They will remember the grace and goodness of the American soldier and believe in the goodness of mankind.

The American soldiers are now, our one last one true great legacy.

And the best way to honor all soldiers on Memorial Day, 2006, is for us here at home to get going and work to protect the freedoms here, so that the men and women who lost their lives in Iraq…will not have died in vain.

They are the best of the best.

And we love them all.


Nobody’s Perfect; .Harry Truman also said, “If you want to live like a Republican, you’ve got to vote for a Democrat.” I cannot believe Hillary has not grabbed this line.

Nobody Knows; Did Angelina Jolie have a cesarean? And did she get a tummy tuck along with it? Will the baby have big lips?

Nobody Cares; Does anybody care if the guys from Enron are mad about their verdict? Naaaaaaaah.