Shock and Awe.  I’ve been thinking of those words a lot lately.  Much has been shocking in recent times.  What makes man most glorious is the “awe” in the face of the “shock.”  Given these events, I must reflect in the quiet of this night on those who inspire the “awe” in spite of those who cause and encourage the “shock.”

I have a friend who is a lifer in the military.  He is 1^st Sgt. Rocky, with the 101^st Airborne out of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.  He is studied in mid-eastern history and fluent in Arabic…all 6’4”, 220 lbs. of him, deadly in the martial arts, and knows his weapons like a mother knows her child.  When he speaks of those in his charge—his men—it is with tenderness, devotion, and a deep love that no civilian can ever comprehend.  A few weeks ago, he was shipped with these men to Kuwait, and as I write this, Rocky and his “Raiders” are knee-deep in the blitzkrieg.  He and his men weigh heavily on my mind today.

Along with shock and awe, I have watched with frustration and amazement the events of the past few weeks.  The absolute absurdity and ineffectiveness of the UN has been thoroughly manifested, the foolishness of countries who exist only because we saved their sorry asses continues unabated, and the voluntary blindness of those who refuse to see the necessity and rightness of America’s resolve is blatant and unchecked.  These are what comprise the “shock.”  But it is the men—Rocky and his Raiders—who provide the “awe.”  So it is for Sgt. Rocky’s Raiders and their actions as opposed to UN impotence and its inaction that I write this. 

On one side, I have the glorious example of the American fighting man.  He is a splendid creature, forged in the refiner’s fire of both discipline and freedom, breathing with the history of wars fought and won and bubbling with revolutionary blood.  On the other side, I have the pathetic and annoying example of the hippies/UN, steeped in mediocrity, ineffectiveness, and useless mandates and timetables.  One example is the sworn enemy of evil, and foresworn to stop totalitarians even at the cost of his own life.  The other is the ignorant antithesis of a free republic’s goals---croissant-munching, Bon-Jour-spouting, appease-at-all-costs impotent little cowards who would rather be the lapdog of a devil who allows them to live a meager existence than the master of his destiny etched out with his guts, hands, and intelligence.  One is a leader, a teacher, a warrior, a victor.  The other is a follower—not because he believes in the leader, but because he has not the wisdom or the courage to take hold and lead—who would cheer his own demise rather than dirty his manicured hands in the fight for right; a wimp, a coward, a loser. 

I suppose the two examples boil down to this:  when dealing with totalitarians the one thing leftists will never get through their empty heads is that diplomacy will never work when only one side wants freedom.  As I look back through human history…all the way back to Adam and Eve…one thing remains constant:  there are evil men who rise to power, who are determined to reign with blood and horror, who torture, abuse, murder, rape, and destroy all they cross…and not once, not ever, not anytime, has diplomacy worked to stop them.  Why?  Because when you are dealing with those who get into bed with the devil, you are in fact dealing with the devil himself.  What does that mean?  While we may want peace and freedom, the devil wants only misery, suffering, and absolute power, and will use EVERY means possible to acquire them.  THAT is why totalitarians cannot be approached with any sense of logic or reason.  They understand ONLY what the devil understands…kicking them out and removing them from the world. 

Rocky and his Raiders know this, and are men who put words into action; hippy/UN knows this too, but remains only a wretched lip-server to the very freedom that created him.  He would rather give the devil his due than put action to those words and do the hard thing…kick the devil out—for doing so would require three things that define all good things:  logic, reason, and consistency.  Hippy/UN has none of these, except for the consistent behavior of appeasement and backing down—the direct result of which allows the Saddams, Bin Ladens, and Kim Jong Ils of the world to thrive, conquer, and destroy.

In an article I wrote back in January entitled Doomed To Repeat Them, I used my son’s eighth grade history book The American Nation to draw a simple analogy between the painfully obvious signs of war in the 1930’s and now.  It was my response to the December 31, 2002 article written for Slate, an internet magazine, by Fred Kaplan entitled Appeasement, Please:  The case for paying North Korea’s Nuclear Blackmail.  I figured that by using a book intended for the eighth grade intellect, I would make it easy for the Kaplans—and UN/Frog types--to understand the horrors that await those who justify capitulation, inaction, and annihilation.  While the article was talking about North Korea, it is absolutely applicable to the here and now, as a totalitarian is a totalitarian is a totalitarian, be he Mid East or Far East.

