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| Peggy Noonan: a toast to American troops |
| 2007-08-24 |
| . . . Some say we're the Roman Empire, but I don't think the soldiers of Rome were known for their kindness, nor the people of Rome for their decency. Some speak of Abu Ghraib, but the humiliation of prisoners there was news because it was American troops acting in a way that was out of the order of things, and apart from tradition. It was weird. And they were busted by other American troops. You could say soldiers of every country do some good in war beyond fighting, and that is true enough. But this makes me think of the statue I saw once in Vienna, a heroic casting of a Red Army soldier. Quite stirring. The man who showed it to me pleasantly said it had a local nickname, "The Unknown Rapist." There are similar memorials in Estonia and Berlin; they all have the same nickname. My point is not to insult Russian soldiers, who had been born into a world of communism, atheism, and Stalin's institutionalization of brutish ways of being. I only mean to note the stellar reputation of American troops in the same war at the same time. They were good guys. They're still good. We should ponder, some day when this is over, what it is we do to grow such men, and women, what exactly goes into the making of them. . . . |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #2 Peggy Noonan says it best every time. She says its not magic, but hard work. God bless her and her hard work. |
| Posted by: whatadeal 2007-08-24 18:36 |
| #1 That's Gods army. |
| Posted by: newc 2007-08-24 11:09 |