Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
The Horror At The Music Festival By Hugh Fitzgerald
Friday, October 13, 2023
Robert Spencer : Saturdayās attack on the open-air Tribe of Nova
music festival is believed to be the worst civilian massacre in Israeli
history, with at least 260 dead and a still undetermined number taken
hostage. [No: the attack was not just at the music festival, but at two
dozen sites all over southern Israel; 1000 Israelis were murdered
in what was āthe worst civilian massacre in Israeli history.ā] Dozens
of Hamas militants who had blown through Israelās heavily fortified
separation fence and crossed into the country from Gaza opened fire on
about 3,500 young Israelis who had come together for a joyous night of
electronic music to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkotā¦.
āWe were hiding and running, hiding and running, in an open
field ā the worst place you could possibly be in that situation,ā said
Arik Nani from Tel Aviv, who had gone to the party to celebrate his 26th
birthday. āFor a country where everyone in these circles knows
everyone, this is a trauma like I could never imagine.āā¦
Festival-goers who managed to make it to the road and parking
lot where their vehicles were parked found themselves trapped in a
traffic jam, with militants stalking the cars and spraying those inside
with gunfire. Drone footage of the scene taken after the attack
and reviewed by the AP show chaotic lines of cars where drivers had
attempted to flee. Some burned-out vehicles were flipped onto their
sides, while others had bullet holes visible in shattered windows.
Nowhere was safe, Alper said. The roar of explosions,
hysterical screams and automatic gunfire felt closer the further she
drove. When a man just meters away shouted āGod is great!ā, Alper and
her new companions sprung out of the car and sprinted through open
fields toward a mass of bushes.
Alper felt a bullet whiz past her left ear. Aware the gunmen
would outrun her, she plunged into a tangle of shrubs. Peering through
thorns, she said she saw one of her passengers, the girl who had lost
her friend, shriek and collapse as a gunman stood over her limp body,
grinning.
āI canāt even explain the energy they (the militants) had. It
was so clear they didnāt see us as human beings,ā she said. āThey
looked at us with pure, pure hate.ā
Videos show the gunmen executed some of the wounded at point-blank range as they crouched on the groundā¦.
āEvery time I thought of anger, or fear or revenge, I breathed it out,ā she said. āI
tried to think of what I was grateful for ā the bush that hid me so
well that even birds landed on it, the birds that were still singing,
the sky that was so blue.āā¦
Even in her fear and despair, Maya Alper managed to hold on for more
than six hours by thinking about ā itās a line of pure poetry ā āthe
birds that were still singing, the sky that was so blue.ā
āThis is not just war. This is hell,ā Alper said. āBut in
that hell I still feel that somehow, we can choose to act out of love,
and not just fear.ā
Remember this account. Remember the Hamas men moving methodically to
mow down everyone ā those trying to escape in cars, those who ran across
open fields, those who tried to get into shelters, those who tried to
play dead and then were dead. Remember the Hamas killer, having just
murdered a girl, who was seen by Maya Alper standing over her limp body,
grinning.