We Don't Know Who We Are

We Don’t Know Who We Are?


By Kevin Probst



I’ve never been in the military so I am ignorant of a lot of things pertaining to military strategy and philosophy. I’m struggling to understand our mission in Afghanistan. Obama is about to announce he will send thousands more of our precious young men to a primitive land to risk their lives. As a result of his decision many, too many, of those young men will never return to their families.

Are we fighting al Qaida? Are we fighting the Taliban? Are we trying to prop up the government of Karzai? Is he a worthy ally or are we investing the lives of our young men in a corrupt leader?

The enemy is al Qaeda. They are a world wide organization intent on bring about an apocalyptic end to all infidels (Jews, Americans, Christians). They have no geographic location. They are well organized into cell groups infiltrated into almost every major nation. Their goal is worldwide annihilation of the infidel who, by his very existence, is prohibiting the coming of their great Imam. The Taliban has no such lofty goals. They are a localized group intent on acquiring power in a primitive country. Why is Afghanistan so important to us? We punish the Taliban for harboring al Qaida but now that al Qaeda has moved on is it not time for us to move on also?

It seems we want to limit al Qaeda to some certain geographical location. We’ve never fought a war against an enemy that is so elusive. It is like fighting an army of spirits. They are surreal and will not be confined by our chosen boundaries. All one needs to fight for al Qaeda is an apartment, a computer and a fax machine.

Many believe the next step is to focus on Pakistan. The threat of Pakistan is real. They harbor nuclear weapons. But who is willing to believe that Pakistan is where most of the al Qaeda operatives are trained? They are trained throughout the world, even here within our own borders.

Al Qaeda is not political nor are they geographical, they are ideological. This isn’t a war that can be limited to a location, nor is it a war that can be won by defeating an insignificant group calling themselves the Taliban. Ideologies are not won or lost in military battles. I favored the war in Viet Nam. I favored the idea of trying to contain an ideology (communism) that was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions in the last century. I favor the use of the military to check the spread of radical Islam. But, we didn’t win the war on communism. It is alive and well, actually thriving in some parts. What is our strategy in dealing with the ideology.

Military force is certainly one option in trying to stop the spread of radical Islam but can a more effective way of checking this disease be found in converting those who embrace such a worldview to a better idea. Like the overwhelming march of white blood cells in the body to fight a disease, we must out number them by reasserting our belief in our own convictions and then going on a mission to convince the multitudes that our system works much better than theirs.

Therein lies a major problem. We don’t know who we are anymore. We don’t know what we believe. We embrace and celebrate the immorality pumped into our homes from Hollywood and the hate us for it. 80% of Americans claim to be Christian but most can’t answer the question about being born again because they don’t understand it. We love democracy and our constitution but we now we are governed by an administration intent on experimenting with socialism and downplaying the great document upon which our country was founded.

We need to reestablish what it really means to be an American. We need to define ourselves as a people. We need to put a check on political correctness because it is causing us to lose sight or our mission and it is blurring the definition of who we really are. When we win the battle within ourselves then we can march boldly toward a well defined enemy.