if an American soldier, sailor, Marine or airman is found by a court martial made up of seasoned officers with a practical understanding of the exigencies of combat to have violated the standards of combat, he or she must face American military justice. But in time of war, there is no reason why military censorship should not be enforced to shroud the carrying out of justice from the eager eyes and ears of enemy propagandists -- domestic and foreign.
True, true. But he also gets to a point that you don't hear in all the head shaking and "tsk-tsk"-ing that's going on in the press:
It is commonplace to observe that since the dawn of man -- and currently -- in the crucible of battle, warriors sometimes cannot contain their emotions and their violent actions. It is amazing our troops act as civilized as they do in combat.
It is particularly commendable of our American troops that they willingly go into battle under such restrictive rules of engagement that they are required to constantly risk their own lives in order not to offend civilians/terrorists(?) until they are almost sure they are really combatants.
No other military force in history has been so tightly limited in its defensive actions. And probably no other military force has been sufficiently disciplined to maintain such restrictive rules in the heat of combat. God bless our troops -- if not necessarily the policy that so restricts them.
Also demonstrably true. Which brings us to another point -- the world, through the U.N., shakes its bony finger at ruthless dictators and regimes, writing resolution after resolution, "farting in their general direction" and, if the regime should fail to comply, send a "really, really" angry letter, in effect "taunting them a second time". Or third. Or fourth. Or seventeenth, as the case may be.
Then, prostesting loudly that anyone might consider actually doing something about it -- you know, backing up the resolutions with some teeth -- they largely step back and let the United States of America do the bulk of the extremely dirty work. And from the peanut gallery pontificate on how the dirty work of war reflects on us.
As I've said before -- show me this virtuous country, military, whatever -- that we should be emulating. Please include references to de-throned despots and large social wrongs they have directly addressed. We stick our neck out on behalf of the world while the world hacks away at our necks for doing it.
Finally, he really hits the nail on the head in one paragraph about the general disposition of the press:
To see the gleam in the eyes of reporters happily cackling on about "other possible incidents" -- about which they know not whether they even exist -- is to be filled with a fury that we have a system of journalism that permits people with such mentalities to poison the minds of the world with their malice.
Thank you, Tony. I couldn't have put it better myself.
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