By Semperpapa
Do the names Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker ring any bell? I will personally never forget them even though I am nowhere connected with them nor I even knew them.
The two young men were soldiers of the 101st Airborne.
On 16 June 2006, they were part of a check point in Youssifiyah, Iraq, when they were attacked by members of an al Qaeda linked group that called itself Mujahedeen Shura Council. In the attack one other soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, was killed and Menchaca and Tucker were taken prisoners, kidnapped.
In the following days, units from the 101st conducted desperate search for the two soldiers, in the process also suffering one additional KIA.
Ultimately the bodies of the two soldiers were found on 20 June. At least what was left of the two young men.
When the search units found the remains of the two soldiers, they had to call in bomb disposal units to clear the way to them. The approach and the remains themselves had been loaded with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
Few days after the recover of Kristian and Thomas, the party responsible for their murders posted a highly gruesome video showing the actual acts of desecration of their bodies. I have not seen the video, but suffice to know that many outlets refused to show it, mostly for respect toward the families.
According to Iraqi authorities, the two soldiers had been tortured and barbarically murdered, including being beheaded.
I am sure there are many people that will discount what I expressed above as just part of the horror that is inherent to the act of war. And surely many will read and feel reinforced in their beliefs that pacifism is the answer to all brutality.
This is a utopian approach that has only one consequence which is the loss of more innocent lives and the proof of my statement is all over the terrorists’ actions.
Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg made the news circles when videos of their murders were joyfully posted by these fine representatives of the religion of peace. And they were not military members
The two young men were soldiers of the 101st Airborne.
On 16 June 2006, they were part of a check point in Youssifiyah, Iraq, when they were attacked by members of an al Qaeda linked group that called itself Mujahedeen Shura Council. In the attack one other soldier, Spc. David J. Babineau, was killed and Menchaca and Tucker were taken prisoners, kidnapped.
In the following days, units from the 101st conducted desperate search for the two soldiers, in the process also suffering one additional KIA.
Ultimately the bodies of the two soldiers were found on 20 June. At least what was left of the two young men.
When the search units found the remains of the two soldiers, they had to call in bomb disposal units to clear the way to them. The approach and the remains themselves had been loaded with IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
Few days after the recover of Kristian and Thomas, the party responsible for their murders posted a highly gruesome video showing the actual acts of desecration of their bodies. I have not seen the video, but suffice to know that many outlets refused to show it, mostly for respect toward the families.
According to Iraqi authorities, the two soldiers had been tortured and barbarically murdered, including being beheaded.
I am sure there are many people that will discount what I expressed above as just part of the horror that is inherent to the act of war. And surely many will read and feel reinforced in their beliefs that pacifism is the answer to all brutality.
This is a utopian approach that has only one consequence which is the loss of more innocent lives and the proof of my statement is all over the terrorists’ actions.
Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg made the news circles when videos of their murders were joyfully posted by these fine representatives of the religion of peace. And they were not military members
.
In my mind I cannot forget the images taken in the streets of Iraq just couple of years ago. One particular picture was most telling: a young boy taking safe refuge behind an American soldier as insurgents started firing indiscriminately in a crowd of civilians shopping at a local market. One of the telling part of the photo was that as the shooting commenced, the young Iraqi knew instinctively that that US Soldier was there to protect him. That is the image the American Military gives.
There are a lot of apologists for the barbarians we are facing today, just as there were so many who apologized for Saddam Hussein. Some Media has called terrorists freedom fighters, giving them a legitimacy that is far from deserved. These animals, yes the Islamic terrorists, are not fighting for freedom, they are not striving toward liberation from some form of oppression, but instead they are fighting so to be able to impose their own version of oppression on others. There can be no apology for the type of human rights abuse Sharia law imposes on the will of the people.
So we are there, the Military as representative of a society and its principles, to stop evil from taking hold and spread its poisonous tentacles. We are doing so in Iraq and Afghanistan and unfortunately I am convinced that we are going to be fighting evil on our soil in the not too distant future.
Right at this moment it is the US Military to carry all the burden of the fight, while the common American goes on with his life. Our forces believe that they fight the enemy there so that we don’t have to fight them here. And we are all praying for that strategy to be successful.
That’s why we fight!
And these are my thoughts!
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