I was going through my files and came across this speech that was given by RJ Del Vecchio of the
'Vets to Washington Project' at the
'Operation America Rising' rally on 7/7/07 here in North Carolina. It was a very moving speech to hear in person. There were many speeches given that day but this one was by far the best. We had someone at the event filming the entire rally but unfortunately the tape was left in his car and ended up melting, losing most of the footage from that day. That day the temperature was nearly 100 degrees but that did not keep the hundreds of people from leaving the 6 hour rally.
Enjoy!
Ladies and Gentlemen, good afternoon.
Let me begin by registering some thanks to people. First, to Tina Medlin, who was given the challenge, with zero experience, of putting together this tribute to our troops. To do this, she fulfilled the Marine Corps motto "adapt and overcome", and she deserves great credit for the time, effort, and love she put into this.
Next, I thank the Founders of this nation, whose foresight, courage, sacrifice, and wisdom brought into being the greatest hope for mankind that this world has ever known. And I thank my grandparents, for having the gumption to leave the world they knew, the world of their ancestors, to take the tough trip across the sea to Ellis Island, become Americans, and work hard to make the American dream of a better life for their children and grandchildren.
I thank the many WW2 and Korean veterans I grew up learning from, and the refugees from Hungary, Cuba, and other communist countries who really contributed to my understanding ever more about how precious liberty is.
And I thank all of you for coming today, to show our strong support for those who are in harm's way on our behalf, even as we enjoy all the good moments of a great summer weekend.
Lastly, yet most of all, I thank those men & women who are out there for us now, for every day they spend away from home, for every hour with burning heat and sand in their eyes, for every second of racing pulse when their vehicle starts down the perilous highway, or they go through that door into the shadowy hallway, not knowing what is waiting there for them. And for the times of pain and sorrow when they see their friends bleeding or lying silent and still. I have known those times, and how they leave scars on your heart, and sometimes guilt in your mind, for being the one who survived.
There are many aspects of today's events that can be discussed, and no shortage of controversy about how we got into Iraq and how the war has been handled. But dwelling on those controversies is not useful to understanding where we are now, the prospects before us, and what the possibilities are for the future.
Often we hear about comparisons between the war in Iraq and the past war in Viet Nam. Many of those comparisons are inaccurate or misleading, and I hope to bring some clarity to the reality of the different wars.
In Viet Nam we fought an enemy whose intense focus was simply on taking over the free South and bringing it under the control of the communist politburo of Hanoi. Yes, they were also a tool of international communism in the Cold War, but that was of no real importance to Ho Chi Minh and his faithful supporters. They did not hate us just for being Americans, they were perfectly satisfied to simply get us out of the war so they could overwhelm the South using the massive support of the Soviet Bloc. While the fall of Saigon was a tragedy and subsequent events in Cambodia and Laos were even more appalling, in a way it was like Vegas. What happened in Southeast Asia pretty much stayed in Southeast Asia, with the exception of the VN Boat People who came to our shores as refugees seeking a new life and freedom. Some live here in the Raleigh area, and I am proud to have them as friends; they have become Americans, and many of their grown children have served and are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of those children have already paid in blood for their citizenship in this, their adopted country.
But Iraq is different in critically important ways. However it started, it has become a hinge point in the conflict between the West and the strangely diverse wave of jihadist Islam. This is a complex movement, sometimes coordinated, often not, based on narrow and totally intense religious fanaticism combined with social/cultural drives founded on myth, systematic brainwashing, and a value system centered more on death than on life. The simple contrast between them and us is that their young people are urged to volunteer to very deliberately kill themselves in order to kill and maim the maximum number of other human beings whom they do not know, most of whom are innocent bystanders. While our men & women in uniform put themselves at risk of dying in the effort to help the Iraqi and Afghan people progress into a stable, secure, and free way of life, and in that way help ensure the safety and security of our way of life.
