Conservative Blogger: Time For Me To Vent...

Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, has reportedly been murdered in Iraq by al Qaeda. Maupin was captured during an ambush on a convoy west of Baghdad, and has been missing since April 9.

It was my intention to talk about the handful of news items that occurred over the weekend with regard to Iraq. I'd hoped to discuss the Supreme Court decisions today and how that may affect prosecuting the war on terror.

That was before I read the breaking news about Keith Maupin.

Al-Jazeera aired a murky video tape today reportedly showing the execution of Spc. Maupin, who was identified by a written statement delivered with the tape. The scene reportedly shows a blindfolded man dressed in military fatigues sitting on the ground in front of a hole dug in the ground. A gunman then shoots the man in the back of the head.

It is believed that the man executed in the tape is Maupin, but there is no confirmation at this time. The tape is under review by the Department of Defense.

The broadcasting of this tape comes on the heels of the kidnapping of another American.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun of the United States Marine Corps was kidnapped on June 21. Born and raised in Lebanon, Hassoun has been a Muslim all his life. A militant group with suspected ties to al Qaeda has threatened to behead him unless the United States releases all prisoners in Iraq. As we all know, the release of the prisoners is unlikely to happen.

This all makes me angry and furious. It's not that the deaths of the other servicemen and women didn't. Of course they did. In my mind, though, it's a lot different compared to how Spc. Maupin appears to have died and what they're threatening to do to Cpl. Hassoun.

Faceless cowards have resorted to abducting our servicemen and murdering them to put on a show for al-Jazeera television.

I'm mad, I'm angry, and I want my Government to do something about it. I want my President to do something about it.

Perhaps it's time for "major combat operations" to be back on? I would never advocate the random bombing of a country, risking civilian casualties. I want our people to stop being peace-keepers and policemen and go back to being soldiers.

No carpet bombing, no scorched Earth. Precise, exact strikes on insurgent and al Qaeda strongholds. I want something because I'm tired of our people being murdered. One was too many to begin with. The potential for two is a trend that disturbs me.

Our role over there doesn't help them. We're not letting our troops do what they do best: soldier. Although no one wants to say it, we've become a peace keeping force and it's not the role ANY army plays well. Our people are still over there because if they leave, the region will descend into turmoil and anarchy---and no one in the Middle East, or their allies, can afford to have that happen.

We have the single best fighting force on the planet. It's time to let them do the job they were trained to do.

This is not a criticism of the President and his policy, as much as it is venting about the actions of terrorists. Please don't misunderstand me here.

We did the right thing today by handing over power to Iraq. We should have done it six months ago. The UN has already welcomed it back to the world community, so great---let Iraq ask the UN for help and now get our guys out of there. I know that swapping the troops doesn't fix anything, but the violence will at least subside for a short wile--and that's got to be good for everyone involved, including the Iraqi people.

There's only so much we can do for Iraq and I think we've hit that boundary. Some of my Conservative brethren may disagree with me and, in fact, I fully expect them to.

I don't think the Administration's policy is flawed or wrong, but I do think it's time to do things the way they ought to be done. It's easy for me to say being here in this position, but I can see the tape on al-Jazeera from the cheap seats as well as anyone else.

William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com

Posted by WilliamSmith on June 28, 2004 09:53 AM to Conservative Blogger