One of the Best and the Brightest

I joined the fight because it occurred to me that many modern day "humanists" who claim to possess a genuine concern for human beings throughout the world are in fact quite content to allow their fellow "global citizens" to suffer under the most hideous state apparatuses and conditions. Their excuses used to be my excuses. When asked why we shouldn't confront the Ba'ath party, the Taliban or the various other tyrannies throughout this world, my answers would allude to vague notions of cultural tolerance (forcing women to wear a veil and stay indoors is such a quaint cultural tradition), the sanctity of national sovereignty (how eager we internationalists are to throw up borders to defend dictatorships!) or even a creeping suspicion of America's intentions. When all else failed, I would retreat to my fragile moral ecosystem that years of living in peace and liberty had provided me. I would write off war because civilian casualties were guaranteed, or temporary alliances with illiberal forces would be made, or tank fuel was toxic for the environment. My fellow "humanists" and I would relish contently in our self righteous declaration of opposition against all military campaigns against dictatorships, congratulating one another for refusing to taint that aforementioned fragile moral ecosystem that many still cradle with all the revolutionary tenacity of the members of Rage Against the Machine and Greenday. Others would point to America's historical support of Saddam Hussein, sighting it as hypocritical that we would now vilify him as a thug and a tyrant. Upon explaining that we did so to ward off the fiercely Islamist Iran, which was correctly identified as the greater threat at the time, eyes are rolled and hypocrisy is declared. Forgetting that America sided with Stalin to defeat Hitler, who was promptly confronted once the Nazis were destroyed, America's initial engagement with Saddam and other regional actors is identified as the ultimate argument against America's moral crusade.

-- Lt. Mark Daily, US Army, killed in Mosul, Iraq. More about him here.

.
We have a positive moral duty to remember his life, his words and his example. No "Yes, but..." or "On the other hand..." applies here.

Related: "Nihil Nisi Requiescat in Pacem"

Comments

[ric ottaiano]

very, very powerful stuff...these are the sort of men that should be reported about to the rest of us who rely on their courage, bravery and intelligence...instead we get 24/7 coverage of, for e.g., Abu Gharaib...

great site, by the way

[JMK]

Yep, that's treasure as much as it is blood.

Welcome, ric, and thanks for the kind word.

[JMK-II]

How often are we called upon to make small scarifices and balk?

One of the things this army ostensibly fights for is to keep the IEDs concentrated over there, so people here don't deal with them as a matter of course in our streets.

So many of us are ungrateful that it makes you wonder how much less sacrifice than Daily's should be expected from the rest of us?

[JMK]

Tell it like it is.