Don't sue our heroes

I was recently honored to photograph a
fund raising event for some Navy Seals.
Matthew McCabe was there to represent
himself and the two other members of
his unit who are being sued.

Why was a fund raiser being held? It was
held to raise money to pay for their legal defense
against charges and complaints filed
against them by the terrorist they were
ordered into Iraq to capture alive. His complaint
- someone punched him in the stomach.
The three Seals have also been charged
with interfering with the investigation and
lying to investigators.

Now the unit's commanding general is
pressing charges in a court-martial as this
is a military matter not to be tried in civil
court.

I’m opposed to war and to any violence
as an aggressor. I do not, however, believe
in turning the other cheek. They will just
hit that one too. Our government, right or
wrong, has embroiled us in a course of action
that is creating an endless cycle of violence
with an opposing side that welcomes
death as the gateway to paradise. Their battle
plan includes accusing our troops of this
type of behavior as an automatic condition
of their capture, thus tying up our resources
and energy by using the very system they
curse as a weapon against us.

So we order our troops into a situation
of kill or be killed and then ask them to play
nice. We get upset and court-martial them
when they cease to be pleasant civilized
human beings filled with love. Of course,
when they come home, we wish they would
quietly and politely go away and get on with
their lives; but that is a subject for another
day.

What, I ask, is the message our government
is sending to the terrorists and Jhiadists
who wish to kill us when we continue
to prosecute those we order into harms
way to ‘defend our way of life?’ Does this not,
in fact, encourage and support the enemy?
Does this not encourage them to view this
as another weak-willed attempt to maintain
themselves? I served during the Vietnam
era and if you’re not clear on the history,
I invite you to read up on it. Our lack of
resolve and the political game playing cost
thousands of our soldiers lives in that ‘war.’

What is the message we are sending our
own citizens, especially those who are considering
enlisting in this fight? I personally
know of one young lady who, when I talked
with her a few months ago, was planning
on enlisting in the Marines. Last week
when I checked with her she had changed
her mind. How many others, when they
read about the shabby treatment our leaders
give the field soldier, are changing their
minds about joining? Only time will tell just
how much it will undermine the fervent
level of patriotism so necessary in today’s
times.

We must stop tying our troops' hands
behind them. They are not pawns in the
economic and political games our ‘leaders’
are playing. They are the husbands, sons,
brothers, daughters, sisters and mothers of
our citizens.

Send the message: do not tread on me.