Let The Flag Fly

Kate's letter of the day was N. At Electric Venom, N stood for Notice this post - "Fly A Flag For Fallujah."

In The Washington Times' weekly column "Inside the Ring" Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough report on one of those well intentioned but std things that make your, at least my, blood boil:

U.S. Air Force members in Iraq are furious over a recent order to take down all American flags at Kirkuk air base to avoid offending Iraqis.

"The reason we were given is so we would not offend the Iraqi people," said Air Force Technical Sgt. Samuel D. Arbuckle. "We were told that we are not occupying this country. And apparently we are not in charge. Well, my question is this: If we are not in charge, then who is?

[. . .]

Sgt. Arbuckle said he would not mind flying the Iraqi flag together with the American flag. "But don't tell us that we can't show the respect for our flag, when so many have died in the name of freedom," he said. "The only people I think who would be offended, are the people who kill innocent women and children in the name of religion."

Events in Iraq during the last week demonstrate that we have been too concerned about being sensitive and not offending the people we are trying to free and democratize. the excessive effort to be sensitive is perceived as weakness and encourages incidents like Fallujah.

Our troops should always be allowed to fly the flag.

I'm going to follow Kate's suggestion and show our soldiers the blogosphere's support. California Yankee will "fly" the flag in the sidebar at least until all of our troops fighting in the war against terror are allowed to fly the flag wherever they are asked to fight.

Comments

[Venomous Kate]

Thank you. I hope enough of us get behind this to make a point to the military higher ups. Our soldiers are proud to serve our country, and they shouldn't be insulted by orders prohibiting them from displaying that pride.