Well, I did it once before, in this space … and I'm about to do it again, right now.
"Do what?"
Print the words of a song, a song I've written. This isn't done often, because a song is usually composed of melody, instrumental accompaniment and the words. It's a package, and sometimes the words don't mean a whole lot by themselves.
But this last January, at the time of Martin Luther King Day, I expressed my tribute to this American leader and prophet, flawed man that he was, like every one of us. And I ended with the words of my song "I Had a Dream." True, the words were his mainly, but I fashioned them into a song with a simple gospel melody. The response from the frequent visitors to WorldNetDaily was very heartwarming.
And now I feel strongly that I need to share the words of a much newer song, one I'm still in the process of recording. The times are such that I just can't wait until the public at large hears the recording; I need to get these thoughts, these words, to as many as possible, right now.
Why?
Because our people, our neighbors, our fellow citizens are being deluged with a pietistic, humanistic, appealing propaganda campaign meant to demean our leadership and discredit the reasons for our presence in the Middle East, and there's come to be an uncanny respectability for the demand that our troops be brought home and our mission abandoned. And while the propagators and spokespeople of this propaganda always declare their "support for the troops," everything else they say is a complete repudiation of our military personnel, their mission and everything they are committed to.
It's like declaring "support for the forest fire fighters" but arguing that wildfires always be left just to burn themselves out "as nature intended."
As just one of the ill-informed or just downright untruthful arguments, many "experts" have been gleefully quoted in a liberal media saying that our military is woefully understaffed, our volunteer enlistments have sharply diminished, and the general morale is at an all-time low. And even worse, and just as false, claims are made that a majority of "volunteers" are actually being conscripted by law enforcement from drug offenders and other criminals, and those who do enlist voluntarily are mostly uneducated and otherwise unemployable "dropouts" who can't find any other employment.
Effluent like this flows chronically from some who still insist they "support our troops" … yet it's all lies.
Here are some truths: Based on government and military statistics, only slightly more than 1 percent of recent enlistments have allowed young volunteers with any kind of drug misdemeanor (not criminal) offenses to join up; because of strict application requirements, including literacy standards, less than 15 percent might not meet college entrance levels anywhere – and that means that 85 percent of the new recruits can still be described as "America's finest."
And since the initial invasion of Iraq, the military's recruitment programs have consistently met or exceeded expectations and necessary levels!
Have you been hearing, or reading anything like this in our "news" reporting? Have you heard much besides an increasingly negative, depressing, defeatist account of our war effort? Have any of the triumphs, victories or humanitarian successes of our valiant military people reached you through our major media?
I remember, during World War II, and later the Korean War, hearing news items almost every day and seeing them in the movie newsreels, recounting the breakthroughs, the forays, the exploits small and great of our troops. Nobody relished the war, but it was on, and we had to finish it! And our media demonstrated an appropriate preference to truthfully support our efforts and help build morale, not dismantle it.
Recently, a friend sent me a portion of a letter from Richard K. Goodall, a U.S. Air Force major stationed in Baghdad:
"None of us are fooled by left-wing or liberal rhetoric. They say that they 'support' us only because it became too dangerous to their popularity, post-Vietnam, to say anything else. What I like to say, and this speaks for most of 'the troops,' is that if these so-called 'supporters' actually knew me personally they'd hate me. They have made it abundantly clear throughout the totality of their words and deeds that I, and 'the troops' are anathema to everything for which they stand. We are not charmed by – nor do we appreciate – their two-faced, so-called 'support.'"
In Stockton, Calif., just a few days ago, I talked with the mother of a brave soldier who came home during his third tour of duty in Iraq to see his newborn baby – the third to him and his wife – and then returned to his companions on duty in Iraq. He shared with his whole family that he and his fellow soldiers knew why they're there; they feel it's necessary to face our enemies there rather than on our own soil, and that they believe what they're doing is just.
Soon after he returned, he was killed by a submerged roadside bomb. His mom handed me a pamphlet with his picture and story, asking her fellow Americans to truly support our president and our military in the terrible task they're trying to accomplish – so that her son's death would not be in vain.
And so, today I offer this preview of my next record, out as soon as I can make it happen.
For my Country
(The Ballad of the National Guardsman)
- I grew up in the heartland
The folks I love are there.
My sweetheart counts the days till I come back
While I'm out here in the desert
Settin' people free
And makin' cowards pay for each attack - When 9-11 happened
I couldn't just stay home
I went downtown and signed up on the spot
I asked the Guard to train me
Now I'm a fightin' man
And I give my country everything I've gotCHORUS:
Now, I don't wanna stay here
This place is not my home
It's a deadly, dirty job that must be done
But I know why I'm out here
I know my cause is just
And I do what I do
FOR MY COUNTRY - I've seen the bumper stickers
I've read the papers, too
Some people think we all should just come home
They say "war is not the answer"
"Let's give peace a chance"
And maybe then, they'll just leave us alone - Well, I walked through Ground Zero
I watched the towers fall
The dogs that did that … haven't changed their minds
I know we've gotta face 'em
I'd rather do it here
'cause to save more lives back home, I offer mine - The doorbell rang last Thursday
Deep inside she knew
As the door swung open, she began to pray
The Guardsman stood there sadly
"I hate to say this ma'am
Your brave and valiant man is MIA" - So few can share her heartache
He fills her every dream
She keeps his letters right beside her bed
And though her tears flow freely
Her sad heart fills with pride
Each time she reads the last thing that he saidCHORUS:
Now, I don't wanna stay here
This place is not my home
It's a deadly, dirty job that must be done
But I know why I'm out here
I know my cause is just
And I do what I do
FOR MY COUNTRY
"Two-faced, so-called support," to borrow Maj. Goodall's phrase, is of no use to our troops. Support our forest fire fighters while insisting that wildfires be allowed just to burn themselves out (while homes, businesses and human beings are in the direct path of the flames) – and "just as nature intended," survival of the fittest will determine what things are alive in the forest a generation or two later.
Sound idyllic and sweet? Well, even if it works for the natural forest, the example is devastating for the cultivated garden. And modern mankind inhabits the latter – a complex global habitat where none maintain prosperity and security except by interdependence with others. All of history demonstrates that violence and inhumanity are pretty much our "natural" state.
Most of us accordingly prefer thriving in the garden to surviving in the jungle. Where smoke and sparks are, that's where our fire fighters go. Where threats to our very civilization are, that's where our troops go.
"Support for the troops" has to include acknowledging the necessity of their work – and actively encouraging them. Not damning them with faint, false praise.
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