There is a clamor now demanding the families of the four soldiers killed in Niger be told exactly how and why they died
On October 4, an American Special Operations task force accompanying Nigerien troops was ambushed by some ISIS-affiliated fighters. Four American soldiers were killed and two were wounded. The body of Sgt. La David Johnson was not recovered until two days later and was found a mile from where the ambush occurred.
Now Congress wants to know why the task force was there and who, if anyone, screws up. Early reports say the fallen heroes were victims of faulty intelligence. I believe this is political posturing by members of Congress, but they do have the right to know. But what about the families of the fallen heroes, what do they really need to know?
There is a big clamor going around now demanding that the families be told exactly what happened and who screwed up. I believe it has been media generated.
Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democratic congresswoman in the mold of Houston’s loud-mouthed Sheila Jackson Lee, happened to be with the widow of Sgt. Johnson when President Trump made a condolence call. Ever ready to trounce on Trump, she claimed that the president told Mrs. Johnson, that her husband “knew what he signed up for … but I guess it still hurt.”
Wilson bellowed that he president was insensitive to Mrs. Jonson with that remark and she was so mad that she wanted to take the phone and cuss Trump out. Insensitive? What’s insensitive here is Wilson politicizing the tragic death of an American hero.
This is not the America of my generation. During WW2 there were thousands of GIs who died because someone fouled up royally. Some military experts claim the bloody invasions of some small atolls in the Pacific were unnecessary. During the Vietnam War, U.S. commanders ordered a frontal infantry assault on Hill 937 which became known as Hamburger Hill because of the way our troops were ground up by entrenched North Vietnamese troops. When our brave soldiers finally took the hill, they were ordered to return to their base, leaving Hamburger hill to be reoccupied by the North Vietnamese.
The families of WW2 soldiers who died in combat were not told the details of their deaths. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country. The families of those killed on Hamburger Hill were not told they died needlessly fighting for some obscure hill in South Vietnam. They were told their loved ones died as heroes in defense of their country.
President Trump was right when he told Mrs. Johnson that her husband knew what he signed up for. That was not insensitive, that was telling her that her husband was a hero who knew he might be killed when he joined up. Only a scumbag like Frederica Wilson can turn a fine gesture into a media-aided political firestorm.
So what do the families of our fallen heroes really need to know about their tragic deaths. Not why their loved one was where he was and not that he died because someone fouled up. Just like in WW2, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, all they need be told is that their loved one died a hero in whatever place he died in defense of his country.
Somebitch, what this country hasn’t come to. Those who disrespect our flag and country by refusing to stand for the National Anthem are praised for therewith taking a stand against social injustice. The country is literally going to pot. And every breath our president takes is excoriated by liberals with the aid of an eager anti-Trump media. Sadly, this is not the America of my generation.