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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

9/21/2007

An Open Letter to American Forces
in the Middle East

letter writing.jpg

God’s greatest gift, that of life and the individual freedom attendant to life, is finding itself under relentless attack the world over. Attack by overt madmen who, with blood thirst in their words, proclaim their disdain for human life and liberty … and attack by covert ‘do-gooders’ in leadership positions here in America who see themselves as mini-gods, destined to wield unbridled power and influence over others.

America represents the last best hope to stem that destructive, ungodly tide. And yet the majority of those in leadership positions in America count themselves among a god-like ‘ruling elite’ who profess a belief in human freedom and dignity and yet incessantly work to extinguish both.

You Americans who have answered the call to war in both Iraq and Afghanistan are the hope of the free world. You are the hope of mankind. And yet, despite your commitment to freedom and the preservation of the American vision as our Founders authored it, you are not only facing down tyrannical madmen to whom brutality and violence are a way of life and a means to an end -- you are also battling much of the leadership in your own country, whose hidden agenda includes handcuffing you from doing that which you feel called to do, while simultaneously acquiring more power for themselves so as to extinguish freedoms here at home that you are fighting so courageously to offer to a people half a world away.

Many have called the war on Islamic fascism ‘the war of all wars’, in the belief that, if the spread of radical Islam is not contained, Western Civilization will cease to exist, and humankind will find itself living under such intolerable conditions that unprecedented turmoil and bloodshed will become a way of life until humanity is eradicated from the face of the earth forever.

And yet you, who are courageous enough to volunteer to be a warrior who will not sit by and allow mankind to succumb to such an abominable end, find yourselves increasingly betrayed by those whose charge it is to provide you with all of the tools and support that you need in order to succeed in this pivotal, watershed confrontation.

And succeed you will – despite the actions of many of our leaders, rather than because of them.

Joshua Chamberlain, a union colonel, later promoted to major general, at the battle of Gettysburg, remarked, twenty-five years later, during the dedication of a Gettysburg monument:

In great deeds something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear; but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream; and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in its bosom, and the power of the vision pass into their souls. This is the great reward of service. To live, far out and on, in the life of others; this is the mystery of the Christ,-to give life's best for such high sake that it shall be found again unto life eternal.

Although most Americans will never see those ‘great fields’ on which you and your fellow Americans who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are ‘suffering great things’ for us, and for freedom-loving people the world over, you need to know that your great ‘reward of service’ will indeed be to live far out and on in the lives of others.

You need to know that there are those in Washington who revere your courage, support your valor, and share your faithfulness to the cause of human liberty.

You need to know that informed Americans consider you to be heroes of the likes of those who preceded you into battle during the Revolution, and all other succeeding wars in which America has been involved. You are cut from the same fabric. You are woven by the same invisible, all-knowing hands.

Although he spoke his words of dedication more than a century ago, Joshua Chamberlain knew you. He fought alongside you. He watched some of you offer the supreme sacrifice. And he watched others return home changed men, bearing the indelible scars of battle, but possessing the elusive peace of mind that comes from having given their best to secure and preserve God’s most precious gift.

Whatever your beliefs, I hope you are certain that our days on earth are numbered, and that there will be a final judgment in which earthly lies, distortions, and self-serving motives will prove irrelevant. Those whose visions and goals are self-aggrandizing, at the expense of human life and liberty, will stand before a judge who knows the blackness of their hearts. And those who see their own self-interest as secondary to the preservation of others’ lives and liberties will find themselves forever held in His grateful embrace.

I thank you for your service. And for the invisible thread that weaves down through the centuries, connecting you with those of vision and valor who brought us to where we are today. May we not let you down.

~ joanie

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you, between tears.

Anonymous said...

This reads more like a prayer than a letter. Just beautiful, Joanie.

Anonymous said...

Although he spoke his words of dedication more than a century ago, Joshua Chamberlain knew you. He fought alongside you. He watched some of you offer the supreme sacrifice. And he watched others return home changed men, bearing the indelible scars of battle, but possessing the elusive peace of mind that comes from having given their best to secure and preserve God’s most precious gift.

Poetry at it's best.

Anonymous said...

You need to run for office.

Anonymous said...

Who did the crosshatch drawing?

Anonymous said...

What a moving, eloquent letter! I wish all of the troops could read it.

Anonymous said...

Very well said, C.W. Like the poster above said, I wish everyone serving in Iraq could read this.

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

APPLAUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Joanie for saying what so many of us feel!

Anonymous said...

Words fail me, Joanie. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I second Minuteman's comment. Everyone on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan should read this. I wish Rush would read it to them on his program.

Anonymous said...

You have described our traitorous government very accurately, and you recognize our military for the heroes that they are.

Anonymous said...

CW, you need to send this letter here: http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=adopt-a-soldier

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Joanie.

I think you would appreciate this:

http://susie1114.com/Christmas/TheLetter.html

Anonymous said...

This is a message our fellow soldier/citizens can not hear enough. They know they are doing the right thing and to have it acknowledged means a lot to them.

We must do all we can to muffle the anti-war drumbeat before it beats the heart out of our military just as it
did during Vietnam.
Our service men and women must HEAR our pride in them, their families must HEAR the pride and high esteem
we hold their loved ones in,for they too serve,
and most of all
the nation must HEAR that we will not allow a repeat of
the disgraceful seditious behaviour engendered by the media
and the liberal political faction that lead to the debacle
that came in the aftermath of that war.

My best to you.
Tet68.

Anonymous said...

Very nice Joanie. You should send this to one of the web sites people mentioned and maybe it will get circulated to many of our soldiers. They need to hear these words.

Anonymous said...

As great as any article I have ever read to the greatest men and women the rest of world may never know.

Thank you. All of you.

joanie said...

Thanks for the kind words, all.

joanie said...

Kathy,

Thanks for the steer to the Christmas Letter. It's just beautiful.

joanie said...

Tet, your sadly accurate comparison of the current anti-war movement to our betrayal of our soldiers in Vietnam is telling, especially considering its source.

Not only did our gutless politicians, academics and media decision-makers see to it that 58,000+ of our best died in vain, but they also saw to it that those (like you) who came home were not afforded the respect and honor they so richly deserved. I can think of few blacker evils.

We are slow learners. If we repeat that travesty, then God help us.

Thanks for your contribution here, Tet. Your perspective, on this issue especially, is always that of a modern American patriot who knows whereof he speaks.

Stay well, friend …

Anonymous said...

Can you imagine what life would be if those in power (demo-gouges/surrender-crats) were in power during WWII or even during the War for Independance. We'd either be speaking German or the king's English and singing 'Das Lied der Deutschen' or 'God Save the Queen'.

Bless our soldiers and those like Joanie that are spreading the word.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, the CBS network gives air time to the enemies of America to state their case for our destruction:

Ahmanidinejad given air time on 60 Minutes

Anonymous said...

Most excellent as usual, C.W.