Since my head has begun to clear some from last night, sweeping away the cobwebs from too much drink and the two fine young ladies that kept me up till 1:30 AM ..
The atrocity in France, of which I got caught up on this morning VIA CNN and some of the commentary that's cropped up here ..
I speak as a Veteran and a Patriot ... There are good, law abiding Muslims here in the USA and all over the World .. people that believe in living their lives as best they can, providing for their families, holding down a job, reaching for their dreams .. no different than you or I .. they have not earned, nor do they deserve, to be placed in the same mold as those in a small minority that choose carnage and destruction .. this is racial and Religious bigotry plain and simple from anyone that suggests differently ..
Although it seems to always get overlooked, this is a Religious War .. with roots that go back into the far distant past .. when an event of this magnitude unfolds, there is an outcry, a demand, for some sort of immediate payback .. yet, if we were to somehow eradicate the source, can we deny that the snake would simply grow a new head .. ?? This is a Global issue .. since the Web has provided the voice on a Worldwide scale .. yet, would we advocate a policy such as China in quashing the free flowing exchange of information VIA the very medium we are using now .. ??
How do you stop a Ghost, how do you stop a zealot that is ready, willing and able to sacrifice their own selves for a cause .. ?? How do you change the hearts and minds of a select group .. ?? When, in History, since the end of World War II, have we been able to win .. ?? I came back from a no-win War, our troops in Korea came back from a no win war, our troops in Iraq, our troops in Afghanistan .. Americans sacrificed their lives .. yet, what has fundamentally changed .. ??
I wish I had an answer .. the one thing that I do know is this .. we as a Country cannot be the Police for the Entire World .. nations that exist at the heart of these problems must be willing to do what they feel needs to be done or face continued problems into the future .. and that needs to include education, quality of life and compassion, because the recruitment of zealots comes about thru despair, disenfranchisement and a feeling of lack of power within their daily lives .. it is not thru force in the Modern World that we can change hearts and minds .. if that's not abundantly clear at this point, well, I suppose it never will be .. it's a slow process, and could take more than one generation, but the pay back is worth the commitment .. and in the end, we will still always be left with a faction, hopefully very small, that would still choose carnage and destruction ..
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