The Vietnamese communists were our enemy, but primarily because we were in the way of their conquest of the South. The jihadists are radically different, they do not just want us out of the Middle East, they don't want to extort money from us, or achieve economic domination over us, or anything else. Regardless of the hype they put out about the supposed wrongs we have committed against them, going all the way back to the Crusades, in truth they do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for what we are.
In times past people used the phrase "mortal enemy", but we don't hear that phrase much anymore. What it means is not just a particularly tough or nasty enemy, what it means is an enemy whose goal is extremely simple and direct- your death is what he wants, all that he wants, and nothing less will satisfy him. That describes Osama Bin Laden and all the hundreds of thousands of his followers across the world. They do not care what it takes to achieve their fantasy goal of "restoring the Caliphate", that is, world domination of fundamentalist Islamic rule. The deaths of millions of people including any and all Moslems who oppose them in the least way, or even total innocents whose deaths serve their strategy of terror and destabilizing societies, are just a tiny detail to them in their blind and hateful fanaticism.
This is the harsh, ugly, and very scary reality that we in America, and in fact every Western society, need to face. The jihadist mentality has been growing for almost 30 years now, it has achieved a great deal of momentum, and its effects are seen even in Moslem communities that have existed and flourished in Western countries for a couple of generations. It will not go away on its own, and while it would be comforting to think of it as a temporary phase that will wither away in time, to believe that is a pleasant self deception that we cannot afford. It is a kind of communicable mental illness that will continue to spread until some form of countering it becomes truly and widely effective.
Iraq and Afghanistan are complicated struggles in many ways. Tribal and sectarian differences contribute to the chaos, as well as the support from those with their own agendas for gaining power, especially the theocratic regime of Iran. The longstanding conflict over Israel is another major factor that keeps the Middle East at low boil and adds to the growth of blind hatred for the West and the US in particular.
There is no simple answer to eliminating the underlying factors of jihadism. We have no easy way of making it go away. But what we do have is a simple challenge to not encourage it, to deny it key victories that would accelerate its growth and increase its power. Iraq and Afghanistan are now the testing ground for jihadism, for the forces of destruction, for the drive to dominate and ignite more and more of Islam in the flames of cruel and relentless fanaticism.
What happens if we cut and run, as so many politicians and antiwar activists recommend? After all, they say, we got out of Viet Nam and nothing really bad happened, and now it’s a pretty good place, we get along fine, and it's a really cheap place to go for a great vacation. Doesn't that tell us how stupid we are to continue to spend our blood and billions in faraway countries that have their own problems to deal with?
Well, in the first place, plenty of really bad stuff happened in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Laos after we abandoned the South Vietnamese to their inevitable conquest by the totally militarized North with its endless ocean of supplies from the Soviets. And we get along fine with them now because our leaders, for the sake of business priorities, choose to take little if any notice of the blatant suppression of human rights that goes on there. Yep, it's nice to visit as a tourist, but it was nice to visit Germany in 1936 too, as long as you didn't want to stop by any synagogues or that nice little re-education camp up in Dachau.
But that aside, the very first consequence of bugging out of Iraq would be the instant proclamation across the world by every fundamentalist cleric in all of Islam that Bin Laden is proven correct, the infidels are weak and corrupt and total victory will assuredly be ours. They will scream in joy that Moslems need only to rise up more and more, purge any of their neighbors who won't join the jihad, raise more money, plant more bombs, create more riots, send more of their young people to massacre innocents in every transport station, sports stadium, and shopping mall in the West, and in time all will be theirs.
The inflow of donations from the rich oil sheiks will jump steeply, as will the number of volunteers for the terrorist training camps, and from there the downhill run into more horrors will begin.
