Rudyard Kipling"
“When 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 soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It 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."
Robert Spencer : Tamary’s trip to the holy sites also comes as US President Joe Biden attended the GCC+3 Summit in Jeddah last week.
After
a three-day visit to Israel, Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on an
unprecedented direct flight from Israel, a move Israeli Prime Minister
Yair Lapid called the “first formal normalization step.”
Hours
before the president’s arrival, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority
announced a decision to “open the kingdom’s airspace to all airlines
that meet the authorities’ requirements for overflight,” in a statement.
This was a clear gesture by Saudi Arabia to show their openness to Israel before Biden arrived.
Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, is the most sacred city in Islam, and the
Ka’aba the most sacred place. Before Covid, and again now, millions of
Muslim pilgrims travel to Mecca to perform the Hajj, one of the Five
Pillars of Islam, which all Muslims physically and financially able to
do must perform at least once in their lives.
They start at Mount Arafat, where Muhammad is said to have given his last sermon, and continue from there.
“The final step is the farewell Tawaf, wherein pilgrims
circumambulate the Kaaba anti-clockwise seven times and touching or
kissing the Kaaba if possible. Pilgrims reflect on their experience and thank Allah for everything, while circumambulating the Kaaba.”
Thus do millions of Muslims, robed in white rida and izar, walk seven times widdershins round the Magic Wonderstone.
Wipe that self-satisfied grin off your face, Gil Tamary. Your little
self-aggrandizing prank – look at me, everybody! An Israeli who managed
to sneak into Mecca dressed as a pilgrim and even joined those
performing the Hajj as they climbed Mount Arafat – has only given
ammunition to those Muslims who deplore the growing Saudi ties with
Israel. You have caused a world of woe for the Muslim driver whom you
inveigled into driving you to the city; he is now under arrest, and god
knows what punishment he will receive. You are responsible if he is
harmed. And of course the Saudis had — just before your quite
unnecessary little provocation — signaled another sign of warming ties
to the Jewish state, by announcing that they were opening their airspace
to all airplanes that met certain conditions, including those of
Israel. If they now change their minds about granting Israeli planes
overflight rights, it will have been a response to Gil Tamary’s miching
mallecho in Mecca. One wonders if he gave a thought as to what the
reaction of Jews would be if some Al Jazeera reporter in full haredi
garb took selfies of himself davening at the Western Wall, or putting a
piece of paper with a Qur’anic verses about Jews – held up to the camera
for all to see — into one of the Wall’s crevices. Many would be
offended, and they would be right.
That’s quite a stupid stunt you’ve managed, Gil Tamary. You need to be grounded, in both senses of the word.
