James Lucas:  

, I want the reader to understand that I have no regrets or reservations. I am proud to serve in this war, and would gladly die in such service if need be. The mainstream American media is not telling the truth about why we went into Iraq, what we have found there, why we stayed, what we were doing there and what the Iraqi people really believe. I have watched many news reports, including while I was in Iraq, and wondered if the reporters were from a parallel universe or something where everything is bad. The war in Afghanistan is also misrepresented. If there has been a failure in Afghanistan, it has been the NATO forces, most of whom are reluctant to do more than be available for photo ops. The real burden of the war is carried by countries where English is spoken as their first language--USA, Canada, Britain, Australia. Those that speak Romance languages--they are nothing but political boat anchors! The Germanic/Northmen lot is somewhat helpful from time to time, though. Make no mistake. We have been at war for nearly thirty years, but only recently got serious about fighting back. It took Europe nearly three hundred years to turn back the Islamic tide. Do not expect that we can do it in thirty, or twenty or ten. One more thing. While Islam is a religion, it is more. It is actually a political, social, and economic system based on a world view very alien to the common American one. The underlying culture is fatalistic--"enshallah" is their favorite saying ("if Allah wills".) Poverty is rampant because the "haves" bank on the sheep-like resignation of the masses. Like the mythical "Borg" of Star Trek fame, Islam swallowed up cultures, assimilating this and that ranging from Arab superstitions to Greek science and philosophy while contributing nothing original. "Resistance is futile," or "Submit or die" was the battle cry. While the average Muslim is no more "Islamic" than the average Christian is "Christlike," the philosophy of Islam is a cultural undercurrent in Islamic societies as Christianity is in Western. Mohamed was a desert bandito, the Godfather of a band of not-so-merry men bent on economic domination, who robbed caravans, massacred dissidents, and pillaged communities. They are like the Mafioso, like the Corliones and Sopranos, who go to Catholic Mass on Sunday and then rob, kill, and cheat the rest of the week. In a similar manner, for centuries, Muslims went to their mosques on Fridays, yet merrily raped, pillaged, and murdered their way across Africa and Asia in their crusades (yes, they originated the idea) to win the world for their Allah. Ever since the Spanish threw the Moors out of Spain and the Lutheran league helped Spain stop the Muslims from coming into eastern Europe, Islamic leaders have sulked in defeat as the West has become the economic power they believed they were destined to be. This is still the undercurrent of Islamic philosophy today. The Arabs, for instance, wear a black band to hold their head scarves in place "until we regain Andalusia," as one Arab professor said in a class on Arab Cultural Awareness! If you think the preaching of President Barrack's former pastor and close friend, Rev Jeremiah Wright, is scary, you ought to read the transcripts of many average Friday Mosque messages, including those preached in "freedom of speech" America! While not every Islamic sermon or message is politically overt, the anti-West, Anti-American rhetoric does manifest often even in America and is just as viperous and inflammatory! Ditto for Islamic web sites, even the occasional one that tries to garner western sympathy (e.g. "Answers to Christianity.com.") Check out Wahabbism. Where Islam rules, there is freedom of speech as long as one does not speak against Islam or its Godfather, Mohammed. Freedom of religion is nothing more than talk: non-Muslims live as second class citizens or worse (look up dhimmi). Sharia, the social aspect of Islam, is ruthless and relentless when it takes over the courts or saturates a neighborhood. "Islam" does not mean "peace." It means "submission." Implied: where there is submission, there is peace--yeah, right, peace like in Nazi Germany or Communist Europe. Islam is not a religion of peace. it is a religion of submission to its "enlightened" domination. So, please do not let anyone tell you that this is about oil (There's little oil in Afghanistan.) Also, why did the price go up instead of down once we "occupied" Afghanistan or Iraq? We could have gotten Iraqi oil cheaper just by buying it. Besides, we weren't getting much oil from Iraq anyways--Europe was.) So, regard, with a handful of salt, the gripes and anti-war remarks of certain veterans, who one can always find in the military, who either do not really know what is going on, have a personal or political ax to grind, or are naive about the nature of the war. We had the same thing during World War I, World War II, Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, etc. Forget also the nonsense about "no weapons of mass destruction were found." We found one hiding in a spider hole and, thankfully, he is not "hanging" around anymore. We also did find chemical weapons, but not all, because a few have ended up in roadside bombs, and we found a paper trail of government finances showing his plans and progress to acquire nuclear weapons, as well as a laboratory that was processing yellow cake uranium. But, be that as it may, one thing is certain. Iraq, being the most secular of the Islamic societies in the area, is a major front in the new war against Islamic expansion. Europe may not prevail this time, yet we must not let the Islam of Saudi Arabia (think 9-11) or of Iran (think Jimmy Carter, hostages) destabilize the middle east and get an economic foothold in what, (surprising to them in the last 100 years or so as much as to us,) has become a mother-lode of mineral wealth. Islam is an social-economic system, much as is communism, and much more viral and deadly than communism. Communism was destined to implode because of its failure to take into account the basic wickedness of men--Islam, however, exploits it. Real Islam would like to see 9-11 repeated in Washington, Detroit, and other major cities. Also, if you note the pattern of growth, Mosques start in major economic centers (Dearborn, East Detroit) and gradually branch out into smaller economic centers. Christian missionaries often followed armies into new areas to help build a spiritual kingdom and relieve suffering. Islam sends the missionaries first (doctors, lawyers, motel owners), then the armies. Talk to Christian missionaries who have served in Islamic countries. Few will paint a rosy picture of Islam.