Posted on 10/02/2007 4:39:02 AM PDT by radar101
Liberals often like to say that "violence is senseless."
That’s wrong.
Violence isn't senseless. Senseless violence is senseless. And I should know. Before being awarded the Navy Cross and having the privilege of becoming a Marine, I was a gang member. Sometimes it takes having used violence for both evil as well as good to know that there's a profound moral difference between the two.
People often ask me whether I still support the war. I never hesitate when answering: "Absolutely I support completing the mission," I tell them, "Now more than ever."
I was honored to have been given the opportunity to fight in Iraq on our country’s behalf. And it was that experience—and five things I saw firsthand—that illustrate the foolishness of those who would equate American military power to that used by thugs and tyrants.
1. Mass Graves
I was part of a group that was tasked with guarding Saddam’s mass graves. And let me tell you something: anyone who could look straight down into those huge holes at the skeletons and remains and see what that monster did to 300,000 of his own people would have no doubt that we did the right thing in removing him from power. Saddam’s henchmen would tie two people together, some with babies in their arms, stand them at the crater’s edge, and then shoot one of the people in the head, relying on the weight of the dead body to drag them both into the hole. This would save on rounds and also ensure that both people died, one from a gunshot, the other by being buried alive.
2. Tongue-less Man
You never know how precious freedom of speech is until you meet somehow who has had it taken from them—literally taken from them. During a patrol we came upon two hungry Iraqi men scavenging for food. When our translator began speaking with the men I noticed that one of them had a stub for a tongue. Through the translator we learned that the tongue-less man had spoken against the regime and that Saddam’s henchmen had severed his tongue. Saddam had quite literally removed the man’s freedom of speech.
3. Adrenaline-Fueled Fedayeen Saddam
I couldn't for the life of me understand why the ninja costume-wearing terrorists we encountered in a series of hellish firefights just wouldn’t go down—even after being shot. Once my fire team and I cleared a terrorist-filled house in a close quarters shootout, I saw dead bodies all around the kitchen. I looked up at the countertops. Scattered everywhere were vials of adrenaline, syringes, and khat (pronounced "cot"), a drug similar to PCP that gives users a surge of energy and strength. That’s when we realized that our zombie-like attackers were zealots who came to fight and die.
4. Human Experiment Pictures
I still can’t shake the pictures out of my head. We discovered them inside a strange laboratory we found inside a Special Republican Guard barracks that had been plunked down inside an amusement park. When I cracked open the photo album, my jaw dropped. There in front of me were the most horrifying images of experiments being performed on newborn and infant children. Picture after picture, page after page, the binder was filled with the most extreme deformities and experimental mutations one could imagine. One baby had an eye that was shifted toward the middle of its head. We turned the books over to our lieutenant as valuable pieces of intelligence.
5. Bomb-Making Materials In a Mosque
Well after the invasion we were tasked to conduct city patrols and build rapport with local sheiks and mosque members. On one occasion we revisited a mosque where the sheik had previously been warm and friendly. Yet this time something seemed a little off. As we made our way through the mosque compound, we were told there were certain "praying houses" we weren’t allowed to enter. But when a Marine walked through a side hallway and passed by a door that had been left ajar, he spotted a huge bottle of nitroglycerin and assorted bomb-making materials.
When I think about my gang member past I shudder in shame. But if there was one lesson I learned from my past it is that there is a profound moral difference between using violence to destroy lives and using violence to save lives. Terrorists do the former; soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do the latter.
Antimilitary liberals need to learn the difference between the two.
Marco Martinez, a recipient of the Navy Cross, is author of the new book Hard Corps: From Gangster to Marine Hero (Crown Forum).
As a GREAT officer, This is a GREAT article. I will have to check out the book.
(GREAT = Gang Resistance Education And Training)
I can’t wait to see him interviewed and telling this story on CNN, NBC,SeeBS, ABC MSGNBC.
Many years down the road, say, like 30 to 40 years or so, historians will pore over all the documents and evidence and know ours was just cause. Weenie liberals will be nowhere to be found in those days.
On the link I found this citation for the Corporal’s Navy Cross:
The President of the United States
Takes Pleasure in Presenting
The Navy Cross
To
Marco A. Martinez
Corporal, United States Marine Corps
For Services as Set Forth in the Following
Citation:
For extraordinary heroism while serving as 1st Fire Team Leader, 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 12 April 2003. Responding to a call to reinforce his Platoon that was ambushed, Corporal Martinez effectively deployed his team under fire in supporting positions for a squad assault. After his squad leader was wounded, he took control and led the assault through a tree line where the ambush originated. As his squad advanced to secure successive enemy positions, it received sustained small arms fire from a nearby building. Enduring intense enemy fire and without regard for his own personal safety, Corporal Martinez launched a captured enemy rocket propelled grenade into the building temporarily silencing the enemy and allowing a wounded Marine to be evacuated and receive medical treatment. After receiving additional fire, he single-handedly assaulted the building and killed four enemy soldiers with a grenade and his rifle. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, Corporal Martinez reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
I’m currently reading this book
House to house : an epic of urban warfare / David Bellavia with John Bruning.
He describes a mosque laden with weapons. Americans were not allowed in the mosque. They had to wait for the Iraqis to do it.
My beloved 5th Marines!!!
But if there was one lesson I learned from my past it is that there is a profound moral difference between using violence to destroy lives and using violence to save lives. Terrorists do the former; soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines do the latter.
You can add Blackwater to the “latter”.
Good 'ol Winston said:
"...we may feel sure we bear the sword of justice and we are resolved to use that sword with the utmost severity to the full and to the end."
The ethics is the same. There is a profound difference between unrighteous violence (bullying, assault, rape, despotism) and righteous violence (spanking a child for bullying, fighting back, and deposing by violent means).
In this present age of moral relativism, I’m surprised that most in the room understood the difference and came around.
Just reading the book’s cover is enough to make me want to read it.
What a tremendous young man and inspirational story...
That seriously is incredible.
Thank you, Sgt. Martinez, for all you’ve done and continue to do.
Bump
That’s if we win. If the muznuts win, the evidence will all be destroyed.
Thank you Sgt. Martinez. We need the perspective.
Can you imagine how short this war could have been if the media would have reported all that and the good news of what our military does?
The world knows that when Americans put their minds to “it” we win. If America hadn’t been divided it would have been incredible.
PING.
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