Hizballah

I heard Charles Rangel the other day on the news pretty much comparing our military to the henchmen that controlled the prisons under Saddam. He said that Gitmo was no different. I see this attitude among many on the left. They feel our military, and now Israel's military, as really no different than those we fight.

Time magazine has an excellent article on Hizballah. I think that two photos tell the story though. The first is here. These little boys are members of al-Mahdi scouts. They cannot be more than 10 or 11 yrs old. These scouts train as future leaders in Hizballah. They pledge their commitment to martydom. Notice the hand salute. The picture is chilling.

Click enter to the first photo of the series. A scout leader teaches survival skills to the youth. As you can see in the photo there is a Star of David made of stones on the ground so that anyone entering the tent has to step on it.

I would like to say to Mr. Rangel that his comments are offensive to me as the daughter of a man who not only served in the armed forces, but attained much of his integrity, honor, and character there. He was a man on the road to nowhere and the army changed his life. Our military does not teach hate. It does not denigrate someone else's faith from the time you are a little boy. It teaches a person not to sacrifice for one's own self, but to sacrifice for others, so that they may be free. Most importantly, It teaches to fight against tyranny, not to fight to achieve it.

Mr. Rangel may not see the difference, but I certainly do.

Looking at the faces of those little boys we see the faces of those who will grow up wanting to kill Jews and Americans if given the chance. To me the war in Iraq and the war going on in Israel and Lebanon is all about removing from power those that teach little boys to raise their hands in a Nazi like salutes and to hate those who are different from themselves.

How can so many here in this country be against Israel in this? I understand the concern for civilians. Certainly. But I don't see the left wanting Israel to fight this enemy at all. I don't understand it. It is an enemy that makes their dreaded "religious right" here in this country look like pot smoking Harley riders. Do they not see the radical Muslim as a threat at all? Was 9-11 nothing? Did it teach them nothing?


It would be easy to walk away from all this. To welcome our boys home, pat ourselves on the back for creating a Democracy in the Middle East and keep our fingers crossed that it sticks. But then I look at the faces of those little boys and the countless others like them caught in the web of terrorism dressed up in a "holy war." I look into the eyes of women like the ones in the 8th of the photo essay. I can't look into their faces because they are covered head to toe in a burka that hides their lives. An oppressive place that I can't even imagine being in as a woman. I think to myself that there must be a different future here. There has to be.

All my life I have heard liberals say that we must "effect change." Why is it that in the most oppressive part of the world they have no interest in affecting change at all? Especially when not changing will lead us back to the kind of thinking that brought us 9-11.