Meanwhile, Iraq will dissolve into total bloody chaos, with all sorts of groups committing massacres for all sorts of reasons, the Syrians will try to take influence with the Sunni, the Iranians will do the same with the Shia, and there will be no safety anywhere for anyone. Just how it will go after that is impossible to predict, but it will be guaranteed to be about as awful as Cambodia was, and the whole Middle East will continue to destabilize. And best of all, who do you think will be blamed for it all? You know the answer- it will be the USA. And those who hate and despise us will have a field day with it, we will be condemned by half the UN, and our ability to exert any influence in the world will be damaged very, very badly.
This is why I believe it is essential for our support to the troops to be as vigorous and continuous as possible, because they stand between the world and those terrible events.
So whether or not everyone appreciates what their service and sacrifice really mean, our people are over there, doing their duty, sometimes devotedly, sometimes doggedly, on repeated tours that weary the spirit, and we can only pray for them, and let them know in every way we can that we respect and appreciate them and everything they do for us. That is why we are all here today, to raise our voices on their behalf, to say as clearly as possible, Thank You, Thank You, and God Bless.
When we came back from Viet Nam, a few of us were subjected to terrible treatment, many of us went through lesser levels of harassment and nastiness, and most of us experienced no feeling of being welcomed, indeed we very often felt unappreciated, and even alienated. I think I speak for all Vietnam vets today when I say NOT THIS TIME! Our troops must hear from us, while there and when returning, that we appreciate and honor them, no matter what other feelings we have about the fight that they are in. They are not there for pay, or glory, or imperialistic conquest. They are there for us.
In conclusion, I would like to give to you the words of one of those who went to safeguard us.
Back on the 14th of November, 2005, in an action along the Syrian border with Iraq, a Marine Major, Ray Mendoza, gave his life in service to his country and his Corps. He left behind a wife and two children. His wife, Karen, wanted the kids to have some more understanding of their father, who and what he was. So she turned eventually to the letters his comrades wrote about him.
Of these, the foremost was by his close friend of all the years together in the Marine Corps, Major Doug Zembiec. Another devoted Marine, famous among his men in Iraq as the Lion of Fallujah because of his stalwart performance in that major battle.
Here is what he wrote...
His letter to the children of a fallen comrade-in-arms:
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Dear Kiana and Alek,
Ray and I had a conversation late May in 2004 while we were deployed to Iraq. He spoke of why he fought. He fought to give the people of Iraq a chance. He fought to crush those who would terrorize and enslave others. He fought to protect his fellow Marines.
The last thing he told me that day was, "I don't want any of these people (terrorists) telling my kids how to act, or how to dress. I don't want to worry about the safety of my children." Kiana and Alek, your father fought for many things, but always remember, he fought for you.
As you fight this battle we call life, you will find your challenges greater, your adversity larger, your enemies more numerous. The beautiful thing is, you will grow stronger, smarter, faster, and you will overcome the obstacles in your way.
No one could've better prepared you than your father. In the month and a half your family stayed with me in Laguna Niguel, Calif., while waiting for base housing to open up, I saw how, with the help of your incredible mother, he instilled in you the essentials to life:
Live with integrity, for without integrity we deceive ourselves, we live in a house of cards.
Fight for what you believe, for without valor, we lose our freedom.
Be willing to sacrifice, for anything worthy in life requires sacrifice.
Be disciplined, for it is discipline that builds the foundation of your success.
You will encounter misguided people in your life who may question America's attempt to help the people of Iraq and the Middle East. These pathetic windbags, who have nothing so sacred in their lives that they would be willing to fight for it, will argue and debate endlessly on what we should've done.
While they criticize, they forget the truth, or conveniently overlook the fact that it takes men and women of action, willing to make a sacrifice, to free the enslaved, to advance the cause of freedom.
Our great nation was built on the shoulders of men like your father. While the nay-sayers and cowards hid in the shadows sniveling that nothing was worth dying for, men like your dad carved our liberty away from the English, freed the slaves and kept the Union together, saved Europe from the Germans twice; rescued the Pacific away from the Japanese, defeated communism, and right now, fight terrorism and plant the seeds of democracy in the Middle East.
