An Iraqi Soldier's Parent Speaks to Al Qaeda's Barbarism

I was honored to receive this email earlier today:

Dear Gateway Pundit,

I have a soldier son who will be deployed to Iraq soon. He is in the infantry and will be directly in harm’s way. I wept all night when Privates Menchaca and Tucker were captured, knowing that their chances of survival were small. I prayed their ordeal would end quickly if they were not going to be used as negotiation pawns. You and I are in agreement on most issues, and I consider you to be better informed and more insightful than myself.

All that having been said, I hope you will consider the following. Stop the hand-wringing about Bush not making a public statement about our two captured and horribly murdered soldiers. Their torture-deaths were a political message to our leadership, and to all the American people. They did this to horrify us to the depths our being, knowing that we don’t operate as they do. Their strategy is to pressure our president to capitulate to the cut-and-run crowd.

Should our president fulfill their hopes even part-way, by giving them international acknowlegement through the media that we were horrified? They already know we are horrified. Should the president of the United States address this slime-bucket of evil doers?

Should our president react to their demon-infested message? I think not.

I believe that the time will come when this horror will be redressed and acknowleged. We do not need to satisfy their desire to make themselves more internationally important than they already have.

The whole country is sickened by what happened, and most people of conscience with a decent heart stand with the families and comrades of our fallen soldiers. Such barbarity happens in Iraq everyday to young men, young women, old men and old women. This incident may not be the last one we have to endure among our own soldiers. My son could be the next one.

You are adding to the weight of criticism against the president at a time when it is not profitable for us as Americans or for our troops. The pressure against him in the conduct of the Iraq war is already great. In the face of such evil, the president is not our counselor and comforter, God is.

Please consider that there were three men who died in the incident. Every death of a soldier is an outrage. Vastly more Iraqi soldiers and civilians die and are injured by terrorists in this war, and their deaths are all an outrage. The added element of torture and degradation in the deaths of those brave young men was designed to raise up furor, thrashing hysteria among the people of America and to force the president and other leaders of the American people to acknowlege these evil deeds as highly powerful, significant and noteworthy among us. The result would be greater prestige for the terrorist animals and the perception among many millions of the world’s people that terrorism is an effective, if not worthwhile pursuit.

Let us not allow the indignities our soldiers suffered to continue past their deaths, to the satisfaction of our evil enemies.

Gayle S.

Thanks, Gayle.
God bless you and your soldier son.

You are right about this. My anger never should have been directed at President Bush. He didn't slaughter Privates Tucker and Menchaca. He didn't mutilate them beyond recognition. He didn't torture them. Bush didn't leave a booby-trapped bomb between their legs. Bush is not the devil here. As Peggy Noonan wrote today, "Bush the Younger would breastfeed the military if he could."

But, this particular slaughter by Al Qaeda did hit me hard. I hope that America understands this evil we are up against. At times I wonder. Thank you for your words, Gayle.