Two young soldiers are gone from us – apparently tortured before they died.
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. died much too young, but they both knew where they were and at least one of them (and I would assume both), Menchaca, was proud of what he did, according to his cousin Sylvia Grice.
“He wanted to go out and visit his friends,” she said. “He wanted to eat a hamburger. He didn’t want to sit down and talk about what was going on. But he was very proud of serving his country and he believed in what he was doing.”
The barbarians who do things like this simply harden my resolve to fight. I am proud of my service and proud of my admittedly small contribution to the larger effort to help Iraq become a place where individuals can choose their own path in life, instead of being toys for a murdering dictator or unwilling conscripts for the murdering priests of religious fanaticism.
To my readers: debate all you want about the right and wrong of being in Iraq. Today, I’ll observe a moment of silence for my dead brothers-in-arms and steel my heart against those cretins who would torture their fellow human beings. May they all burn in hell. The path those foul apes have chosen has caused them to lose their own humanity. I hope their testicles develop dry rot so that they cannot pass on the corrupt genes that allow them to practice such heinous acts.
Some are saying the death of these two soldiers was personal, and maybe it was for these twisted, cancerous minds. Not for me. Iraq has a disease, and it has to be treated impartially. The treatment must be applied clinically if we want the patient to survive. This is no time for shamans, snake oil salesmen, vendettas or reprisals. What we need is practical men and women with strong resolve who are willing to stand up and face these thuggish religious murderers. The “insurgents” aren’t just targeting soldiers – they’re targeting anyone and everyone who happens to be from a different school of thought or religous sect. They are killing anyone and everyone with no compunctions.
In the bombing of the home for the elderly, an 18-year-old Sunni wearing an explosives belt blew himself up as senior citizens were lined up to collect monthly pensions. Two elderly women were killed and three people were wounded.
What possible gain did a young man hope for from simultaneously blowing up himself and a group of elderly people? What did he think the end result was going to be? Paradise? The young man was suffering from an artificially induced mental disease; a disease he caught from living in a cesspool of corruption, ignorance and intolerance fostered and nurtured by power hungry men with rotten souls who masquerade as holy warrior priests and gather their worldly influence by offering up false promises of eternal glory.
If we don’t deal with this murderous cult of religious fanaticism right here and right now it will continue to spread – cheapening and corrupting all of us.