The
Majestic Twelve: The True Story of the Most Feared Combat Escort Unit
in Baghdad
I am reading a riveting book from a friend, colleague and great American warrior, Jack Lynch. Lynch is a war hero and I am in awe of his bravery and clarity.
One thing we lack in this war is warriors at the senior level. At the very top, our governments are
full of quislings, cowards, appeasers, and collaborators. The enemy has been
fighting against us for decades before our authorities even noticed. But while our
government, law enforcement, and military establishments are rotten at the top,
on the ground they're still healthy. The courageous men and women who actually
confront the enemy, whether on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan or on
the stealth jihad battlegrounds here at home, are vigorous, fearless, and
patriotic. One of the most courageous is U.S. Marine Master Sergeant Jack Lynch,
author of The Majestic Twelve: The True Story of the Most Feared Combat
Escort Unit in Baghdad.
Over the last few days I've turned from the
dreary news of Obama's appeasement and effective surrender to the jihad at home
and abroad to this book, and found comfort in it. There are still Americans.
There are still patriots. There are still people who are willing to risk
everything for the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. Jack Lynch is one of them, as is his Majestic Twelve, a unit that
under Lynch's command in 2004 actively took the fight to the enemy, rather than
sitting back passively and waiting to respond to what the enemy was doing. They
didn't have adequate equipment. They didn't even have adequate armor. Lynch and
his crew actually paid for their equipment out of their own pockets -- think
about that this April when you send in your tax form. But they prevailed. The
Majestic Twelve is a wonderful testimony to the power of the American spirit.
When I read this book, I knew we would win. When you read it, you'll know what I
mean.
The
adventures of Master Sergeant Lynch and his unit are so dramatic, the book reads
like a movie script, but what stuck with me most after reading the book was that
he was not just a man willing to put his life on the line for his fellow
American troops, but that he was an example of the kind of informed citizen we
need to win this war. He even stood up for our nation and our values against
fellow military men who had drunk the PC Kool-Aid. Once he encounters what he
calls a "social worker in a uniform," the British Colonel Percy Woolworth
Smythington IV, who scolds him for fighting back against the enemy, telling
Lynch: "You are, in fact, creating more terrorists and costing the lives of
Coalition soldiers."
"Smythington," Lynch explains, "was obviously of the
'blame America' school of thought. If we only showed more understanding, we
would win the hearts and minds of Islam. This school of thought stumbled to
explain how we provoked September 11, but was, nevertheless, certain that
somehow American policies were to blame. It never dawned on them that we were at
war with an enemy who wanted to kill us just because we did not see the world as
he did. It was a school of thought that could not explain why Daniel Pearl had
been decapitated or why Russian schoolchildren would be murdered. But somehow,
if we just did not point our rifles at Iraqi vehicles closing on the convoy,
terrorism in Iraq would die."
Lynch and his unit were more realistic, and
that's why they were more successful. He understood not only why the Iraqis were
fighting us, but made a serious appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses, one
that significantly differs from the media picture of a skilled and well-trained
fighting force. "They were lethal in the way that a homicidal maniac wielding a
shotgun in the mall is; they could kill lots of people and grab headlines, but
beyond that, what were they achieving?" Lynch knew what they could do and what
they couldn't, and along with his knowledge of why they were fighting us, this
made him able to meet their threat most effectively.
Washington should
take note. This book is an adventure story, but much more than an adventure
story. This book shows what can be accomplished when our policies actually match
reality, instead of being built on sand castles like the Islam is a Religion of
Peace mantra.
