Thank You, America! signed: The Kurds!

Has anyone seen those “Thank You, America” ads on TV sponsored by the Kurds of Iraq?

I have. I must admit I was taken totally by surprise! I had to see them at least twice before I would believe what I had seen.

You are probably aware that the United States has given more of its sons and daughters lives, and it’s national treasure, to secure, and ensure, freedom for other peoples, and countries, than any other nation in the history of the world. That’s another of those facts left out of today’s “revisionist history”.

Now, I was born about 7 months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. So, my formative years were spent during America’s darkest days of war. That war ended when I was 4 years of age. Then in 1949 we were preparing for another war, even though we did not know it at the time. By 1950 we were neck deep in the so-called Korean conflict. My first cousin was taken prisoner by the North Koreans, or Red Chinese (we were never sure which), and spent several horrible months in a Communist Prisoner of War Camp. By 1958, I was in the military, having joined during the summer between my Junior and Senior years of High School. I attended Army Reserve Drills for my entire Senior year of High School, and reported for Basic Training to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, roughly one month after graduation.

Eisenhower was my first Commander-in-Chief. Then John Kennedy, and finally, LBJ. I was already in service when the word “Vietnam” meant little, if anything, to the regular grunt. The US was sending advisors into South Vietnam even then, but 99.9% of us knew nothing about it.

Then there were the little brush fire wars like Panama, and Granada. Then came Desert Storm… the first Iraq War. That war, left unfinished, only set the stage for the second Iraq War in which we are engaged to this day.

Now, all this rambling is meant only to set my background for you so that when I say, of all the wars in which the US has been involved, in my lifetime, I have no recollection of any, I repeat, any, nation we freed, liberated, or just plain saved, saying “Thank You” in such a public, and celebratory, way! Never.

The Kurds have taken it upon themselves to let the world know what America’s sons and daughters did for them. It is a wonderful, heart-warming, thing for them to do.

It is welcomed by Americans who have grown weary of war.
Most Americans, contrary to what the American press may tell you, undersand that we are only in the opening days of this war, the "Global War on Terror". No matter if we leave Iraq and try to disengage from this war we will never be able to completely withdraw. Those bent on a world wide dictatorship, based on Islam, will continue to attack the US until we capitulate. That isn’t going to happen.

So, thank you, Kurdistan, for your expression of gratitude. It will go a long way towards lightening the darkness of the many long days, and years, of war ahead.

“Longstreet”