The article brought out alarming similarities between the attitude that Hitler and Mussolini had toward the world’s collection of appeasers—the League of Nations—and their continuing lies, charm, and stall-tactics that bought them all of the time, money, and actions needed to snatch up, destroy, and murder most of Europe’s population on their hell-bent path to world domination.  It was all there…the continued “up yours!” defiance toward the League, the breaking of promise after promise after promise, the stalling, the photo ops and smiles and parades when the cameras were on, the back-door deals when they were off, even turning on their own allies as their plans fell into place with black and white newsreel ease.  And did they worry about the worthlessness of the League of Nations? Hitler said it best in this 8^th grade text… “The rest of Europe will “never act,” he boasted.  “They’ll just protest.  And they will always be too late.” 

This was the “shock” of our grandparents world…is it any surprise that history has repeated its wretchedness now on their grandchildren?  How could we allow a repeat of this exact “shock” now, after so many fought and died and swore “Never again!”?  This is our sin, our evil, and our duty now to stop it.  And this is where the “awe” of the magnificent American Warrior comes in, for it is he—the young, the fresh, the hopeful-- who will save us yet again from our own foolish predicament.  It will be accomplished by the “Rocky’s Raiders”…not the Kofi Annans, Jacque Chiracs, or countless others who—but for the difference in timetables—would have been proudly boasting of “Peace in our time!” to the world, but proving the words were really “Appeasement in our time…war in our childrens’.”

It is the “Rocky’s Raiders” who will secure the world again, and return to a life without fat retirements, fancy cars, catered affairs, concerts on their behalf, glossy television interviews, or even a moment in the sun.  No, they who will provide the world with another moment of “awe” will come home to jobs not worthy of such glorious and courageous men, pay that doesn’t even begin to make ends meet, hippy losers with signs and shouts and not one ounce of gratitude for what these men gave and suffered and saw and had to do, and the anguishing, marvelous knowledge that when we fail to recognize—again--the signs of Totalitarian sprawl in the future and they have to answer the call, they will do so--again.  This is their “awe” to a world’s foolish “shock.”  This is what they do, and do magnificently, every time we fail them.  They are our safety net, not because of what we do, but in spite of it.  It is unconditional love, belief, and a commitment to freedom in flawless, sandy, camouflaged perfection.

Before I close, I want to provide us with one last shock—one last warning from our recent history.  You see, when I wrote the aforementioned article quoting the 8^th grade history book, I forgot the very important opening paragraphs to the WWII section of this classroom text.  They are a chilling reminder of the obvious steps that always lead to war, and the perfect ending thought…a reminder, lest we forget YET AGAIN—that if our “shocking” behavior is allowed in the presence of such obvious perpetuation of evil, we don’t deserve the “awe.”

The American reporter William Shirer visited Nuremberg, Germany, in September 1934.  There, he watched a week-long Rally organized by Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany.  Germans Marched in endless parades.  They chanted slogans praising Hitler and his Nazi party.  One day, the army staged a mock battle. 

Shirer noted in his diary:

“It is difficult to exaggerate the frenzy of the three hundred thousand German spectators when they saw their soldiers go into action, heard the thunder of the guns, and smelt the gunpowder.”

At Nuremberg, Hitler promised Germans:  “We are strong and we will get stronger.”  Shirer tried to alert Americans to the Nazi threat.  Hitler meant to gobble up all of Europe, he warned.

Few Americans listened.

In 1939, Hitler plunged the world into war.  “We may be destroyed,” he thundered, “but if we are, we shall drag the world with us—a world in flames…”—pg. 735

Shame on you, UN, for the “shock” of war--yet again.  You could have done so much more to cut out the new breed of Totalitarians before they brought the world to this point—yet again.  Shame on you, hippies and frogs and UN (Oh my!), for crapping all over the very men who will pay—yet again--for your freedoms to do…whatever the hell it is that you do.  And thank God for you, Rocky’s Raiders, for giving us yet another moment of “awe” in the face of all the wretched “shock” we allowed to be created.

Resa LaRu Kirkland