On this Memorial Day, a reminder of that for which the sacrifice was made

There have been many posts today honoring those who have fallen in defense of the United States and her allies.  I thought it best to look at today’s war, and remind the readers why we are compelled to add more names to the honored fallen.

We start in Iraq, where we find, once again, that the suicide bombers that are supposedly looking for 72 virgins are themselves victims of al Qaeda (CNN):

Iraqi soldiers rounded up six teenagers in northern Iraq who were being trained, against their will, to carry out suicide bombings for al Qaeda in Iraq, the Interior Ministry said Monday.

. . .

Insurgents had threatened to kill the boys or their families if they refused to comply with the training, Deputy Interior Minister Kamal Ali Hussein told reporters.

“The Saudi insurgent threatened to rape our mothers and sisters, destroy our houses and kill our fathers if we did not cooperate with him,” one of the youths told The Associated Press in Mosul.

Yet, despite al Qaeda’s willingness to resort to hostages-as-weapons, the Americans, Iraqis, and their allies continue to win the war:

The level of violence in Iraq has dropped within the past week to a level not seen in four years, a military spokesman said Sunday. Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, spokesman for the Multi-National Forces, said, “In the past week, security incidents decreased to levels we have not seen since March of 2004. These figures reflect a decrease in attacks of some 70 percent since the surge operations began in June of 2007.”

The terrorists have a similar modus operandi in Afghanistan, forcing the local people to help them at gunpoint (The Australian).  However, thanks to the wisdom of the voters of Italy, more help is on the way (FOCUS).

We must, of course, remember those who have fallen in all of our wars, but let us especially remember those who have fallen in this war, and remind ourselves why it is a war we must win.