Your father was a warrior, but being a warrior is not always about fighting. He was patient with those he led, and he understood people make mistakes. He cared about the men he led as if they were his own family. To him, they were. His work ethic was tremendous. But he made time for his family, to enjoy life. He was balanced, at equilibrium. He was an inspiration. He was my friend.
In your future, when you are pushed against a wall, in a tight spot, outnumbered and seemingly overwhelmed, it may be tempting to give up, or even use the absence of your father as a crutch, as an excuse for failure.
Don't. Your father's passing, while tragic, serves as an endless source of your empowerment. Your father would not want you to wallow in self-pity. I know you will honor him by living your life in the positive example he set. Respect and remember him. Drive on with your lives. Serve something greater than yourself. Enjoy all the good things that life has to offer. That is what he would want.
Kiana! I have never met a more capable young lady in my life. You are the most well-read, articulate, disciplined young person I know. Often I tell people of the arm-bar you demonstrated on me in your parents' garage. When you become a worldwide Judo champion, I will say with great pride, "that woman nearly torqued my shoulder out when she was 11 years old!"
If my daughter grows up with a quarter of the strength of your principles, determination and intelligence, she will be an incredible human being. Like your mother, you are a beautiful woman, a fact of which you should be proud.
Alek! You are blessed with your father's strength of character and his unbreakable will and his broad shoulders. Your mother gave you her determination and unwavering mental toughness.
Your mother told me the story of you hanging up the sign, "Be a leader, not a follower." My eyes well up every time that I think of you doing that. My eyes fill not with tears of sadness, but of pride, to know you grasped the mindset your father passed on to you. This mindset will allow you to be a leader and protector like your father, and one day, to raise an upright, solid-as-a-rock family of your own.
When I look in your eyes, I see your father. Courageous, determined and resolute, your father embodied all that is virtuous in a warrior. Even now, you strive to embody his same character. Remember, there will never be any pressure for you to be exactly like your father. Be your own man, but build your character in his image.
Many people may be concerned about your future because of the early passing of your father. I don't worry at all. Your dad gave you all you ever need to become a great woman and a great man. I know your father would have told you to be your own hero/heroine. Don't wait for someone to rise up and lead you to victory, to your goals. If you do, you might wait for a very long time.
Ray died as a warrior, sword in hand, in service of his country, his comrades and you, his loved ones. His spirit and example give us all hope, reaffirms our faith. Your father reminds us there are men willing to fight for people that they don't even know so that all may live in peace.
I joined the Corps to serve beside men like your father. There is no other Marine I'd rather have protecting my flank in combat than your dad. Even now, as I write this letter in Iraq, I will honor him on the field of battle by slaying as many of our enemies as possible, and fight until our mission is accomplished.
You will always be in our lives. Please stay in touch. We will always be in your corner for assistance, advice or just conversation. Pam and I plan to retire in Idaho and would love for you to visit us so we can take you white-water rafting and mountain climbing.
Very Respectfully, Doug
The sad final note to this wonderful letter is that its author has gone to join his friend. Marine Maj. Doug Zembiec was killed May 11 leading a raid on Baghdad insurgents.
I am honored to have been able to read these words to you, and I will always honor the memory of men like these two Marine officers. They represent the best of America, and it is bitter indeed for us to have lost them and what else they might have brought to our nation in the future. When our country was founded, it was said that the Tree of Liberty must be watered from time to time with blood... the blood of tyrants and patriots. That's a hard view to take, but I think it was valid then, and it is valid still. Let us all be thankful for having still amongst us those who will serve, and serve well, for us.
God Bless America!
Speech by: RJ Del Vecchio,
'Vets to Washington Project', at the
'Operation America Rising', North Carolina rally on 7/7/07.
Labels: GWOT, OAR, Operation America Rising, Support the Troops
