CNN.com – Al-Jazeera: Militants kill missing soldier – Jun 28, 2004: “BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera reported Monday that it had received a statement and a videotape from militants who claimed to have killed 20-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Matt Maupin, missing since April.”

Apparently it has come down to this. You know, I’ve heard it all. Comparisons of this war, to other wars. Are these terrorists no different than the “patriots” portrayed in the movie of the same name starring Mel Gibson?

I believe that history has written that chapter, and suffice it to say, America had help in it’s civil war from a coalition of the Willing, to help unseat the taxing tyrant, King George the 3rd.

America did not unseat Hussein to create a 51st state. But I do believe that unfettered oil trade was a minor part of a bigger plan. There had been long term intelligence that suggested weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and I do believe that this was the true catalyst for the war.

Currently Michael Moore has a movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, which is supposed expose this war. It is truly impossible for people who have never been part of our Military Machine to understand what it means to be at War. What it means to sacrifice your best years of your life to support what you believe is keeping the peace.

In the upcoming months, this war will become highly debated. I expect to see rallies and protests. Yet, I hope that Americans realize that they can protest the war without protesting our military, and our soldiers and sailors. After all that is said and done, with even the tarnished reputation of prison guards in Iraq, I believe that we have some of the finest Americans serving in our Armed Forces. It would be a disservice not to support them in anyway that we can.

Recently a Commanding Officer of a Navy Reserve Center asked his sailors to bring in $6 worth of assorted sundries each month to help the Seabees and Marines stationed overseas in Iraq. They NEED our support.

So back to the headline. Murder of a Marine.

Do we get revenge? Do we respond? Is there a tactic that would work? Can we even find any targets? It’s time we strike! And make the consequences of murdering a Marine, or anyone else for that matter so costly, that even these terrorists find it too expensive to do again.