I have a good friend whose father is a General in the United States Army and he is currently stationed in Iraq and I was lucky enough to catch up with him at a funeral last week.

He has always told it to me straight even back when I didn’t give a shit about politics or the global economy–back when I was doing bong hits and dating bisexual strippers who liked to get nude in public just to tease all my friends.

Eventually we got around to the topic of the war and the President. See, unlike Tony Pierce or the Daily Kos or whoever out there, this man has actually sat in audience with the President of the United States and speaks daily on the phone to the Secretary of Defense. The bottom line is that I shook the hand of the man who has a personal Presidential nickname and that makes his opinion on the matter of war far more valuable than anyone in the blogosphere (including yours truly).

We were sitting with him in a group of four at a table at the dinner following the funeral and someone asked him if he would be happy when the war was over. Normally, the General is a very happy go lucky guy–always positive and always looking for the best in people (most successful people share these two traits above all other attributes).

But when he was asked that question, the smile left his face and he put his large hand over that of the girl who asked the question. He said, “Honey, this war won’t be over in our lifetimes.”

He said, “I know the American media is caught up on Weapons of Mass Destruction and whether it was right or not to invade Iraq. Let me tell you that if the citizens of this country could see half of the classified documents and sat in a quarter of the intelligence briefings that I have been in, they would be in full support of doing whatever it takes no matter what it takes to secure the Middle East from falling into the hands of some of these people.”

Then, with an afterthought, his eyes far away for a moment; he said, “These are some evil son of a bitches we are talking about here.”

The banter went back to the mundane for brief period of time when the President’s big mug shot up on the 10-foot wide television in the sports bar and the same girl asked him what the President was like.

Without hesitation, the General said, “He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met and he can read a person down to the bone by the way they walk into a room.”

Another guy at the table said something about his poor public speaking skills and the General said, “Well, I can tell you this–that’s not how he is in person. He could sell Siamese twins another asshole in their forehead if he wanted to.”

Appetizers and beer were brought over and everyone went quiet until the waitress left, looking back at the General to finish up his statement about the President. He said, “Mark my words. In fifty years, this President is going to be known in world history as the man who preempted World War III and kept it contained the part of the world that it was threatening to break out from and destroy us all.”

I don’t know if I’ll ever see the General again because he was flying back to Iraq the next day and the next day George W. Bush crucified and burned that old witch Helen Thomas at the stake and good riddance, may we dance on the crunch of her brittle bones, the digested old hag!

But I find it disconcerting when I hear Tony (who I now consider to be an independent thinker, willing to take all sides to task based on his core principles) say things like:

I’m still waiting for one of them to rise from the ashes and be a new sort of turd blossom. a not so fat or gay or treacherous one, but a clear shepard of peace and prosperity.

I immediately think of Nicholae Carpathia from the Left Behind novels. A prophet who speaks of peace during times of war is as useful as a guitar with no strings–something to bash over the heads of those who have only come looking for sweet music.

My friends, like the Allman Brothers aid, it ain’t but one way out baby and that way is through the muck. I do believe that this war is being fought to secure the future of our species and our way of life. I understand the evil that lurks in the hearts of men and know that most of them believe they are doing good as they exact murder and death upon the life that dwells on this simple blue planet. But there is so much more than evil that lives in the heart of man, so much more sunshine to see.

And despite everything dumb that this administration has done (and the list is exhaustive, like that of every administration); I still stand firm that the right thing is happening for the right reasons.

LINKS:
Tony Pierce

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