Gay Soldier Booed: Any Comment, Oliver North?

On September 9, Oliver North [LtCol USMC (ret.)], Founder & Honorary Chairman of Freedom Alliance, praised post-9/11/2001 American servicemembers. We're posting it in its entirety:

A Decade of War

[September 9, 2011]

The Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet required 58 warships, 350 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors to carry out. Though the raiders killed 2,403 Americans, only five U.S. Navy vessels were damaged beyond repair. In Washington, Congress immediately responded with a nearly unanimous declaration of war; only one member voted no. The American people answered the call to duty, and 16.5 million young men and women were soon in uniform. The U.S. became the leader of a grand alliance supported by both political parties. Everyone knew right from the start who our enemies were and that the war would end only when those enemies surrendered - unconditionally.

That’s hardly the case with what happened on and after 9-11-01. Until that terrible morning, most Americans never had heard of Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. The attack bin Laden carried out with just 19 radical Islamists aboard four commercial airliners killed 2,973 Americans – more than the Japanese had at Pearl Harbor. In strategic terms, the 9-11-01 attack was a near-perfect “economy of force” operation.

Though there was no declaration of war, hundreds of thousands of young Americans volunteered to take up arms against an enemy they understood but Washington has steadfastly refused to name. Every one of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Guardsmen and Marines on duty today either “joined up” or “stayed in” because of what took place on 9-11-01. In the decade since, more than 2 million of them – the brightest and bravest of their generation – have served in the extremely difficult and dangerous places where this long war is being fought. And they continue to do so, despite Washington’s inability to define victory and despite the growing antipathy of our mainstream media.

The nation that once honored its war heroes with parades and celebrations now all but ignores the extraordinary sacrifices being made on our behalf. Instead, politicians, pundits and the potentates of the press constantly seek ways to denigrate those who serve in our nation’s uniform.

Those who define what is “news” for the rest of us have beaten Abu Ghraib like a rented mule for more than a half-dozen years. Newsweek magazine created a totally fictional story about a Koran being flushed down a toilet at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, generating scores of attacks in Muslim-majority countries. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin likened our troops to those who served Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Cambodian despot Pol Pot. And a reporter for The New York Times claimed that most of those serving in harm’s way are just “poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance.” Those who believe this drivel don’t know the warriors of 9-11.

This week’s memorial services on the 10th anniversary of that devastating attack on our soil will justly focus on the first responders. The firemen, police officers, EMTs and everyday citizens who risked - and sometimes lost - their lives that day are heroes and deserve to be recognized as such. So are those who watched the events that day and decided to don a uniform and fight back at those who wrought such death and destruction on our shores.

Thanks to young Americans wearing helmets, flak jackets, flight suits and combat boots, Saddam Hussein – the Butcher of Baghdad – is no more and Osama bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda, the vicious radical Islamist movement bin Laden spawned, is fractured and badly damaged but still alive in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Chechnya and seeks to take advantage of uncertainty in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The Ayatollahs in Iran are guiding violence in Syria and threatening stability in Iraq.

While we recall those who were lost on 9-11-01, we would do well to also remember those who serve in our armed forces because of what happened that day. They forfeited the comforts of home, absented themselves from the affection of loved ones and went into harm’s way to protect us from those who would once again visit unspeakable terror on our homeland. They, too, deserve our thanks and prayers in this decade of war, because it isn’t over yet.

OYE Comment:

We agree. For Oliver North:

As you know, pursuant to a law passed by Congress and signed by the President, according to our Constitution, and implemented according to its terms by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a non-heterosexual Soldier currently serving "in harm's way" in Iraq asked a question of the Republican Presidential candidates in the September 22 debate in Orlando FL. The audience booed the questioner, and none of the candidates called them on it. Immediately after the debate, only Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson disagreed, calling it "unfortunate." Rick Santorum later concurred with them, but Santorum later retracted his condemnation.

So here's our question for Oliver North:

Do you agree that non-heterosexual Servicemembers deserve the same respect from the American people that you rightly support?

If so, have you said so publicly [link, please]?

If not, why not?

Gay Yellow Elephants? Ten More Days

GOProud, an organization of gay conservatives, strongly supports the continued fight against terrorism:

Ten Years Later: The Fight Must Continue

GOProud on the 10th Anniversary of the Attacks of September 11th

(Washington, DC) – This weekend is the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In response, the Board of Directors of GOProud, the only national organization representing gay conservatives and their allies, issued the following statement:

“The most powerful and tangible way that we can honor the 10th anniversary of these horrific attacks is to recommit to fighting and winning the global war on terror. [emphasis added]

“The threat posed by the spread of radical jihadist Islam is no less real today than it was ten years ago.

“Radical Islam is a barbaric ideology, one that preaches destruction of the west and advocates brutality against women, gays and religious minorities.

“The truth is that for gay and lesbian people across the globe there is no single bigger threat than the spread of radicalized Islam.

“We must remain vigilant in the war on global terror. We must defend Israel, a bright light of freedom, in a dangerous area of the world. We must stay on the offensive, actively working to stop the spread of radical Islam and supporting efforts to remove regimes in the Islamic world that fail to recognize basic human rights.

