Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Powerlineās John Hinderaker thinks former senator Chuck Hagelās nomination to be Obamaās defense secretary is already dead. He may be right.
Andrewās post from last evening homes in on why. As Senator Ted Cruz pointed out in his superb questioning at the confirmation hearing (which irritated all the right people),
Hagel has stonewalled the Senate regarding transcripts of his prior
speeches. Hagelās propensity to say stupid things is already notorious
(see, e.g., the Let Freedom Ring USA video
I mentioned yesterday). Itās thus hard to imagine that the substance of
the speeches is the problem. No, the issue must be that Hagel has been
giving speeches to, taking speaking fees from, and otherwise canoodling
with what Andrew refers to as āunsavoryā organizations. Two such groups
might provide the coup de grace.
As John notes, Ben Shapiro has reported
at the Breitbart site Big Peace that one of Hagelās funding sources is a
group purportedly called āFriends of Hamas.ā That might make someone a
good fit for president of Egypt, prime minister of Turkey, or any number
of advisory posts on the White House staff. But given that being a
āfriend of Hamasā ā at least the kind of friend who provides material
support to that terrorist organization ā is a crime in the United
States, it may not be quite what the Senate is looking for in a
secretary of defense.
Then there is Iran. My friend Sam Nunberg of The Legal Project
alerts me that Hagel sits on the board of the Soros-supported
Ploughshares Fund, a left-wing group that allegedly funds various
organizations sympathetic to the mullahsā regime and, as night follows
day, hostile to Israel. One such group is the National Iranian American
Council (NIAC), which is basically the Iranian regimeās lobbyist in the
U.S.
A few years back, the NIAC ā channeling its inner Lance Armstrong ā
filed a bogus defamation suit against Seid Hassan Daioleslam, editor of
an anti-regime group, for having the audacity to expose NIACās coziness
with the mullahs. This was a bonehead move because it gave Mr.
Daioleslamās lawyers (including the Legal Project) the opportunity to
exploit the searching civil discovery procedures available under federal
law. Consequently, NIAC began to channel its inner Chuck Hagel by
stonewalling the defendants and the court.
That evidently did not sit well with Judge John Bates of the district court in Washington, who threw out
the defamation suit against NIAC and ordered sanctions for its failure
to comply with discovery orders. The case was especially embarrassing
for the Obama administration since, in e-mails that actually were
disclosed, it became clear not only that NIAC had deep ties to the
Iranian regime but that it is also an Obama fave ā one whose top
official, Trita Parsi, visits the White House, consults with Valerie
Jarrett, briefs Secretary of State Clinton, lectures the CIA, and so on.
(See Eli Lakeās report for the Washington Times.)
Besides sitting on the board of a foundation that funds the NIAC,
Hagel has had an ongoing relationship with the NIAC (and its precursor
organization, the American-Iranian Council). As Ken Timmerman notes in the Washington Times, this
has included giving speeches that rail against sanctions imposed to
pressure Iran on its nuclear program, call for unconditional
negotiations with the mullahs, etc. The NIAC, in kind, avidly supports
Hagelās nomination.
Hagelās friends of the mullahs, especially if they turn out to be
coupled with Friends of Hamas, may be too much for even Senate Democrats
to bear. Obviously, if there were not grave concerns about Hagelās
nomination, Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin would not have
postponed the committeeās vote. If he canāt get Hagel approved by the
committee now, it doesnāt look like things are going to get better for
the nominee as new information emerges in the coming days. Looks like
the president better have a Plan B. National Review
