Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Sergeant First Class Michael Goble won't be having Christmas this year. He's dead. Killed in combat in Afghanistan.  

This is what the mayor of his small town in New Jersey said about him: 

“Right now our hearts go out to the family and to the loved ones of Michael," Westwood Mayor John Birkner, Jr. said Tuesday. “We are a very very grateful community for his service to our country and to the values of freedom and democracy that we hold so dear.

Can anyone actually stomach that? Is he serious? Is there supposed to be a consolation in there somewhere?

He wasn't fighting for freedom and democracy. In the recent Afghan election, only 2% of the eligible voters turned out. Do you know what it means? It means that the Taliban won the election. 

Trump could have spared Michael's life. The U.S. was ready to sign a peace accord with the Taliban in August, but Trump called it off when another American soldier was killed. But, that was no reason to call it off. Trump should have swallowed his pride and signed it before another American got killed. And there have been other Americans killed since then besides Michael and before him. And of course, there have been many hundreds of Afghans killed, and probably over a thousand. 

Michael had a wife and kids.

When this is finally over, then it will be time for the American taxpayers to start paying to rebuild Afghanistan. I'm sure that's going to be in the peace agreement. And, the Taliban will be back in power. I don't know to what extent they will accommodate other Afghans, but it won't be much because they want a government run by Sharia law. And guess who interprets Sharia law? They do. But, that is what existed in Afghanistan in 2001. So, what did Michael and thousands of other Americans die for over there? And what did hundreds of thousands of Afghans have to die for? 

We live in a culture of death. No matter how many Americans die and no matter how many non-Americans Americans kill, it changes nothing. Absolutely nothing. We issue platitudes about democracy, freedom, etc. when our soldiers die, and we issue regrets and remorse when we kill civilians. But, it all keeps going. 9 wedding party slaughters in Afghanistan, with apologies for killing women and children after each one. There is a Hell, and this is it.