I’m against war. I’ve seen too many people devastated from having had their loved ones killed. I don’t say lost, because they weren’t ‘lost’ like a child at the store or at a carnival, they were killed. On purpose. Not only have over 6,900 U.S. service members and 7,800 contractors been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, but many times that in the thousands have also been catastrophically wounded. And then there are the suicides, estimated at 22 a day for veterans, which is an astonishing and unfathomable number if true. And there are those who’ve come home from war, whether Vietnam or the Middle East who are so broken mentally and spiritually that they’re almost dead men and women walking. It’s all too heartbreaking.
So while I do want to be the biggest and the baddest on the block and have the strongest military, I am opposed to unjustified and perpetual wars, and I’ll never forgive George Bush for getting us into these, especially without an exit strategy.
Having said that, when news came of the killing of General Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, after initial hesitation, I was nervously glad. Then enthusiastically so. Then after a bit of communing on social media, kind of ‘Hell Yeah’ thrilled! And not only against him personally, but against the Iranian regime, who’d been attacking our military and civilians for four decades, from our hostages taken to the 241 Marines killed in Beirut to the hundreds wounded and killed from Iranian IED’s in Iraq and beyond.
I’m glad it was finally their turn and his turn. Soleimani has caused so much misery in the Middle East and around the world that he should’ve been whacked long ago.
As with many other things that ‘should have happened’ but didn’t though, it took a Trump, who, rather than appease and bend over like Obama did, struck back forcefully and showed them we’re not playing around. Ironically too, a 40-year-old interview of Trump by Rona Barrett resurfaced recently where he talks about what should’ve been done during the Iran hostage crisis, and how righteously angry he was about it. He said to her: ‘The Iranian situation is a case in point. That they hold our hostages is just absolutely, and totally ridiculous. That this country sits back and allows a country such as Iran to hold our hostages, to my way of thinking, is a horror, and I don’t think they’d do it with other countries…if we were respected, properly respected as a country and as a people, and as a nation.’ Rona Barrett: ‘Donald, would you have wanted to be one of those men to have gone to Iran, and then taken those fellows out?’ Donald Trump: ‘No, I wouldn’t have wanted to be, but I would have done it.’ Say what you will about Trump, he’s been consistent.
Donald Trump was elected President in part because people were tired of the neo-con interventionism and warring perpetuated by both parties. Tired of the perpetual drumbeat of war abroad or a long-term plan to care for those on the ground waging it, without concentrating on the multitude of problems here at home.
We voted for AMERICA first, not everywhere else first. We’re tired of these idiot Republicans like Lindsey Graham, the late John McCain and their boy toy Marco Rubio and their perpetual fantasies of invasion.
McCain even joked to a Beach Boys song, replacing the words with ‘Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran.’ It made me sick. They should go and send their own children if they want war, not send the children of the people they seem to hate so much, from the heartland of America. And share those war profits with their families while they’re at it!
Not to be outdone however, are the ridiculously stupid liberal media and Democrats, (and some Republicans to be fair) who complained that President Trump didn’t bomb Iran after they shot down our drone, now complain that he did kill Soleimani. They beclown themselves with their fawning words about that terrorist as they did the other terrorist Trump greenlighted to be killed – Baghdadi.
Their hatred for Trump is so deep it forces them to reflexively embrace terrorists. Terrorists who murder and rape women and children, kill gays by throwing them off of rooftops and shoot their own citizens when they protests a government which spends their tax dollars to wage war abroad while neglecting their citizens at home. (sound familiar?) Martha Radditz was practically crying on tv reporting on Soleimani’s death. It’s sad it’s come to this in America. We should be able to celebrate the death of someone who’s brought such suffering and pain to so many, but in the age of Trump, there is no unity to be found, even against evil.
As we stand potentially on the brink of war with Iran, I’m nervous, a little sick to my stomach, fearful and concerned. First and foremost over whether our service members will be killed or wounded, and beyond that, what will come next, including the repercussions for President Trump and his re-election. These things have a way of going south really quickly, and there are many asshats who are itching for war with Iran without concerns for the impact it will have on the families of the war fighters, or anything else really, they just love war.
So I will pray for wisdom for those in charge, and the grace and benevolence of the Almighty for those in harm’s way, including the Iraqis who’ve helped us, and the Iranian citizens protesting for their freedom from repressive governments. But as I think of all of those American families who’ve gotten the knock on the door with that unfathomable news of an Iranian IED that has taken the life and/or limbs of their loved ones, of the heartbreak, suffering and tears, I’m glad Trump made the call to kill Soleimani!
Because sometimes you just have to take out the bad guy regardless of the risk, come what may.