It is the Soldier, it was the Veteran….

The Soldier It is the soldier, not the minister,who has given us freedom of religion It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. copyright: Charles M. Provence not Father Denis Edward O’Brien as some people note.

The Soldier protects our freedoms, our Veterans won our freedoms. We owe them all our thanks and respect. We must remember.

Freedoms are being eroded

In the military, I remember taking my combat intelligence training. They had an exercise based upon a real event in our history and changed the details but not the information that was used for the case study. It was a challenge to look at disparate pieces of information (intelligence) and to try and assemble and rework the data into information that could lead you to the solution. After you’ve been through that training it is not unusual to look at data in everyday life and try to assemble it into a trend or arrive at a bigger picture.

Our biggest threat today is defined as terrorism by our respective governments. Most terrorism stems from an individual or group that is trying to impose their beliefs on the masses since they can’t get the masses to follow their teachings through personal choice. Terrorism is a serious threat to our freedoms in more ways than just the actions of a terrorist. How the state reacts to the terrorist threat impacts our freedoms. We have to decide if we want to continue to permit actions that restrict our freedoms are justified against the perceived and real threats. The death toll for Katrina was around 1,836 dead, the death toll for 9-11 was around 2,752, the death toll for the Tsunami in 2004 was around 285,000, the death toll in Burma from the cyclone is estimated at 78,000, the death toll for the China earthquake is currently estimated at 50,000.

In real terms the death toll for known terrorists acts is relatively small in comparison to the numbers of people lost to natural disasters. The key for the terrorists is in their definition, they are trying to instill fear and uncertainty in the general population which forces or allows governments to limit freedoms and take basic human rights away from people in the name of protecting the population.

Western democracies are vulnerable because they are relatively free and allow free movement and allow the pursuit of normal healthy lives without much government intervention. The terrorists achieve their objectives by having governments and the people over reacting and committing acts of state sponsored terror such as torture, no habeas corpus, jailing people without charge or due process. The state can take advantage of the fear, uncertainty and doubt amongst the population and impose measure that give them extra-ordinary powers that destroy our liberties and freedoms.

We the population have to be vigilant and not allow the destruction of our freedom in the name of security.