Iraq Hostage Search (Memorial Day Edition)
While my views on the war on Iraq are no secret, I’ve kept them to myself in my daily posts on the search for the three U.S. soldiers kidnapped in an Al Qaeda-led ambush in the Triangle of Death.
I don’t typically hold back, but the decision to separate the politics from the people was quite conscious: What I think about the war in no way diminishes my respect for the warriors, especially amidst a profoundly awful occurence such as this.
Having said that, I’m going to kind of break my rule by stirring in another hot button issue in what passes for discourse in America – immigration reform.
Why?
Because there have been some astoundingly virulent comments about immigrants at The Moderate Voice that need to be put in perspective on this Memorial Day weekend as the search continues for the two remaining missing soldiers — Private Byron W. Fouty and Specialist Alex R. Jimenez.
Fouty is kind of a funny sounding name, but I don’t think he is an immigrant. You can be sure, however, that his forebears were.
Jimenez, on the other hand, is one of those immigrants that people blithely oblivious to the struggles of their forebears or so caught up in their own xenophobic anger are railing against in the reform “debate.” One of the railers includes a troll at The Moderate Voice who wrote earlier this week that . . .
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6 Responses to “Iraq Hostage Search (Memorial Day Edition)”
Has the virulence really been directed towards immigrants? Or is it ILLEGAL immigrants?
I’m not sure what you’re referring to, I’m just curious.
The hair-on-fire crowd does not distinguish between the two.
Hmmm, can you say apples and oranges?
So a soldier is missing, and very probably dead. He was an immigrant (though in the US since childhood) and his family was as well. He is assumed to have been a good man and certainly was a brave one, to do what he did. He deserves to be honored.
Tell me just what, exactly, does this have to do with the immigration debate?
It vexes me to no end that those of us opposed to amnesty are assumed to be anti-everybody. I happen to be anti-law breaking. Actually I’d personally prefer someone illegal that strives to integrate to someone legal that doesn’t, but I think that we must DEMAND legality, and then strive for integration. So an immigrant comes to the country legally, works hard, integrates and obeys the laws of the nation is entirely welcome in my book. Saying that by opposing legalization of illegals I am being disrespectful of someone like this soldier is the same as saying that someone who wants withdrawl of the troops “hates the troops”.
Lynx:
There’s an old saying in Philadelphia: “Don’t take it personal.”
We do not have a “racist” or “xenophobic” or “evil” society.
Lets remember that Memorial day is supposed to be about remembering the fallen like Jiminez, Dan Bullock USMC and over 58,000 others. It’s not just an excuse to BBQ or silly lapel pins.