The Benighted

The Benighted

"Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?'" – Samuel Adams

There are many intelligent, complex people out there who love America but they despise war in all its forms . . . and they just hate Bush so much that they see right through his machinations.

I am one of the others, the benighted.

We naively believe that the wars in Korea and Vietnam actually DID stop the spread of communism – at least on a national level. China is communist. North Korea is. Laos. Vietnam. Cuba. Just maybe there would be more if we had not intervened, if people had not died to stop it. How much worse would the world be with more of these dictators and juntas committing atrocities of all kinds?

"Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free, and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age…." – Sir Winston Churchill

We naively believe that they did save the world from the Evil Empire. We remember the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the USSR. We think that these things were good things.

"History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap." – Ronald Reagan

We naively believe that success should not be counted on the public’s stomach for conflict. That the general public, with no true understanding of why things happen as they do, will always get upset when they are fed only those images or that information which portrays the war in terms of failure. And that they, if they were told more about the successes – the attacks stopped, the rapes prevented, the electricity that flows and the torture that is not happening – they would understand a little better than sometimes there must be sacrifice.

"[W]e made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers." – Robert E. Lee

We naively believe that the world would be lost of no one from our side ever challenged those who say they want to kill us. What if Hitler had not been confronted? What if Churchill had never made his speeches?

"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival." – Sir Winston Churchill

We naively believe that our brothers and sisters in the military understand their mission and know it to be a good one. They volunteered to protect the freedom we enjoy. They are trained to do so. And they want to do so.

"He who wants peace must prepare for war." – Claudius

We naively believe that war is NOT to be avoided at all costs. That sometimes forbearance is the surest way to incite aggression.

Whether in individual defense or that of nations, ignoring the bully will only encourage the attack.

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." – Edmund Burke

We naively believe that the radical Islamists who want us dead must not be given that chance. And we believe that asking them nicely to stop won’t work. Neither will sanctions. Economic and political sanctions, as well as investigators, peacekeepers, and summits, only work when your antagonist gives a damn about what other people think. They are only effective when there is someone who could bring true pressure on them to stop what they are doing. What pressure would these terrorists understand that does not involve a gun?

"We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace." – Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

We naively believe that this war is about freedom and survival, not oil and money. “Follow the money” is the battle cry of those unwilling to consider the totality of the situation. They want to reduce the sick reality of fanatical Islamist aims down to an aphorism that, in truth, only rarely exposes the final motives of the actors. Instead of examining the myriad reasons given, they reduce the motives for war down to a pithy saying. We understand that oil is a part of the overall picture . . . but we also understand that the defense of freedom is the vastly larger part.

"These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." – Thomas Paine

We are the benighted. The simple folk who will never stop defending ourselves and, yes, even those who oppose that very defense.