Thursday, February 26, 2004

Back in the USA

As the plane touched down in Atlanta, back on American soil, I felt a surge of national pride for my homeland. It was good to be back in the U. S. of A. I am proud to be an American, but also proud to be part of the one world family, which I have served over the past year. It was a good feeling to look out the window of the plane to see America for the first time in almost a year.

I knew at that point I was one step closer to being back home again. I also realized that it was going to require some readjusting to life here, now that I have been away for so long and after having adapted totally to life in Iraq. The past year has been such a pivotal period of time for me personally, having experienced so much in such a short period of time.

While I am returning the same person, I am sure I have also changed in many ways, having been influenced by so many positive forces. In many ways I do not want to return to the same life as it was before. I have made several deliberate changes and hope that change is apart of my new life. I can only hope that the magic will continue, as I begin a new phase of life, building upon the positive blocks of past experience.

A plea to continue what we have started

I would hate to lose the positive momentum we have built up over the past year, with so much potential to make a positive contribution in the lives of children all over the world. We have but slightly opened the door of opportunity, catching a glimpse of what might happen if we put forth some effort. I truly believe that this is just the beginning of many marvelous experiences for all of us involved in the Chief Wiggle's Operation Give Campaign.

The sky is the limit, solely dependent upon our ability to see the possibilities for what this might be. As a collective group we can do much to break down the walls of distrust and misunderstanding, promoting peace throughout the world as we reach out to touch needy children everywhere. It is possible to win the hearts and minds of all children in our one world family, increasing love and happiness through toys, school supplies, and care.

I do believe in this truism, "Where much has been given much is expected". We have so we share. We can so we do. We are able so we must. There is a need wherever the military goes to increase love and understanding with our brothers and sisters of the world family that we come in contact with.

We live in a world replete with boundaries and barriers, nationalistic separations, differences in language, cultural, and religion, which perpetuate hatred, distrust, and confusion. Evil forces have massed together to create disharmony, greed, envy and strife in the hearts of our world family members. 

We cannot allow these forces to take over the hearts of the children, promulgating the false traditions of past generations. These walls of hatred, and these barriers of distrust need to be broken and severed, bringing about new possibilities for this world we all live in. Our only hope is with the children.

We can continue our efforts to take toys, school supplies, and other important items to the children of Iraq and other countries. I vow to continue my efforts to make this a reality. I will insure that your generous donations and contributions get to the needy children of Iraq, no matter what. We will do our best to inform you of all that is going on and how the donations are being used to bring hope and love to children everywhere. 

I know there are many Non-profit organizations, which perhaps you are involved with, doing good things all over the world. There are many ways to help, to make a difference in the lives of fellow members of our world family. So wherever you chose to help, please just help somewhere. Something as simple as a toy, a stuffed animal, or a book, can and does make a difference in the minds and hearts of children everywhere. They will remember the small token of love exhibited by the American people, who do care and are willing to share the joy of owning a toy. We all remember as a child what it feels like to have one special toy that we treasure as a keepsake forever.

The role of the USA

We are the sole remaining world power. We are the richest nation on earth in the history of the world. We have been blessed with much as we have the abundance of the Promised Land at our fingertips. We have the means and the where with all to make a difference in the world we are a part of. We can be a force for much good influencing generations of people by demonstrating, through small acts of kindness, our compassion and love for all mankind. And we can do this one child at a time.

I believe that President George Bush understands this momentous role and responsibility as the world leading power, to insure stability and peace throughout the world. I believe he understands the crucial importance of peace in this region of the world, while is willing to fight for the right that all mankind has to be free. He understands the price and sacrifice required to insure this vary freedom, which we enjoy. As do we in the military, who are willing to put our life on the line to guarantee this freedom for others, understand the price to be paid for this freedom.

I feel honored to have been mentioned by our president, appropriately during the annual Prayer Breakfast, regarding the many good things that have come about by your kind and generous donations. It would be appropriate to plead for good people everywhere to be touched by the loving spirit of the Savior Jesus Christ to reach out and touch the children of the world with toys, or school supplies, or other essential items.

The evil forces of bondage, apposing the freedom of man, are lose on the earth and are stampeding into all aspects of our life, as we see hatred, greed, and envy increasing exponentially. As corrupt men everywhere fight for power, position, and wealth, desiring to control others, something must be done to thwart their progress.

If not us, who is willing to stand for what is right? If not us, who else is capable to stand in the way of evil forces that would enslave all of us. If not us, who else is going to impede the progress of evil men perpetuating their evil designs?

We must do what we can, for it is our responsibility.

Why not ask us?

In the whirl wind of political debate that is circling around the president regarding his motives for going to war, I find it curiously strange that no one has asked the opinion of those of us who have put our lives on the line to carryout that vary decision. Who better than us to answer the question regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction as a premise for going to war? Do the self proclaimed political experts write us off, assuming we are like sheep blindly following a miss guided shepherd to the extent of putting our own life in jeopardy? Do they really think we have not thought about the reasons for and justifications behind leaving our families and putting ourselves in harms way?

The vast majority of the military unanimously support the president's decision to take preemptive action against Saddam Hussein. We agree it was necessary in order to eliminate a serious threat to the stabilization of this region of the world, to free a country of people from bondage and torture, to prevent a continuation of an anti-American sentiment, for that matter anti-Western world policy, with the real potential, if not actual, to create such weapons and aid our enemies in their terrorist activities.

Why is it that the people of the US armed forces have not and are not speaking out against the president's decision, if in fact the WMD issue was the only premise behind making such a decision to go to war? Yes, we believed all along that he had such weapons before, that he had such weapons now, or that he possessed the knowledge and the capability to use, share, or develop such weapons in the future to promote his own anti-American plans. I have said all along that Saddam's only real weapon against us was to hide everything so well that we would never find such evidence of their existence, in hopes that by doing so he would create a back lash of political opposition for the president.

To give you my opinion, the fact of the matter is that the WMD issue has never been a major deal for any of us in the military, at least from all that I have spoken with. Yes, it was important, but not a do or die situation, as is portrayed by the president's political rivals. Our success here in Iraq did not and has never swung on the hinge of finding or not finding the weapons of mass destruction. There are far too many other pertinent and relevant variables that make this a much too complicated scenario to lump into my nice little nutshell we call WMD.

In this convoluted, intertwined every changing world environment, we have to rely on what we consider to be reliable and trustworthy intelligence, while understanding our own human limitations to correctly gather and interpret that same intelligence. We believed they existed and believe there is evidence of an existing program, either actual or potential.

Even so, the absence of such does not change our resolve to carry out the president's decision, with a firm conviction in its importance and necessity. One need but go back over the last 10 years, with a clear understanding of the facts since the gulf war, so conclude that war here was inevitable and the only long term positive course of action.

During an election year it is unfortunate that people have a tendency to put emphasis on less important political issues, like gay marriages, as if to arbitrarily create pivotal election campaign issues (both parties have stated that they are against same sex marriages, so if it is confusing why not further define what marriage is to mean). I would rather focus on more crucial issues relating to selecting the right man for the most powerful position in the world, such as the US and world economy, foreign policies, and leading this nation.

 
Good Day