World War III

We’ve got a most excellent guest blogger today, Richard S. Lowry…author of Marines in the Garden of Eden.

World War Three

Richard S. Lowry

We are living in turbulent times, but you would never know it walking the streets of America. America has been at war, or should I say that America’s enemies have been at war, since the taking of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The World has been involved in this slow-motion conflict since 1979. Yet, the everyday American does not feel the effects. We all live in such comfort and security that we do not realize that our “Camelot” is under siege.

In years gone by, when aggressors attacked their enemy, it was quite clear to everyone taking refuge in the castle that a state of war existed. Everyone knew that they were in peril. Today, we are fighting a war halfway around the World. Surely, our economy has been affected, but not enough for the American public to feel the pain of war. For us, the war on terror is a nightly news item and a political football to be kicked around in the nation’s capitol and on news talk shows. Only the families and friends of the men and women who are on the front lines feel the pain of this war.

It wasn’t until 9-11 that the American people were shocked into the reality that we were at war. It wasn’t until those majestic buildings came crashing to the ground in a cloud of crumbling debris and broken bodies that we realized that we were vulnerable. We all woke up to the reality that there were people in the world that meant us harm, people who were dedicated to the destruction of our way of life. But, soon we forgot. Soon we let our comfortable lives lull us back into a sense of complacency and false security.

Wake up America!

Nothing has changed. Usama bin Laden is still out there. The Taliban continue to fight in Afghanistan and Americans are dying nearly every day in Iraq. Our struggle continues. Our enemies still plot our destruction and Israel is under siege. Bringing our troops home from Iraq will not change anything except to embolden our enemies.

People who study history and warfare understand that the only way to win a war is to eliminate ones opponent’s will to continue. Our enemies understand this as well. They know that America will lose heart and that we will eventually call for the withdrawal of our forces from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our enemies know that it is only a matter of time until victory is theirs.

What if we lose?

What would happen if gasoline rose to $20 per gallon? How many Americans would lose their jobs? How many small businesses would go under? What would happen to our economy? Who in this World would come to our aid if our economy were thrown into chaos? And, who would stop the Islamic Fundamentalists from oppressing women, destroying Israel and returning much of the eastern world to the Stone Age? If you are anti-war, you should be cheering for our victory in Iraq. If we lose, war the likes of which the world has never seen will break out when the fanatic factions in the Middle East attempt to wipe out Israel – and they will.

We are surely in the midst of World War Three and we must win this conflict or Armageddon will surely follow.

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Richard S. Lowry is the author of The Gulf War Chronicles and the newly released Marines in the Garden of Eden. He has spent years studying our military involvement in Southwest Asia and is an expert on our struggles in Iraq. He is currently working on the third book in his series, Viking in the Valley. It will tell the story of the 2d Marine Regiment’s latest deployment to the Al Anbar Province and their year-long struggle to tame Iraq’s Wild West. Visit www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com for more information on Richard Lowry and his work.