“The greatest tribute to those who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001 is the defeat of the murderous ideology behind those despicable attacks.”

OYE Comment:

O.K., GOProud, effective 20 SEP 2011: Has your organization encouraged its members [healthy and 34 or under] at least to consider volunteering for military service, to recommit to fighting and winning the global war on terror?

We couldn't readily find anything to this effect on your website.

Please let us know. Thank you.

Hat tip to Joe. My. God.

9/11/2001 + 10: Support Our Troops: Enlist!

The 9/11 10th Anniversary press releases are hitting the streets, with a wide variety of organizations strongly supporting victory in the global war on terrorism.

In addition to the standard boilerplate about Supporting Our Troops, however, any organization - of any nature - needs to address these obvious questions in its public statements:

-- Consistent with its mission, is your organization doing everything it can to Support Our Troops? If not, why bother with mere platitudes?

-- Have you encouraged your members at least to consider volunteering for military service [if personally eligible]?

-- Have you urged your members, not personally eligible to serve, to encourage their eligible relatives and friends, their circles of influence, at least to consider serving in our military?

-- If you are a business, are you treating our servicemembers and their families fairly, both during a deployment, and later? To the maximum extent possible, are you trying to cut them some slack, if they need it? If not, you need to fix this - pronto. Please stay quiet until you have.

-- If you work in government, do you have an appropriately senior [i.e., empowered] person directly assisting those affected by a combat deployment or, worse, casualties? [We do.]

-- Are you looking out for recent veterans, who actually answered our nation's call, now that they're back home, undoubtedly different from who they were when they deployed? Do you recognize their needs, including, as appropriate, tough love, as they return to civilian life following honorable service to our nation?

And we have questions for the American people:

-- Do you personally know any enlisted servicemembers or junior officers [those most at risk in combat] or recent veterans? If not, does that bother you? It should.

-- Even if you don't personally know anyone, are you doing everything you can to make things better for them, according to your walk of life? [Again we thank Sen. Joe Lieberman [I-CT] for leading the Senate in repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell.]

-- Finally, if you are a healthy male 17-34, please at least consider serving in our military. It will change your life.

Thank you.

OYE 109: Pick Up Their Check

Many Americans, especially those who don't personally know anyone wearing the uniform, want to say, "Thank You," to our troops when they see them in public places. The desire to do so is good, and appreciated, but it frequently comes across as a mere platitude.

However, if you see a group of our servicemembers dining together at a restaurant, a very effective way to say, "Thank You," is by picking up their check, plus a decent [20%] tip.

"I just wanted to thank you for your service and, by the way, your check - with tip - has been taken care of."

They will certainly appreciate it.

OYE Comment:

Let's be honest: You can afford to eat there. Think about it.

Thank you.

9/11: Who Signed Up

The New York Times profiled real Americans who signed up after 9/11/2001. Money quote:

Time magazine called it a day of infamy, evoking Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor. But Americans did not flock to military recruiting stations after 9/11 the way they did in 1941.

Enlistments rose in the months after the attacks, but only modestly. Over the next year, and over the next decade, the work of war fell to a relative few, with less than 1 percent of the nation deploying in Iraq or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2011.

Who, then, were those volunteers — the first to enlist, the first to taste battle, the first to die?

Studies show that starting in 2002, Army recruits scored higher on qualification tests, had high school diplomas more often and came from higher-income areas than in previous years — indications that military service was attracting a broader cross-section of Americans, experts say.

But that wave of interest — spurred by a weak economy in 2002 as well as patriotism — did not last, said Beth Asch, an economist with the RAND Corporation who has studied military recruitment.

In 2005, when civil war raged in Iraq and American casualty rates were hitting new highs, the Army, the largest armed service, missed its recruiting goal by nearly 7,000 soldiers. The quality of recruits fell as well. It took the collapse of the stock and housing markets in 2008 to fuel a new tide of enlistments.

OYE Comment:

The reason Americans did not flock to recruiting stations in large numbers after 9/11/2001, or later, is simple: Our national civilian political leadership wimped out. They did not even try to encourage healthy heterosexual young men to Be A Man! Enlist!; nor did the future leaders of our governing party at the time - the College and Young Republicans - Support Our President by setting a good example for the rest of us.

Hence, Operation Yellow Elephant in Summer 2005. At least we shamed the Yellow Elephants into Shutting Up, if not Signing Up.

When Influential People Personally Know . . .

. . . someone wearing the uniform at a lower level [i.e., they don't have to depend, exclusively, on official sources of information, including the media], America can do great things.

Money quote from an otherwise off-topic Washington Post article, Top Secret America: Joint Special Operations Command:

When Obama came into office, he cottoned to the organization immediately. (It didn’t hurt that his CIA director, Leon E. Panetta, has a son who, as a naval reservist, had deployed with JSOC.) Soon Obama was using JSOC even more than his predecessor. In 2010, for example, he secretly directed JSOC troops to Yemen to kill the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.